Just when you thought UConn has solved most of its offensive woes, they put together an abysmal performance like this. The blame goes right down the line. The guards didn’t rotate the ball, shoot well, drive to the basket, or distribute the ball. The big men let easy passes slip through their hands, allow smaller men to wiggle inside for rebounding position and did not create easy second chance opportunities. Stanley Robinson shouldn’t be allowed to pass the basketball and Calhoun should allow his players to form some type of rhythm before yanking them from the game every three minutes.It all boiled down to a hard to watch 69 to 60 UConn victory. A definite step backwards from their steady progression they had garnered from their past four games. It also seemed that the referees lost their whistles for most of this game, finding it just in time to eject Calhoun.
The perimeter defense is still a liability for this team and will eventually hurt them if they don’t defend the high screens and get a hand up to bother shots. For most of the night Northeastern had a better fast break than UConn. Dyson did have a spectacular block on a two on one break but overall the transition defense was not up to par.
Gavin had a good game and showed some grit and finesse to his game with a spin move in the paint. His progression has come a long way. Thabeet did a little of everything and finished off a play with a thunderous dunk. Kelly had a below average game, causing to many turnovers but finished with 8 points and 3 boards. There was a Mandeldove sighting but if you blinked then you missed him, logging in 1 minute. Adrien came through in the end and helped pull the Huskies ahead for good but only finished with 4 boards. Where is the double-double man?
The guards decided to take the day off ending the day 6 for 20. It was U-G-L-Y. Price wasn’t assertive and only shot the ball 4 times. Dyson did all he could posting 10 boards and 16 points. Wiggins only had 1 rebound in 12 minutes. Beverly played a little and didn’t seem overwhelmed. Austrie played solid minutes but wasn’t overly impressive though he did score one of UConn’s rare three pointers.
There is really nothing to take from this game but a thank the lord they didn’t blow it. They can go into the extended break, regroup and hopefully put together a team effort in their next showing, for this one can get tossed into the garbage with last nights leftovers.
2 comments:
Any idea who Calhoun was talking about in his postgame comments about one player in particular who doesn't put the effort in on defense, doesn't fight through screens, and puts pressure on the rest of his teammates with his lack of effort. I was at the game, and AJ Price was maybe the guy.
Many players drew Calhoun's ire in that game. He got into Austrie pretty good and slammed Robinson for his defense but if you look at Price's minutes, just 22, then you can tell that he was unhappy with his performance.
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