A Solid Step In The Right Direction

This wasn’t even a real game. Florida A&M had shot so many holes in their feet that it took 8 minutes for them to score a bucket. UConn ran up and down the court, scoring easy buckets and racking up points in sporadic spurts. Other than a little lull halfway through the first half, UConn kept the tempo high and pushed the ball. They ruthlessly attacked the glass and dominated the paint. Keeping in mind the talent they played against tonight, there are a few positives to take home.

Thabeet has never played two solid games like he has in these past two contests. He is dunking with power, his lay ups are going in and he attacked the glass. Florida A&M couldn’t hit a hula hoop and had to make their way into the paint for points. The big men feasted, blocking shots and grabbing defensive rebounds. Thabeet had his most dominating game of the season.

Stanley Robinson is here. This is four games in a row that he has made a contribution on both sides of the ball. He works hard underneath the basket and gets rewarded when running the break. His spectacular dunk, a Fathead in the making, capped off his night. He also popped some outside shots which is encouraging.

Wiggins looks like a different player. He is stronger and has total control of the ball. I didn’t know he had those kind of hops, gliding to the basket on a breakaway. His shot came towards the tail end of the game.

Its funny how the threes started falling in the closing minutes of a blowout. Maybe they are still nervous and playing tight at the beginning of the game. Whatever it is, UConn has come out of the gate cold from outside but has made up the difference with aggressive play and fast break points.

Dyson passed up several open threes for 15 footers. To be an NBA lottery pick, he needs to show consistent range and take those threes. He played solid though and didn’t need to push the issue, picking his spots in the offense.

A.J. was almost invisible on the court. He didn’t need to do much and the point guard's role is to make everyone else better and he did that. The half court offense again played solid and ran their sets. His and Austrie’s numbers might not reflect their night, but the break was well oiled and the offense played well.

UConn also played pressure defense and trapped. Thabeet blocked everything near him and Adrien grabbed every miss. Florida A&M still had to many open threes that clanked and getting over screens are still a problem but its hard to find a flaw in this dominating performance.

The only thing Uconn did poorly was shoot free throws. They only made 9 of 20. They can’t revert after having a couple of solid games from the charity stripe and need to bounce back with a better performance

Overall, this is a great confidence builder before they go into a great showdown versus a talented Gonzaga game this Saturday.