Other Big East Action

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Thriller in Providence tonight as St. John's won 72-70 on an offensive rebound putback at the buzzer by Ejiofor, who had a severe mismatch with a smaller guard trying ineffectively to block him out. Ejiofor easily high-pointed the rebound over him.

Providence led by 15-18 points for stretches of this game, but they are prone to offensive droughts, partly because of no Bryce Hopkins (out with left knee tendinitis and has missed 9 games), and partly because PC's big men suck. PC was playing a 7'2" guy named Anton Bonke, who doesn't look like a total dork and runs the floor well but looks like he is a complete stranger to the college game. He is from the country of Vanuatu which I honestly have never heard of. During the game he showed his inexperience and only scored 4 points and 1 board which, combined with the 7'1" Christ Essandoko (who UConn briefly kicked tires on) gave PC 4 points and 2 boards at the 5 position. PC's best player was Miami transfer Bensley Joseph, who looked like a poor man's Kemba Walker but did not have a ton of help.

St. John's looked good on D but kept PC in the game by shooting 11-26 on FTs and 3-18 on 3s. This is not a good shooting team at all.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Watching St. John's - Xavier which is turning into a blowout of Xavier. Watching this game, I think St. John's is the best defensive team in the Big East, at least of the teams I have seen so far. They are not allowing Xavier any open looks and also are all over the boards. SJU looks like a dangerous team to me. Rickie P has them playing some serious ball like you knew he eventually would.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Watching Georgetown up 35-21 at Marquette. This is not the Georgetown of a couple years ago. This Hoya team is playing Cooleyball and are rolling. They have shown a zone defense which seemingly threw Marquette off. Will be very interesting to see what happens as you always need to play 40 minutes against Marquette especially on their Court.

 

[the Blades]

They have shown a zone defense which seemingly threw Marquette off.

I pray that DH is watching. It's a shame he's to stubborn to try the obvious and get out of his beloved man to man. At least for a different look to slow down the endless drives to the hoop by anyone with a pulse, even vs. some of the cupcakes B4 Maui. It's been a season long problem that he seems to ignore... Gotta be his worst group ever, yet no change, #ZONE....SMH!

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Zone defense is something UConn absolutely should be doing in stretches against teams that are killing them off the dribble which Providence was the first half this past weekend. I think Hurley believes in his head he can fix what is broken but sometimes you have to fix slowly over time and in the interim apply temporary treatments including zone defenses. Otherwise they will lose games because of not doing that.

BTW Marquette has tightened this game up and it's turned into an excellent game of Cooleyball vs Marquette's pressure.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Ben Gold of Marquette is having all kinds of problems finishing in this game. He isn't the player that Oso Ighadoro was.

 

[the Blades]

I think Hurley believes in his head he can fix what is broken but sometimes you have to fix slowly over time and in the interim apply temporary treatments including zone defenses. Otherwise they will lose games because of not doing that.

Yep, already have.....the whole Maui trip was teams beating his guys 1 on 1 ....But it seems time after time when they score it's like they can't stop the ball or don't have the will to get in front of their man. Slowing Providence down with full court pressure in the 2nd half helped some. But they need some Pitino match-up zone for a wrinkle or even a Cuse version with a rangy guy like Ross at the top...It can't hurt !

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Especially disappointing to me in the Providence game was Karaban's man to man defense. Although he did have 4 blocked shots and is good at help defense at the rim, his man was getting by him with ease repeatedly. The first half against PC was the worst defense they played since Maui. What we have to keep in mind is UConn needed to shoot 72% in the second half to barely win the game.

What we saw last night is a preview of what's coming. Marquette, Georgetown, St. John's all have athletic teams that are likely to have success driving the ball on UConn. St. John's is a weak 3 point shooting team (although they defend the perimeter well) and UConn will be in a position where it would be a no brainer to use zone defense against them if the relentless rim attacks are not stopped. St. John's won last night at Xavier with relentless rim attacks and relentless offensive rebounding which did not get stopped. They are the one team where a lot of zone defense may be called for.

 

[the Blades]

St. John's is a weak 3 point shooting team (although they defend the perimeter well) and UConn will be in a position where it would be a no brainer to use zone defense against them if the relentless rim attacks are not stopped. St. John's won last night at Xavier with relentless rim attacks and relentless offensive rebounding which did not get stopped. They are the one team where a lot of zone defense may be called for.

Good call....Different St. John's team but I recall watching em' blow by Uconn @ the XL Center 3 years ago.... over and over. And it shows DH's disdain and stubbornness of changing to a zone. Posh, Curbelo, etc., most of St. John's....couldn't hit a 3 all night, yet despite the their " lay-up line offense", DH refused to change to zone. ......And this team has no Clingan to make up for as Dan says our "embarrassing 1-on-1 defense".... so you'd think zone is 100% a no-brainer.

But it's like DH has a blindspot that refuses to adjust at times. Like he refused with Andre Jackson until FEB the same year and finally told AJ "stop shooting you're team out of games by taking 3's" then moved him to the dunkers spot, SMH !

St. John's (NY) vs. Connecticut Box Score (Men), January 15, 2023 | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

St. John's (NY) vs. Connecticut Box Score (Men), January 15, 2023

www.sports-reference.com