What's up with Louisville's ability to make UConn give up?

[gibhunter]

Third time in the years?


Sent from my MAXX HD.

 

[Hoophound]

Once a team breaks you a few times they get in your head. This is a great UL team. UConn is better than expected and KO is doing a great job. Next.

 

[fortebleedsblue]

UConn didn't give up they were exhausted. I give Ollie credit but I did not like his rotation tonight the team was left on empty. This is where depth shows... Uconn two starters that can go head to head with anyone... After that?

 

[Jerry1714]

Third time in the years?


Sent from my MAXX HD.

This has to be a joke right?

 

[UCONNfan1]

Great effort in the first half, but the 2nd half exposed everything lacking on this team. Never expected to win, but the 1st half did give fans some hope for sure! I think our guards got tired too. They wore us down. L'ville is a really good team. Our lack of depth was exposed. Shouldn't be a huge surprise...

I don't think we will ever see an KO coached team give up.

 

[Palatine]

It's actually a fair question.

UConn completely lost confidence. They played below their abilities

Why?

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Their zone press was exhausting our two PGs and it caused a lot of breakdowns in the second half. They beat us with the press. They are really good at it.

 

[uchusky32]

Plain and simple. We got ran out of the gym. They are faster, bigger and stronger

But when you come to gloat just look up.

What do you see?

3 NC!

We have carried the BE for 2 1/2 decades!

Move on.

 

[61cygni]

We had no answer for Louisville, and they knew it. Couldn't break down the zone in the 2nd half, and didn't try opening it up with threes until it was too late in the 2nd half, after shooting well from deep in the 1st.

Smith and Siva were getting by our guys at will, and we had no Okafor or Thabeet down there. As soon as our bigs went straight up and immobile, Smith and Siva merely maneuvered around them or dropped it off with a bounce pass to one of their bigs who was always in position baseline.

 

[Brochacho]

Everything Louisville shot went in. Everything UConn shot did not.

UConn struggled to get across half court, but then Louisville would come down and get an easy layup.

UConn was tired. Louisville wasn't.

Not to mention Louisville has better talent than us this year. We didn't line up a NC contender against them, and this may be the best UofL team Pitino has had. Maybe 09 was better.

 

[Jerry1714]

It's actually a fair question.

UConn completely lost confidence. They played below their abilities

Why?

We lost to a team much much better then us. We didn't quit, we got beat. We shoot Above our average in the first half and it evened out in the 2nd.

 

[upstater]

I disagree with a lot of what's written here. I gave my view in the game thread.

Basically, UConn stopped attacking the basket after going in repeatedly, even on open layups, and getting mowed out of the way. They stopped because of Dieng. At least 7 or 8 times, but maybe more, they broke the press and had numbers, and just elected not to go at Dieng. That meant they were not going to contest the rim, and so they limited themselves to 3-point shots, and that also allowed Ville to contest those 3 pointers further out, which lead to turnovers. Long rebounds on the missed shots also lead to transition baskets and a bunch of easy layups.

Boatright and Napier just stopped attacking inside EVEN when they had the numbers.

 

[Palatine]

The turnovers were not talent. Boat and Bazz should have beaten the press. We didn't continue to attack after a couple of locks. Shame on us.

 

[SaeHusky]

There was no quit in our team - there legs just ran out of gas. Louisville better right now. It would have helped to have 1 than more day to prepare for a team like this. Finally a good game by Calhoun though against tough competition

 

[Palatine]

I disagree with a lot of what's written here. I gave my view in the game thread.

Basically, UConn stopped attacking the basket after going in repeatedly, even on open layups, and getting mowed out of the way. They stopped because of Dieng. At least 7 or 8 times, but maybe more, they broke the press and had numbers, and just elected not to go at Dieng. That meant they were not going to contest the rim, and so they limited themselves to 3-point shots, and that also allowed Ville to contest those 3 pointers further out, which lead to turnovers. Long rebounds on the missed shots also lead to transition baskets and a bunch of easy layups.

Boatright and Napier just stopped attacking inside EVEN when they had the numbers.

EXACTLY RIGHT.

We didn't run out of gas. We ran out of guts.

 

[gibhunter]

It's easy to blame it on Dieng who shot down the basket in the second half, but we could barely get the ball out of our own half of the court and stopped rebounding in the second half. It was sad to watch. Well not sad if you're UL fan. Reminded me of what UConn did to them in 09 with Thabeet in the middle.

 

[SaeHusky]

I agree with the 2 previous posts - we got passive after beating the press.

 

[Gurleyman]

It's actually a fair question.

UConn completely lost confidence. They played below their abilities

Why?

It was a downward spiral tonight.

We got absolutely nothing from our bigs on either end for all 40 minutes, which was a problem. Our guards played very well for a half, but Louisville extended pressure in the second half and made us work harder. Our guards tried to stay in attack mode and go to the rim, but a couple times we didn't get the calls to get to the line, which led to empty possessions. Then, any time they tried to penetrate, Louisville bigs met them 5-10 feet from the basket (since they didn't have to worry about their men) and we had nowhere to go.

With attacking the basket not working, UConn went back to the outside again, but they were admittedly worn down, and their jump shots - mostly contested - missed.

By then, we lost our confidence, UL looked fresher and faster,and just buried us.

We needed Bazz to make a 3 in there just to stop the bleeding, but he had two good looks come out. Those are what I would consider "clutch" shots with 10 minutes left. The game was spiraling away from us and we needed the bucket badly.

 

[bobbygt]

Yup- this game reminded me a lot like last year's. They also beat the NC team two years ago pretty bad as well.

They get in your head and it's tough to come back.

I will say that this UL team is by far the best team they've had since joining the league. They are very good and I'd be shocked if they don't make the FF.

 

[ctchamps]

We lost to a team much much better then us. We didn't quit, we got beat. We shoot Above our average in the first half and it evened out in the 2nd.

I agree! And Shabazz was still hurting from that foul in the first half. Our guards have to help on rebounding. Their guards can lay off. That wears on the guards over time. And yes there is a big discrepancy in over all talent level which was demonstrated tonight. No way a hugo can beat a porsche unless the engine of the porsche fails which was the first half fouls on Siva.

 

[uchusky32]

The turnovers were not talent. Boat and Bazz should have beaten the press. We didn't continue to attack after a couple of locks. Shame on us.

They were hounded by Silva ans Smith. Even if they got by them they were run down from behind. When they trapped Bazz or Boat they played bigger and stronger. We couldn't throw over the top.
They beat us up on the inside Jeff Adrien style.
We became tentative scared to drive. Bazz has to play with no fear after that block that was it for him driving.

 

[Gurleyman]

I agree with the 2 previous posts - we got passive after beating the press.

We don't have a bench to rest Bazz/Boat. Omar shot well but struggled with turnovers, so we couldn't have him at the 2 for very long, and RJ is a bit out of his league.

With no depth, you sometimes have to try to settle down and get the game back under control when the other team is turning everything up a notch and has you on the ropes. We needed a couple patient possessions. But those didn't work either. The Bazz 3 in the corner that missed was big - Siva came down and made one to push it to 8, and we were swimming upstream from there.

 

[Brochacho]

With no depth, you sometimes have to try to settle down and get the game back under control when the other team is turning everything up a notch and has you on the ropes. We needed a couple patient possessions. But those didn't work either. The Bazz 3 in the corner that missed was big - Siva came down and made one to push it to 8, and we were swimming upstream from there.

This is why Terrence Samuel is huge for next year. Good handle, would give us the chance to rest Boat and Bazz. Any improvement Calhoun could make with his dribbling would be huge as well.

 

[Palatine]

We don't have a bench to rest Bazz/Boat. Omar shot well but struggled with turnovers, so we couldn't have him at the 2 for very long, and RJ is a bit out of his league.

With no depth, you sometimes have to try to settle down and get the game back under control when the other team is turning everything up a notch and has you on the ropes. We needed a couple patient possessions. But those didn't work either. The Bazz 3 in the corner that missed was big - Siva came down and made one to push it to 8, and we were swimming upstream from there.

They never rest in any game.

Why did they become so passive?

it's a fair question

 

[ctchamps]

They never rest in any game.

Why did they become so passive?

it's a fair question

They were pressing Ville right until the buzzer so what are you talking about?