UConn Game Thread

[jays34]

Team Needs:

1) someone that can drive the line AND finish
2) urgency

We can fix #2, but the team was built around too many shooters. Baylor has done a much better job this year (and second half of last) getting into the lane. But it's more crafty, it's not turn the corner speed. Trey has a fantastic mid range game, but not really a strong finisher at the rim. That's it. The lack of our ability to drive the line also kills our pick and roll and lob play to Kalk, which has been our bread and butter for so long.

That said, we were never expected to win this game and we didn't. Our defense was actually outstanding. UCONN didn't really have a very good game against us, but credit them for creating our sloppy turnovers, terrible rebounding and poor shooting. We're lucky we didn't lose by 30. Regroup and know that we get another crack at these guys at home. Let's go get one against Seton Hall and all will be right in the world again.

[drbluejay]

My standout player of the game goes to Ashworth. The only other player that stood out was Kalk and his defense.
The sky is not falling and Mac will figure it out like he has before.

[Chicagojayfan]

My standout player of the game goes to Ashworth. The only other player that stood out was Kalk and his defense.
The sky is not falling and Mac will figure it out like he has before.

Agreed. Bad night for us, particularly in offense, rebounding, and turnovers - worst rebounding night of the year, and 4th worst night for turnovers, while also being the 2nd worst offensive game of the year (behind only Colorado State which was also a bad rebounding night)

Not a lot of positives, but:
- Defense was pretty good, second worst offensive game of the season for UConn, only behind their loss to SH. By FAR this was their worst offensive game at home all year
- Ashworth had a good game - 14 pts on 15 shots isn't a great night, but in the context of a game like that it's not bad, and he was good with the ball while hustling and playing good D
- Kalk was good on D, but struggled against their D - Clingan can play him solo and they did a really good job of helping and confusing him in the paint as well. St. Johns won't stop going to Soriano because Kalkbrenner shuts him down, nor should we stop going to Kalkbrenner in the paint


Some general thoughts:
1. Rebounding was a problem last night, but hasn't been a problem most of the year. We've gotten less than 50% of the boards in a game only 5 times this year, compared to 13 times last year, including 2x versus Xavier and Providence that were outright ugly. We've won most every game where we rebound at 50% or more and it's a key going forward. We seemed to make strides there, but for whatever reason, last night happened (but, again, it's not like it didn't happen last year also

2. Turnovers, this has been more of a regular problem for us lately. The 2 fouls on Ashworth hurt us there, I think (Bello had 3 and having him handle the ball that much starts to push him to his limits). I do like that Ashworth is more often being the guy to control the ball for pace and to get us into our half court sets. Didn't work last night, but I think as the season goes on, him being more confident with the ball means more good chances for Trey

3. Trey had a bad night, but his conference play's really been a mixed bag and isn't all bad. Versus last year, he's scoring more pts PG 14.7 to 15.9, rebounds 3.9 to 5.4, Assists 2.8 to 4.4, and even 2 PT % is up 50.4 to 52.2%, but he's turning it over more and his 3 Pt shots had dropped from .438 to .276. It's unrealistic to expect him to shoot 43.8% every year (his Frosh year was only 26.5%), but I think we can hope for him to do better from 3 as the year goes on

4. In similar ways, Baylor is way up in conference versus last year 12.8 to 16.4 pts, 7.6 to 9.7 rebounds, and with more usage, his TS% is up from 56.8 to 58.2

5. I'm not sure that all of the warts we saw last night are things that will plague us all year. Again, rebounding has generally been good. Offense, despite complaints has been good, but with 4 ugly games (again, it's not like we didn't have quite a few of those last year also)

Like you say, Mac's done it before and I think he'll do it again this year. No guarantees, obviously, but Mac's track record speaks for itself, or should

[cu8493]

Last year we were 3-3 with a 9 point loss to UConn in Storrs in a game where we shot 33% from the field and 12.5% from 3. We ran off 8 straight wins after that and finished 3rd. I don’t see this team winning the BE, but I still think a 3 or 4 seed in the BET is likely. Unfortunately, anything less than 3rd probably means a dreaded 8/9 seed or worse in the NCAA.

[Chicagojayfan]

Creighton ran into a fired up crowd and a UConn defense that gave the Jays fits.

Matt DeMarinis and Jacob Padilla break it down in the Bluejay Beat podcast. Available to our Patreon subscribers.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/bluejay-b ... =join_link

Nice break down, and really hit the mark on one thing I noticed as well -- the lack of off the ball movement. There was a LOT of standing around last night . I thought we'd done better at that in recent games, but it came back to haunt us last night

[go_jays]

Creighton ran into a fired up crowd and a UConn defense that gave the Jays fits.

Matt DeMarinis and Jacob Padilla break it down in the Bluejay Beat podcast. Available to our Patreon subscribers.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/bluejay-b ... =join_link

Nice break down, and really hit the mark on one thing I noticed as well -- the lack of off the ball movement. There was a LOT of standing around last night . I thought we'd done better at that in recent games, but it came back to haunt us last night

That has actually been a problem all year. And it started with Trey (or Mac maybe) thinking he needed to put the team on his back and carry it right from the jump. Every time he got the ball in his hands, he took at least 3 or 4 counts before he got the pick he was looking for, or once he got it, was trying to decide his next move. In the meantime, the rest oi the team was standing around with their hands on their hips waiting to see what he was gonna do. And these type of situations eventually become a Catch 22. And here's how...

Trey gets the ball, off-ball players start making cuts etc creating movement. Trey holds onto the ball and eventually makes an attempt at the rim with no result. This happens maybe 3-4 times. Eventually off-ball players stop making those runs because their thinking is... why should I make those runs/cuts? I never see the ball. So they stop. Once they stop, then Trey has no choice but to go iso or ask for a pick, rinse and repeat.

Movement, and the resulting rhythm in this offense used to be a thing of beauty. It simply isn't there anymore. Don't know if it was intentional to put so much of the offense on Trey in the beginning, or it just developed. But it was a bad idea from the get go. And now, the seeds of doubt have developed into a real problem. It's questionable whether they'll ever be able to find that magic again. There is just so much hesitancy in this team right now... it's a real cancer.

In addition, they are gonna get pressured high by every team with any athleticism going forward. One way to fix that is movement (both ball and player) ball fakes and hard cuts, which this team never has really focused on it seems. That way you don't give the defender a chance to set themselves and lock up on you.

BTW... I'll take my crow well done, please.

[Chicagojayfan]

Creighton ran into a fired up crowd and a UConn defense that gave the Jays fits.

Matt DeMarinis and Jacob Padilla break it down in the Bluejay Beat podcast. Available to our Patreon subscribers.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/bluejay-b ... =join_link

Nice break down, and really hit the mark on one thing I noticed as well -- the lack of off the ball movement. There was a LOT of standing around last night . I thought we'd done better at that in recent games, but it came back to haunt us last night

That has actually been a problem all year. And it started with Trey (or Mac maybe) thinking he needed to put the team on his back and carry it right from the jump. Every time he got the ball in his hands, he took at least 3 or 4 counts before he got the pick he was looking for, or once he got it, was trying to decide his next move. In the meantime, the rest oi the team was standing around with their hands on their hips waiting to see what he was gonna do. And these type of situations eventually become a Catch 22. And here's how...

Trey gets the ball, off-ball players start making cuts etc creating movement. Trey holds onto the ball and eventually makes an attempt at the rim with no result. This happens maybe 3-4 times. Eventually off-ball players stop making those runs because their thinking is... why should I make those runs/cuts? I never see the ball. So they stop. Once they stop, then Trey has no choice but to go iso or ask for a pick, rinse and repeat.

Movement, and the resulting rhythm in this offense used to be a thing of beauty. It simply isn't there anymore. Don't know if it was intentional to put so much of the offense on Trey in the beginning, or it just developed. But it was a bad idea from the get go. And now, the seeds of doubt have developed into a real problem. It's questionable whether they'll ever be able to find that magic again. There is just so much hesitancy in this team right now... it's a real cancer.

In addition, they are gonna get pressured high by every team with any athleticism going forward. One way to fix that is movement (both ball and player) ball fakes and hard cuts, which this team never has really focused on it seems. That way you don't give the defender a chance to set themselves and lock up on you.

BTW... I'll take my crow well done, please.

My guesses:

I think we will see Ashworth running the offense more going forward. In some of the recent previous games we've shot poorly from 3 PT, but still managed to score some points, and part of that is just that Ashworth's been quite a bit better with the dribble over earlier in the season

If we want to be the team I think we can be on offense, we need the ball in his hands more and for him to be more aggressive in getting his shots -- IMO that's a key for getting Trey freed up on offense as well.

Do a better job of getting Kalk the ball, and most importantly: limit turnovers and block out in EVERY game.

[PhoenixBluejay]

We have struggled against athletic defensive minded teams. UCONN guarded us tight at the 3, we needed drives to the basket. Farrabello did that and got an open layup. Personally I would have put King in with kalk to stop them abusing us on the boards. Why not for a few minutes. Ashworth got mad and started to play aggressive...thats something to build upon. Tough place to play with a lot of talent on that team. We played soft and that concerns me, not the loss. Hoping for a big rebound and aggressive play the next game.

[SeattleJay]

I am glad the team showed some fight even though it was too little too late.

Ashworth definitely stepping up. That’s very important for future success. Team defense was very good.

Trey and Miller regressed. Hopefully, they will recover quickly. Kalk and Baylor were meh on offense.

Good to see Green getting a few more minutes.

Can’t win giving up a ton of offensive rebounds, turning the ball over AND shooting poorly.

I am hopeful that this game will be a good motivator for Seton Hall. We will find out what this team is made of on Saturday. Hopefully, they are staying on the East Coast.

[jayc13]

Great points all!! I kind of cringe when I see Trey run the point. He's not great at ball handling or facilitating, and it takes away from what he does best. He expends more energy too and that's probably contributing to his lower 3 pt fg % this year. I believe it has to be Ashworth for the rest of the way for a chance at success. He seems to be asserting himself more lately and that's a good sign. He's definitely a gamer.