Uconn vs. Creighton -Sunday 12:00 noon

[the Blades]

Dec 20 (Sun) @ Gampel - TV: FS1

Creighton is the ultimate small ball team. They start a 6-7 forward, basically three 6-5 guards and 6-2 BE pre-season POY Marcus Zegarowski, out of Hamilton, MA, who played at the Tilton School. They do have 2 bigs
( 6-11 & & 7-0 ft) off the bench who combine for about 19 mins a game, but no one else who plays that's over 6-6. O'Connell the Duke transfer got in some PT last game after the mass waiver from the NCAA. Interesting to see who dictates who's style and if this match-up causes Hurley to bench all his size or if he uses Josh , Sanogo etc, and forces Creighton's try to defend them down low with all their guards or use their bigmen. We shall see.

click to enlarge:

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Most important matchups will be defensive because Creighton really shoots the 3 ball well and that's why they blew St. John's out last game, I have seen Zegarowski play and he is a point guard with an extremely pure shooting form- he is lights out from 3. UConn needs to have a good defender on him and defend the 3 ball well because this team, unlike USC, will drain open 3s.

 

[the Blades]

True, Mcdermott's line-up will cause match-up problems....so if that's the way DH has to play it, his roster goes down to about 7/8 players with Polley not really the best to match-up on these perimeter guys. Interesting to see if he goes back to his smaller line-up he used vs. HFD & CCSU and has to bench his bigs because of it.

RJ Cole 6-1/185
James Bouknight 6-5/190
Tyrese Martin 6-6/215
Isaiah Whaley 6-9/230
-----????-------

Jalen Gaffney 6-3/185 ???
Tyler Polley 6-9/215 ???
Brendan Adams 6-4/195
Andre Jackson 6-6/210

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

They need to figure out who will cover Zegarowski, I would put Tyrese Martin on him for starters. Someone will need to check him and you want a taller, longer, legit defender for Zegarowski to shoot over. I don't think RJ will work well on him, he is too small. You cannot go too small in the small ball matchups. Also, Cole and Bouknight will have to show they can defend their men. You don't want to have to Box and 1 this team, you want to use the athleticism advantage to negate their shooting advantage like UConn girls did against Creighton girls, who were good shooters but were held to 27% FG shooting.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Vegas Insider likes Creighton in this one. The current line is Creighton -2. I would take UConn with that line if there was no Covid interruption, but I am not trusting UConn even with all the depth they have with 17 days off. Creighton has been playing games and in the last game they played on Thursday, they were sharp and shot the lights out.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

The ESPN matchup predictor gives Creighton a 57.3% chance and UConn a 42.7% chance of winning.

 

[Dominicfrank]

This is bad game for us. rust will be a factor BUT a win would show just how far this team has come, a close loss is what I see as the biggest probability and a bad loss being something that DH will use as fuel to fire them up. No terrible outcome however it plays out but of course we dont want that bad loss!

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

I also see this shaping up as a rusty performance and close loss. To win UConn will need to turn it into an ugly game, and crush Creighton on the boards. Creighton has not been getting crushed on the boards of late.

 

[the Blades]

A short mention on Creighton's small ball and no Polley ? Looks like Adams and AJ will be even more important match-up wise in this game.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

No Polley due to some "other issue that will be disclosed Sunday"? Sounds kind of mysterious. We know it's not his knee from that statement. Polley hadn't looked that good the first 3 games. This might be a game where they don't really need him.

Starting Josh and Whaley is sort of like only playing 1 big defensively because of Whaley's defensive versatility. Whaley is like a longer and more athletic Lyman DePriest who at one time shut down the legendary Dana Barros of BC. However all of the UConn perimeter defenders will need to step up, especially whomever covers Zegarowski, which I am hoping will be Martin. Zegarowski is the best shooter on that team, although Bullock is also deadly.

 

[the Blades]

However all of the UConn perimeter defenders will need to step up, especially whomever covers Zegarowski, which I am hoping will be Martin. Zegarowski is the best shooter on that team, although Bullock is also deadly.

Yeah they're no joke, when the entire starting 5 shoots over 40% as I posted above in the OP....it's a problem for Uconn's D.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

The majority of their 3s are taken by 3 guys- Zegarowski, Bullock and Mahoney- all taking 7 attempts per game or more- and they need to be the focus. The other 2 starters only hoist 3s on occasion.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

UConn was badly outplayed most of that half but finished the half strong. They need to play like they did the last 5 minutes of the half. Creighton plays a pretty good halfcourt D and UConn needs to jack up the tempo of this game. To be down by 4 after the way that half went isn't that bad. Would like to see UConn get some easier shots for Bouknight. Virtually all 16 of his points were of a very high degree of difficulty and you would like to see him get at least a couple of easy buckets. Someone needs to set some picks.

 

[the Blades]

UConn was badly outplayed most of that half but finished the half strong.

and badly outshot, they had alot of wide open shots but 2-14 from 3 has been the killer. All in all after not playing for 17 days I'll take the half, but 14% from 3, SMH !

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Bouknight is seriously lighting up Creighton!

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Great D by Cole on Zegarowski today. Zegarowski is a better player than what he has shown but Cole has some quick feet and has locked Z up. Creighton has had their offense disrupted a little bit .....

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

A "no legs late" loss.....the 17 day layoff was definitely a factor but if UConn made a couple FTs or other shots they win in regulation.

 

[the Blades]

Great D by Cole on Zegarowski today.

Great D by RJ, but he killed them on offense, including a Donyell Marshall vs. FLA FT moment, to hand them the win.

2-14 FG, 2-9 on 3's and say it ain't so Donyell !

 

[Dominicfrank]

FREE THROW MISS ARE YOU SERIOUS?

 

[Dominicfrank]

What a WASTE of a great effort. A SINGLE Free Throw at the end causes this loss. TERRIBLE feeling after this one on what could have been a HUGE WIN....now could be a BIG LOSS. This is the kind that haunts teams and with UConn we have been the victim of plenty of them.

DH needs to get these guys ready to win 7-8 in a row to get over this one.

 

[Dominicfrank]

I know that a close loss in OT isnt bad but the polls will drop us vote wise for taking a top 10 team to OT and being ONE FT from a win after 17 days off will go unnoticed. Then this team has to rebound......from 40 points by Bouk that was wasted.....again......all because of ONE MISSED FT.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

It was a brutal loss, in what was a very winnable game, but they have to move past it in a hurry. Is there going to be a game this upcoming week? They need a game Wednesday.

Btw Bouk dropped 40 but the last 6 were kind of meaningless.....just improved the final score.

 

[the Blades]

Also

and badly outshot

Still comes down to putting the ball in the basket, plus I can't blame all the shooting on RJ because of how he had to extend himself on D. Besides James (unbelievable 40 pts)....Gaf, Martin and Adams where a combined 3-18. (correction 3-19 in the final box)

Box- Final OT (9) CREI 76 CONN 74

 

[Dominicfrank]

Up 4 with 21 seconds to go. Key play is Cole missing a FT. unreal.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

7-30 on 3s is not going to win most games. I think UConn had no legs at the end of the game, and Cole played a great D on Zegarowski, so I am not laying it on him, because Xavier was 7-27 from 3 which is way below what they usually shoot. UConn just did not have enough gas in the tank at the end to put the game away in regulation and ran out of gas in OT. They probably would not have lost if the layoff did not happen, but it did, and they have to live with it and own it and move on.

WHEN IS NEXT GAME?

 

[the Blades]

Dan's not gonna sleep well after this one... 2 missed FT's at 11 secs that would have put them up 4 and I hated the D match-up in the last 4 secs on the buzzer beater to send it to OT. He should have had Adams or Jackson on their 6-5/220 lb forward who tied it up by bullying it inside, not Gaf on the court, especially when Uconn wasn't getting the ball back with no time.

 

[the Blades]

WHEN IS NEXT GAME?

I know it's a long drive for you to leave the thread but.....search my son and you will find:

Latest on the schedule.....( full Big East)

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

I know it's a long drive for you to leave the thread but.....search my son and you will find:

Latest on the schedule.....( full Big East)

I read that and know we lost the DePaul game on 12/23 so is there some replacement game? Hurley said in his last presser they were looking for a league game I assume on the road?

Any luck on that?

 

[the Blades]

I read that and know we lost the DePaul game on 12/23 so is there some replacement game? Hurley said in his last presser they were looking for a league game I assume on the road?

Any luck on that?

Search for updates like I do you lazy F$#K !.......

 

[the Blades]

and badly outshot,

I agree James....

 

[the Blades]

Cole played a great D on Zegarowski, so I am not laying it on him

I am and so is their coach with out naming names....you can't miss both !

 

[the Blades]

 

[the Blades]

Neill's / the JI's wrap from Storrs:

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Would have been nice if Cole could have hit one of the FTs but I think he had no legs, they were bricks. Cole was lucky to even get FTs because he slipped and fell and traveled. Zegarowski assignment wore his ass out.

 

[the Blades]

Would have been nice if Cole could have hit one of the FTs but I think he had no legs, they were bricks.

I agree, including on the end to end, no resistance wide open lay-up he gave up right before that with 13 secs to go. You gotta make them use clock and you win the game....At the end of the day I don't think Creighton's anything much more than Uconn as a top 10 team.

 

[CaNOLEE]

Bouk might be UConn’s best player ever For the first 35 minutes. But he’s going to have to learn how to finish like Kemba, Bazz, Rip, KEA, if he wants to be great.

No excuses for Cole, he jacked up bad shots in the last 5 minutes as well, including the choke job at the line. You like that he wants the shot, but he and Bouk settled too often and played hero ball Late.

There is another solution to not having a goto guy in crunch time and that’s play better, so it doesn’t come down to the wire.

I gave them a mulligan in the first half for The 17 days off, but once you have a 4 point lead late in the game at home, you have to finish.

disappointed, but not discouraged.

 

[the Blades]

A short mention on Creighton's small ball and no Polley ?

Sounds like Tyler was the one with Covid..... from the Courant " UConn, playing without Tyler Polley, their best 3-point shooter, who had not completed COVID-19 protocol "

 

[the Blades]

 

[Dominicfrank]

Just read Cole's line tonight and you see why we lost. I am a Cole FAN.....love his D and energy but he has to STOP with the wild shots. kid went 2-13. That is a killer stat and it was his FT"s that cost us the game at the end.

The loss is on Cole. He can rebound but Gaffney needs more run over Cole based on 2-13 and losing the game for us. Cant have that from what was supposed to be a leader. We don't need a CV type that feels they must score and try out for the NBA every night.

And can we just end the Carlton experiment? He needs to get mop up minutes only. I really don't care how bad Adam or Whaley were in practice or if they are hurt.....he is beyond terrible.

Bouk makes plays out of NOTHING. Kid is beyond special. The up and under AND1 was just impossible....you cant make that shot if you are human. Bouk needed a couple more passes to compeltely carry this team....he draws ALL the attention so when he dishes its to easy open shots. That will come I hope because it would complete the kid. Truly Special player.

Adams, Gaff, Adam, need to step up.

Did we get a reason on Tyler?

 

[the Blades]

Did we get a reason on Tyler?

Did you see what I typed 2 posts up.... Covid issues.