The Drought

Providence 84 Connecticut 72

We’ve seen this before. Nothing new here and from the fan’s perspective, its becoming frustrating. They’ve worked so hard to be in the game and to only go out in the second half and lose. The dreaded seven minute drought hit the cubs again. Balls clanked from rims, sloppy turnovers happened, bad calls occurred, whistles were swallowed, blue shirts couldn’t block out, forced passes banged off of hands, no developing plays led to last second desperate shots and Uconn showed overall sloppy play.

Uconn’s lack of penetration into the zone caused them to rely on the jump shot and it worked to perfection in the first half but that monsoon soon became a drip and they couldn’t change their game. Another contribution to the drought was the inconsistency with the foul calls, though the Friars didn’t need it.

The most frustrating thing about the loss is that they had cured the turnover mess, faulty free throw shooting and shot the ball with regularity and still found a way to lose the game. The culprit this time became their transition defense. Plain and simple, Uconn was out-Uconned. Never this season has Uconn given up so many 0 on 5’s or 0 on 3’s. It seems sad that the only thing that these cubs have been consistent on is the thing to fail them.

This team needs teeth, needs to knock someone around. They need to wield the offensive foul like a weapon because they are getting muscled around. Dump the ball down low, turn with the shoulder and hit the defender. The second half droughts have these cubs dragging their tongues across the floor, tails between their legs. Someone refill the Gatorade because it’s a desert out here.