Xavier Post Game Thread

[tzznandrew]

Agreed. And sometimes they don't, especially on the road in a raucous environment. Everybody made some mistakes. But it's 1 game. The game we had the least odds of winning come in of every game remaining. And it was a 1 point game with 2:30 left, and then we missed 7 straight 3 pointers.

We came out of halftime and were up 5 suddenly, playing great. Hawkins missed an open 3 that would have been killer given the momentum. Then we were still playing great and we took a bad 3, had a bad TO...it was a decent amount of hubris. There was a chance to silence the crowd at put them away very early in the second half. More discipline would have solved that. Oh well.

 

[AdamaNation]

It will be good for the team if Clingan starts getting more minutes.

Sanogo's inability to play defense needs to be addressed before March arrives.

I think sanogos defense is based on the imperative of keeping him on the floor. It’s more a lack of aggression under the rim. Now that we multiple offensive options Donavan and Samson returning I think adama may be given a longer leash to attack. Just not 15-20’ out.

 

[JakeTheDog]

With the refusal to play Clingan I was having flashbacks to the St Johns game Sanogo’s freshman year. Donovan would have picked up 8 or 10 easy points. So what that he rushed a shot. Let the kid play. Happy New Year ‘Yard! Let’s destroy Providence.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Just commented on Tristan in another chat. But do we hand diarra the keys? Risk his spark? Will newton be able to provide a lift if our 2nd line which is based on speed and mayhem (sans dc)? Bring alleyne back?

Diarra is not reliable with the ball and doesn’t see the court well enough to start over Newton.

Joey C at PG? Better pace, better passer, better shooter than Newton. 100% better body language. There’s something about Newton’s pace and body language that makes him look like he’s playing in a different game than the rest of his teammates. A relaxed, disinterested, old man’s rec game. Difficult to figure him out. I’d rather play Joey C who’ll match the intensity, pace, etc of his 4 teammates on the floor.

 

[superjohn]

I think this deserves it's own thread. Clingan was getting 15 minutes per game earlier in the season and it didn't feel like enough. Now all of a sudden Clingan is getting less minutes, 7 today in a game where the other two big guys couldn't guard Freemantle and Nunge at all and guys were turning the corner and getting and 1 layups. Less than 10 minutes per game for Donovan in the last 4 and it's not like Sanogo has been dominating other than against Butler...

You simply can't take away the things Donovan does out there at his size and as good as Sanogo is offensively he's just an average rebounder, is nonexistent as a rim protector/shotblocker, and he gets exploited on defense too much. I don't understand what's going on with the minutes distribution.

 

[topogigio]

I've been waiting for a game against a ranked team to get a handle on how good this team really is. I think that has been answered. Hurley looks like he is going to blow a gasket every game. It blew today and cost the Huskies at a very critical time.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

We're just too reliant on 3's....great when they go in but in crunch time of a close game need to drive to basket and make or get fouled on some trips, can't just keep putting up 3's.

I was fine with the 3s taken except for a couple Jackson ones at the end. And it would've been nice to make 1 more Karaban three and 1 more Hawkins three.
But I think the game was lost due to 4 things.
1- Turnovers
2- The foul differential (a combination of our fault and inconsistent refereeing)
3- Sanogo/Karaban getting beat defensively/high ball screens/hedging
4- Some in-game coaching issues (the tech and not giving DC more run in the second half when Sanogo looked gassed on defense)

Most are fixable. You can't do much about fouls, particularly in a difficult road environment.
I'm confident that this game will be good for us in the long haul and we'll get better from it, from coaching on down.

But I think it's pretty clear that if we lose in the BET/NCAA tournament, it will be because we lose our cool down the stretch from either the coach or the backcourt decision making. Or both.

 

[BigTenFan]

Lots of talent on the floor today on both sides- The script definitely flips at Gampel.
Very tough to win on the road against quality opponents in league play. So the real question is- What does the game look like on a neutral court in March?

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Yeah we missed johnson today big time. I thought about that about 5 mins into the game

What has anyone seen from Samson in any game, ever, to make anyone believe that he would’ve made a “big” difference today?

His time will come. But IMO he’s a long way off from making a “big” difference in a game like todays. Be patient with him, lower your expectations until he actually does something on the court.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The head coach sets the tone, and when Hurley started to come unhinged with around 5 minutes remaining, the whole team came unhinged. The technical foul was inevitable, and I think the refs were patient before ringing him up.

Refs were fine.

Hawkins has to cool it with the flops.

Karaban got abused. Coaches should have made some kind of adjustment.

Sanogo is unstoppable down low on offense, defense was a mixed bag. Someone needs to tell him he has no chance at the next level without better defensive effort.

If the coaches can’t figure out a way to get Clingan on the court more, then they shouldn’t be D1 coaches.

I thought the backcourt played fine. The stats include about 6 desperation heaves at the end, but we shot well prior to that.

I thought UConn played well on the road against a good team before Hurley lost it. I thought uconn was going to win until I saw his antics starting with 4-5 minutes left. He can not do that in big games.

 

[Excalibur]

We made our run in the first half with Karaban out and Jackson guarding the 4. And then we never saw it again . . .

 

[tzznandrew]

We made our run in the first half with Karaban out and Jackson guarding the 4. And then we never saw it again . . .

We also had a run to start the second half, but then blew it with a few dumb TOs. And Karaban was in for that.

Karaban is great against zones (and teams don't really zone us anymore), but he needs to hit his open shots. The defense isn't so bad that it negates that. He missed a couple of big shots today that would have either given us separation or changed the tenor....and he's a freshman, so it ain't that big of a deal. But still.

 

[Excalibur]

He’s a good shooter and a decent offensive rebounder. Not a whole lot of options at the 4 right now unless you want to go with the 2 bigs or play Jackson there defensively. But his weakness on the block magnifies our ineptitude in defending the pick and roll.

 

[kobebeanbryant]

I think this deserves it's own thread. Clingan was getting 15 minutes per game earlier in the season and it didn't feel like enough. Now all of a sudden Clingan is getting less minutes, 7 today in a game where the other two big guys couldn't guard Freemantle and Nunge at all and guys were turning the corner and getting and 1 layups. Less than 10 minutes per game for Donovan in the last 4 and it's not like Sanogo has been dominating other than against Butler...

You simply can't take away the things Donovan does out there at his size and as good as Sanogo is offensively he's just an average rebounder, is nonexistent as a rim protector/shotblocker, and he gets exploited on defense too much. I don't understand what's going on with the minutes distribution.

I think Danny is painted into a corner a bit here.

Sanogo is our only reliable offensive option that can create for himself. The rest of our offense is either having Jackson create/distribute or trying to scheme guys open. Both of those can get bogged down at times.

Sanogo is our offensive crutch, which is why Danny likes to play him big minutes, even at the expense of his defensive liabilities.

If we had a perimeter creator, that would alleviate a lot of the pressure we put on Sanogo to be the focal point of the offense.

 

[BigTenFan]

I was fine with the 3s taken except for a couple Jackson ones at the end. And it would've been nice to make 1 more Karaban three and 1 more Hawkins three.
But I think the game was lost due to 4 things.
1- Turnovers
2- The foul differential (a combination of our fault and inconsistent refereeing)
3- Sanogo/Karaban getting beat defensively/high ball screens/hedging
4- Some in-game coaching issues (the tech and not giving DC more run in the second half when Sanogo looked gassed on defense)

Most are fixable. You can't do much about fouls, particularly in a difficult road environment.
I'm confident that this game will be good for us in the long haul and we'll get better from it, from coaching on down.

But I think it's pretty clear that if we lose in the BET/NCAA tournament, it will be because we lose our cool down the stretch from either the coach or the backcourt decision making. Or both.

Agree point #1 most impactful stat- 16 turnovers in a competitive game.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

The concern after a game like this is that we're really a #10-20 type team that played over our heads for a month and now have come back to earth over the last 3.

Yes. Very concerning. I'm going to have to burn some Spiritual Healing incense with my bubble bath tonight and put some ginger in my chamomile tea to deal with all the stress...

 

[gsmooth]

I couldn’t agree more, my only beef with Hurley today was the lack of minutes for alleyne Diarra and

Diarra should have been subbed in for Newton earlier in the 2nd half. alleyne and Clingan needed more run as well

 

[jibsey]

Here's how I think of it.

I'm fine with losses when shots don't fall, players make mistakes, whatever. I can't reasonably expect a bunch of 20 year olds to be perfect every night.

When I look back at the game and think our coach was the primary problem in the last 10 minutes of the game? Then I'm rightfully upset. He's being paid 3 million a year, and part of that is shutting the hell up when the game is on the line. Or playing your 7-2 star freshman more than 7 minutes in a game where our starting center is playing terrible.

I don’t understand the reluctance to use Clingan. When he’s in there the offense seems to flow and he defends and rebounds, puts back, everything. 7 minutes? Even if he makes mistakes floor time now pays off later. As good as Sanogo’s line looks in the box he did not have a great game IMO.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

Agree point #1 most impactful stat- 16 turnovers in a competitive game.

Credit to Xavier’s defensive game plan… a team whose defense has been much maligned.

While the key players remained the same for the most part from the last couple years, it’s evident what kind of upgrade in coaching Xavier got this year with Miller replacing Steele.

 

[uconnfan68]

Even great teams lose games.

They didn’t have to.

 

[jake14mw]

I didn't think it was any one thing that did us in today. I think the primary thing was that Xavier played extremely well. And let's face it, they made some tough shots, especially earlier in the game.

One thing that does concern me lately though is Sanogo's defensive play. He has not been that force that he once was on D. I thought having an effective backup like Clingan would have allowed him to play more aggressively on D. I also think that Clingan should have played a little more today. Give Adama some more rest periods to he if that helps him on D.

Nobody from the bench was able to come in today and give us any big spark. This was one of those rare games that nobody really got it going to push us. That will be rare.

Live by the 3, die by the 3. I don't really have that much of a problem with the number of threes taken. When you don't have those playmaking guards, and you have so many good shooters, shooting a lot of 3s is a good strategy. We shot 36.7%, that's not bad, we just missed crucial ones down the stretch. 12 three attempts by AJ is just way too much in my opinion. We have 5 other guys making a higher percentage from 3. There's no reason a guy that is shooting 30% from 3 should be taking 12 in a game. It's math. It's Points per shot attempt. AJ does too many other things well to have him doing that. He's too valuable of a rebounder.

The tech by Hurley was terrible. I hate is referee antics. I also thought he should have subbed for a few guys some more today. He has been great with his subbing patterns all year though, so I'm not going to kill him for one game.

It was decent to get through the last two games with only one loss. This loss should motivate the team and focus them to work hard and pay attention to details and grow.

 

[Luna]

Already have. The "Hurley Head on a Pike" crew is out in full force.

We all know the haters are just waiting for a loss…its been a long season for them

 

[his dudeness]

Look at Kunkel grabbing and holding Andre about 3 feet from the ref. Clear as day, no whistle. Like that all game

 

[his dudeness]

Ref looks on with approval as Jones hops around on one foot like a bunny. Thats a travel, unless the rules have changed.

 

[his dudeness]

Nice no called foul on Freemantle... followed on the other end with a foul called on Newton's clean strip. These refs were trash in the last 5 minutes and deserve to be abused. Almost like they are trying to teach Danny a lesson.