Good W

[Ozzie3178]

We showed some toughness and I what I wanted to see was another killer or 2 emerge besides Boat and looks like it is Omar off the bench which is key and Rak gave some good tough minutes. Keep believing we are starting to come together!
Those young mistakes are still there but that is all correctable

Stanford we HAVE to win to be in the dance solidly and more importantly provide confidence to these kids!!!

 

[the Blades]

Originally posted by Ozzie3178:
Those young mistakes are still there but that is all correctable

True certain guys still trying to drive into a scrum with nowhere to go. T-Sam was a big difference vs. the press because
he beats pressure and gains the frontcourt without forcing it after that....love a couple of old school daggers by Omar,
even though he let his man by him for lay-ups a few times. But overall him and the D moved their feet better and shut
down the lanes in the 2nd half which showed up in the stats (30.8 FG % by Cincy) Still struggling a little on the FT
line at the end but the D made up for it and the W. Overall big crowd and loud at some key moments with the first
sellout at the XL in the new attendance configuartion (15,564)

 

[Dominicfrank]

I loved the win but the same things that made us lose to Texas, Temple, Yale and especially WVU were there again today and that is FT shooting and just dreadful inbouding the ball and ball handling by Hamilton. TSam was better today but still I have pretty low confidence when he has the ball in his hands.

Purvis and Calhoun is where it sits for me, need complete games from both.

Still I just can't believe how bad Nolan is. I know we have to at least fake the ball inside when he is in there but if I was the other team I would just double someone else and leave him alone when he is out there. I have never seen someone so off. I know he has more polish than this so for me now its sad and I feel for him because there is no way he isn't completely embarrassed at this point.

Here is what I would have the kids practicing :

TSam- dribble up and down the court, in out of cones and just work on being smooth. He has not smoothed out at all.
DHAM- put every player on the court and have him try and dribble through all of them until he realizes that there are defenders everywhere and its impossible to spin dribble away from D1 defenders and you can put your head down until the last second when you try to pass, you need to know where your team mates are at all times. Then shoot FT's util he can hit 50 in a row.
Mida- BIG MAN CAMP. but the bodies down low and have him rebound and practive put backs over and over and over again.
Facey- Make him try and dunk as the only way he is allowed to score at all times in any drill or scrimmage
Nolan- Give him a 2 second time limit anytime he gets the ball.

 

[Silk31]

Great team win by our guys today. We need two guys on a given game to step up scoring wise and both Omar and Purvis had their stretches in this one. The great news for us is that we are finally healthy and confident Omar is back to pack a nice scoring punch off the bench.

I hope KO realizes now that Nolan should never get off the bench anymore barring some crazy foul trouble to our bigs. Rakim is active and physical. What a great block he had late in the 2nd half after we failed to gather multiple defensive rebounds when the game was still in the balance.

Apparently Rakim told KO that he wanted in the game to take on those players who were "pushing us around". KO loved that from Rak and he needs more burn at Phil's expense...it's as clear as day

Let's keep it rolling fellas

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Nolan is benched now and Lubin is taking away his minutes. I have never seen a big man who gets his shot blocked more than Nolan does. A few years ago RJ Evans set the unofficial UConn record for highest percentage of his shots getting blocked but I think Nolan, if he gets off the bench, could challenge that record. Nolan had a season low 3 minutes today and in the last 4 he has had 7, 6, 5, and 3. How do you spell BENCHED so Lubin is basically now the backup 5 and the backup 4. Nolan will only be used in foul emergencies.

Dan Hamilton was a horror show today with the lazy passes and the sloppy TOs off the spin dribble move, off of which he gets a TO more often than a shot or an assist. They really have to clean up the rough edges in his game. His TOs are totally out of control. 5 again today. I think maybe the drill Dom suggested but his TOs today turned a comfortable win into a possibly dicy game. All of them were really unnecessary.

All of that being said, I think UConn is playing great defense the last 5-6 games. Purvis really had his guy bottled up and Cincy really struggled to get anything going second half. They shot 48% 1st half but then were under 40% for the game. I have noticed this pattern that UConn opponents are wearing down second half and consistently shooting lower percentages. This was noticeable in multiple recent games. UConn now has their whole healthy team and guys are fresh late. There were only 2 guys who played more than 30 minutes, Boat and Facey.

 

[northdakotahusky]

Great win. I too am perplexed by Nolan. We've had plenty of lousy players before, but generally they never get off the bench. Needless to say, Nolan is at that point, but he's had lots of minutes in his career. Some good minutes as well.

Anyways, I'm tired of Nolan. Happy Lubin has him benched. He looked ok today. The team looked pretty solid. I don't know what the numbers say, but it feels like we are on the edge of being a good three point shooting team.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Post Game Interview With Rak Lubin

Wayne Norman's postgame interview with Rak Lubin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BheTwZZVMH8

 

[northdakotahusky]

Re: Post Game Interview With Rak Lubin

Well...it was better than a hockey interview, but that doesn't mean much. Rock is not a ball of excitement. Regardless, it's nice to see Rock get singled out.

 

[Ozzie3178]

Re: Post Game Interview With Rak Lubin

Yea I am with you guys. Phil almost seems like he is point shaving it is so bad out there. Smh.

 

[the Blades]

Re: Post Game Interview With Rak Lubin

Post game team quote's from the NHR:

On a different element with Lubin:
NHR- Kevin Ollie: "(Rakim Lubin) was like, 'I got that guy that's pushing us around', I like that"
and from Boat: "He's been practicing extremely hard. We've been staying on him about his attitude, just having a positive attitude, being ready for your time, because you never know when it's gonna come." " I tell him all the time, he's our bruiser. He's got the body that we need to be down there bangin' with those bigs. He's a little undersized, but he's got a lot of heart.

Also Omar finally starting to understand his limitations as far as his handle and his strengths:
"If you can score in less than three dribbles, that's what people like to see. Whatever the defense gives me,
I can work off-- 3's, mid-range."
This post was edited on 1/11 7:39 AM by the Blades

 

[the Blades]

Re: Post Game Interview With Rak Lubin

An SNY follow up article on T-Sam's huge contribution despite the box score:

"Terrence Samuel is going to have better games in his career at UConn. - (But) The game isn't played on the box score."

"Samuel's role isn't to score and put up numbers, it's to provide ball-handling, defense and to get Ryan Boatright off the point.
He is there to tempo the game and control things. That's what he did in his 17 minutes of action. When he wasn't on the
floor, Boatright was under siege as Cincinnati attacked with length and athleticism. Off the ball - Boatright had the pressure
taken off. "

Very true, I noticed one sequence that Uconn had both Omar and Purvis in the backcourt with Boat in-bounding. Ball
was immediately stolen by Cincy for a lay-up. I looked at KO on the bench he had Samuel running to the scorers table,
after a whistle, T-Sam came in....that was the end of problems with Cincy's press.

“It’s not about points. It’s about contributing in different ways,” Ollie said. “He got great rebounds, he was able to break
pressure and he was able to run the offense to get (Ryan) Boatright off the ball. I thought he did a wonderful job giving us
some meaningful minutes.”
UConn men: Huskies go to bench to beat Cincinnati
This post was edited on 1/11 7:58 AM by the Blades

 

[TRUCONN76]

Let's hope Nolan's problems are related to his heal bruise and that he can heal. I believe we will need him to be able to beat a big team if we make the tournament. I had a bad heal bruise as a kid that took me two years to recover from. It definitely can affect your ability to play.

 

[Ozzie3178]

Yea I have been feelin that Phil will come up big when it is needed most and least expected a la Michigan State last year.

Let's hope so....



This post was edited on 1/11 6:32 PM by Ozzie3178

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

I really hope it is the heel and that it will heal, because he has really played awful basketball with the exception of his 12 charges taken (which leads the team by 10) and some isolated good defensive stands. I have been shocked at how badly he has played on offense. I would have thought he could get 5 points and 3 boards a game which is not asking a whole lot, but his season averages are 1.1 points and 1.1 boards per game.