Career Day

Go ahead and take the Notre Dame shirts and switch them with Memphis and this game could have been a rerun. The Huskies let themselves get down by twenty points and fought themselves back into the lead to only fall short by a play or two down the stretch. McAlarney had a career day, a common occurrence in recent UConn games. If it happened once or twice it could be an anomaly but to have it happen five or more times in this early season shows a problem. The smalls are having a hard time with help defense and running around screens.

UConn had a tough time shooting over the zone and the big men couldn’t maneuver when it collapsed. It wasn’t until the guards slashed into the lane and freed the big men that UConn’s offense started clicking. Teams are going to play zone against the pups until they show consistent outside shooting.

The smalls couldn’t contain the perimeter players and Notre Dame had to many open shots, draining most of them. The Husky guards shot poorly, going 12 for 33 in the game. Price ran the point well, ending with 8 assists and could have had more if the shots were falling. He also had one of his best rebounding performances with 7. Dyson struggled with finishing plays and making outside shots but kept being aggressive. Wiggins had a hard time with screens and kept running underneath them instead of fighting through them. He is still getting used to coming off the bench. Austrie played 9 fruitless minutes with nothing to show for it in the box score.

Thabeet is turning into a beast and became more aggressive with his back to the basket. He even demonstrated an elbow jumper, something he should be capable of since he has a great stroke from the line. His hook shot still has a ways to go. He needs to take at least three a game. He was the dominate player inside all game and changed a dozen or more shots. Adrien had a solid game. He stayed aggressive on offense, rebounded with strength, and played solid defense. He did have 4 turnovers.

So much for those texts from Rudy Gay. Stanley Robinson has yet to introduce his midrange game. He didn’t disappear totally from the game but 3 for 6 shooting is to low. He needs to shoot more. He still battles hard on the glass and plays solid defense.

Gavin Edwards is improving in every game. He isn’t shy when he has the ball, makes free throws and rebounds well. If you sneezed at the wrong moment then you might have missed a Mandeldove sighting early in the second half. And what happened to Curtis Kelly? He has sunk to third option on the depth chart and his relative early season improvement is nonexistent.

Its been career day for the past several games and teams are able to jump on UConn from the opening tip. The pups are able to claw back but floundered down the stretch. This was a golden opportunity lost, a common theme in games against comparable talent, and they need to get over the hump. They have to play consistent offense and defense for 40 minutes. For now they should put this game behind them and take care of business at home against Justin Burrell and St. John’s. This team has five players that are averaging in double digits. UConn needs to stay above .500 in the Big East standings.