Uconn vs. Hartford

[the Blades]

Up next the Huskies face the Hawks at 8pm on CBS Sports Net. Hartford fields a bigger line-up than CCSU with 4 foreign bigs over 6-9. Uconn should have Tyrese Martin ready to go to make a deep line-up even deeper. Interesting to see if Josh Carlton ( the forgotten man ) gets more PT vs. a bigger Hawks squad who are playing their 1st game of year. DH said this is a better team than CCSU. Hartford was 18-15 last season, and were ready to play Vermont for an NCAA birth when Covid ended their season....so we shall see.

Click image to enlarge:

 

[the Blades]

From Borges:
For starters: Dan Hurley went with a small starting lineup against CCSU, but explained it had more to do with getting his most experienced players on the floor than anything else. He noted that the lineup could very well be different on Friday night, hinting that, among other things, talented freshman Adama Sanogo could start at the five alongside Isaiah Whaley at the four.

Big East pedigree: While UConn is back in the Big East this season, the only player on either team who has actually played in the Big East is Hartford’s Traci Carter, a fifth-year guard who began his career at Marquette. Carter was on the America East All-Defensive Team.

 

[the Blades]

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

I would like to see Sanogo start at the 5 and Whaley at the 4, first because Sanogo deserves to based on his first game performance, and second because I also looked at the Hartford roster and also observed their 4 foreign bigs, which include a couple of bruisers from Czech Republic and another from Slovakia, thereby providing coverage of the entire former country of Czechoslavakia on one roster. I am suspecting these guys are bruisers and you need someone like Sanogo to anchor the boards down against guys like that. Whaley as well brings in the shotblocking presence. Not sure if we will see Akok yet as I know they are being very careful with him.

What I also see is a 2 week hole in UConn's schedule after this game, because of the kaboshing of that tournament next week, which kind of sucks, but it is what it is.

 

[the Blades]

What I also see is a 2 week hole in UConn's schedule after this game, because of the kaboshing of that tournament next week, which kind of sucks, but it is what it is.

Yeah it's a shame BYU, USC and Vandy all have Covid and aren't scheduled to play in CT next week, either ......But maybe they'll all recover and find someone to take Uconn's place...

Legends Classic.com

PS... but at least we know the women are playing looking at their schedule..

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Instead of crying over spilled milk Dave Benedict should be on the phone trying to schedule a couple games like Friday and Sunday next week.

 

[the Blades]

Instead of crying over spilled milk Dave Benedict should be on the phone trying to schedule a couple games like Friday and Sunday next week.

He already did.... the women are playing at the XL next week vs Notre Dame and Oregon.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

I have not seen anything about that yet, aren't they still in the 14 day pause and don't they need a week or so of practices before they can play? The men right now are the ones who need to hunt some games next week.....

 

[the Blades]

For the fans who can't handle the split milk, are drinking heavily and/or are confused over schedules during Covid-19, I offer this ......stay...

 

[the Blades]

The men right now are the ones who need to hunt some games next week.....

Shhh ! .... or should somebody tell these 3 schools and the Legends Classic.com to change their websites... so not to confuse the easily confused...( or maybe then again they may not have to ?)

 

[the Blades]

Back to pre-game ink:

UConn hosts neighbor Hartford with defense on its mind

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Tyrese Martin being back tonight automatically improves the perimeter defense. I suspect he will play a lot of minutes and will keep his guy in front of him, which will be a good start for the team's defensive base.

 

[the Blades]

Different level opponent, even besides the height than CCSU, so true, they'll need all hands on deck....I don't think Akok will be ready from what DH said in his last presser...

U-Hart coach...
"We've been on the court. We'll have 30 practices before the UConn game," Gallagher said. "All systems are a go. Our full packages are in. I don't know how good the packages are going to be in the first game, but our system is in and we will be throwing a lot of different stuff at UConn." ... "We're deep," Gallagher said. "Guys six-through-10 would usually start for me."

 

[the Blades]

 

[Calhoun_for_President]

Its so obvious Sanogo should be starting and logging major minutes.
His athleticism and explosiveness jumps off the screen.
Has a beautiful touch around the rim as well.

If he can ever develop a perimeter shot...........imagine the pick and roll pop game

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

The team has looked a lot better with Sanogo on the floor in both games so far. He is a winning type player who does a lot of things on the floor that contribute from good positioning to active hands to using his body to set picks and create space for himself. He is sort of like Alex Oriakhi but more active.

 

[Calhoun_for_President]

The score is deceptive.
The defense has been better but not by much.
Hartford missed a lot of easy shots and frankly played awful on O.

Still getting beat a lot off the dribble and not rotating to take the charge or force the extra pass.
Lots of improvement needed on D without games before conf play starts.........

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Hartford shot 29% and had 2 assists in the first half, which is pathetic, but they were almost even with UConn on the boards. UConn needs to play better defense and rebound better. So far they are playing 9 guys and the 3 who haven't played are Akok, Carlton and Brown, who are all 6'10" or bigger. If they aren't going to play Brown, they should redshirt him, although they want to hold off on doing that as long as possible with Covid issues being possible down the road.

 

[Calhoun_for_President]

If Akok is healthy I agree with KSTW
Brown has no role
At this point Carlton is just a matchup rotation player who will get in only when needed against bruisers.

 

[Calhoun_for_President]

Being outplayed badly 2nd half
6+ minutes no made FGs
pitiful

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

UConn has committed 21 personal fouls as a team so far tonight. This is not what you want.

When you watch games like this there are only 3 words that come to mind: Just win baby!

 

[Calhoun_for_President]

The 3 words that come to my mind.......Thoroughly Unimpressive Performance!
Long way to go here. Loooooooooooooong way to go

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

For the game, UConn committed 24 fouls and Hartford was 21-27 on FTs. Can't recall the last time so many fouls were committed. Just poor defense. UConn barely won the boards 41-37 mainly due to 10 boards from Whaley

 

[Hooper_Scooper]

If they aren't going to play Brown, they should redshirt him, although they want to hold off on doing that as long as possible with Covid issues being possible down the road.

First off, in a normal year Brown couldn't redshirt since he already played in the first game. But there is no need to redshirt anyone this year since the NCAA said that every winter athlete gets an extra year of eligibility. See this article.

NCAA grants extra year for winter sport athletes

NCAA Division I athletes who participate in winter sports will be given another year of eligibility, and football teams will be allowed to compete in bowl games regardless of record in one-time rule changes passed Wednesday.

www.espn.com

 

[the Blades]

 

[the Blades]

BOX SCORE Hartford (57)__UConn (69)

 

[the Blades]

What I also see is a 2 week hole in UConn's schedule after this game, because of the kaboshing of that tournament next week, which kind of sucks, but it is what it is.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

UConn needs games, but right now they are not ready to play against teams like Vanderbilt and USC or BYU. Last night was an alarmingly poor performance. After a great first 8 minutes or so Hartford made a simple defensive adjustment, forced UConn into a half court game and James Bouknight was made to disappear for most of the rest of the game. He and the rest of the team mostly rushed bad shots, fumbled the ball around, looked out of psynch offensively and were terrible on defense. Having so many different players commit so many bad fouls in one game is very concerning. I had seen this tournament as 2 wins for UConn but I think they will be lucky to get 1 win in this tournament if they play like they did the first two games. They are not ready. They need a lot of work on basic team defense and half court offense. With 2 point guards playing a lot, getting good halfcourt ball movement shouldn't be a problem. But it is. They need more practice time together, and need to improve in a number of areas.