When A Loss Is A Win

The Uconn Huskies knew they had an insurmountable task when they took on 3rd ranked Memphis Tigers and after falling behind early by 15 points, they showed heart, tenacity and effort to work their way back. This loss does little to hurt the Huskies and should help them when the next rankings come out. Holding their own against a stacked Memphis team on a somewhat neutral ground is impressive and should give the young pups plenty of confidence moving on.

A.J. Price played an outstanding game with 23 points, on 8 for 14 shooting, 5 boards and 2 steals. His drives into the lane and dishes out fueled Uconn’s comeback and his outstanding free throw shooting, 7 for 9, kept the droughts away.

Thabeet doesn’t have a post game yet but he has found a way to score by getting to the line, going 7 for 7. That will be a huge asset down the stretch. He doesn’t have great hands and losses the grip on the ball when making his initial move towards the hoop. Great post players have patience, dribbling the ball and working themselves into a comfortable position to make a hook shot or jumper and Thabeet doesn’t have that yet. Emeka had this problem in his first year and relied on put backs for his points. He does need to dunk the ball. What’s with the lay ups?

Is it me or does Dicky V use the same commentary in the tournament at The Garden. Does he not know that people are going to see all the games? How many cupcake references was he going to use?

What happened to Adrien down the stretch? Gavin Edwards took over and that was when Memphis pulled away. He had an off game, only coming down with 1 rebound, 6 turnovers, 0 for 4 from the stripe, ending with only 6 points. If Uconn had his average game this would have been an upset in the making.

The only constant through the first five games is that Uconn is getting fouled at an exorbitant rate and they are an improved team in converting those opportunities into points. 27 of 38 attempts were splashed in the Memphis game with most of those calls coming in the first half. The referees started keeping their whistles from their mouths in the second half on blatant fouls.

Calhoun should be happy with the effort of Stanley Robinson, who had back to back great games, finishing with 9 points, 2 offensive rebounds, two blocks and a stout defensive game. He had to defend the faster guards of Rose and Douglas-Roberts and did a great job hustling for loose balls and playing an aggressive game.

Uconn fans need to realize that it took a career game from Douglas-Roberts to pull this game out. Some of those shots he made were simply impossible to defend.

Uconn’s next two games, Gardner-Webb on Thursday and Florida A&M on Monday, will be get right games before they head into a big game against Gonzaga. They don’t need a lapse in effort or loss of confidence that they gained by hanging with a national championship contender. They need to take this loss as a win and know that the hard work is paying off.