Uconn vs. Marquette - Tues

[the Blades]

Next up Uconn goes on the road - Jan 5 (Tue) - 9 p.m. TV: FS1 @ Marquette
Whaley will probably have to match-up on Garcia the 6-11 stretch 4, which takes away from his shot blocking, while Carlton / Sanogo should get the 6-9/245 lb. starter underneath. As posted in the other thread they just had a great 15 point comeback vs. Georgetown ( can Patrick Ewing really coach with his .500 career record? ) Wojo plays a 7 or 8 man rotation.

click to enlarge:

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

The 6'9" 245 dude is very muscular and Georgetown for some reason was double teaming him, which may have been why Cain went off for 25 points.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Here are Marquette's season stats. They are actually a considerably better shooting team than what they displayed against the Hoyas last night- 45.5% FGs and a very good 38% on 3 pointers:

2021-22 Marquette Golden Eagles Stats | ESPN

Visit ESPN to view the Marquette Golden Eagles team stats for the 2021-22 season.

www.espn.com

UConn's shooting stats not as good, 44.3% FGs and 32.4% on 3s, but UConn's defensive numbers are stellar, 39.6% FGs and 27.4% 3FG%, better than Marquette's 40.2% and 33%:

2021-22 Men's Basketball Cumulative Statistics - University of Connecticut Athletics

The official 2021-22 Men's Basketball cumulative statistics for the University of Connecticut Huskies

uconnhuskies.com

Going forward UConn's shooting numbers need to improve to be able to beat the better teams in the Big East.

 

[the Blades]

Uconn updated player stats:

......of note, Cole and Gaf have to improve the FG shooting from the PG spot, especially with around 15 FGA between them per game......also that DNP stat for one of the Huskies may change ....

click image to enlarge:

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Is Akok going to be unleashed Tuesday night?

Regarding the PGs, they need to step up their shooting and their overall half court play for this team to improve.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Vegas Insider's opening line is Marquette -2. Huskies are not picked to win this one by the Vegas money.

ESPN Matchup Predictor has it 52.3% Marquette and 47.7% UConn chance of victory.

 

[the Blades]

Good historical recap & preview from Marquette SB Nation:

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Good post Blades. The preview is intelligently done and the history is interesting, but Marquette has more wins than they should. I remember watching Marquette in Butler's early years and thinking he should start, but they had very good players at his position back then. The Novak game was the most painful of the losses. I think UConn was #1 or 2 at the time and Novak had an explosive outburst of 3 pointers. He ended up having a couple of good NBA seasons with the Knicks as a specialty 3 point shooter, because he really couldn't do anything else.

UConn needs to even up the series soon and hopefully it starts tonight. As far as the matchup on John I worry about that because Sanogo is the only guy on the roster who has the muscle to defend against his bullyball. I would not put Josh on him unless they have to.

 

[the Blades]

That wrong way OT game were the refs took a bucket away from Uconn to cost them the game, because they (the Zebra's) started the OT in the wrong direction, was a classic too. Along with how agreeable KO was as he went along with being screwed, in his typical nice guy form, SMH !..... Calhoun would've lost his mind on a gaf like that by the refs. Then Uconn got obligatory we screwd you by the refs and BE afterwards, but it was still a loss.

 

[the Blades]

Is Akok going to be unleashed Tuesday night?

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Blades, I do not know if you watched Hurley's presser in the other thread, but he teased the shit out of the question of when Akok would play, giving totally question begging answers like "I am not going to put a timeline on it" and "Akok will let us know when he is ready". Apart from these teasers, it was interesting that he was asked about Whaley's foul problems and was not so quick to blame poor matchups like you were. Instead, he was mildly critical of Whaley. Hurley said he lacked the proper energy due to not having the crowds juice him up, and also called his technique on getting set to defend on one play in the Creighton game "lazy." But overall he did not seem too concerned about it.

He also joked that UConn was 2nd in the nation on O-boards in part due to too many missed FGs that are being boarded aggressively by Martin and Carlton, who have noses for balls on missed shots. Hurley suggested he would rather see the team make a few more shots, and so would I.

 

[the Blades]

He also joked that UConn was 2nd in the nation on O-boards in part due to too many missed FGs that are being boarded aggressively by Martin and Carlton, who have noses for balls on missed shots. Hurley suggested he would rather see the team make a few more shots, and so would I.

Who said they can't shoot...don't tell Tyler that !!!!....best Uconn comeback win in years !!!
I guess TP had Uconn's equivalent of the Novak game !

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

That was an incredible win by UConn tonight over a very solid team that owns wins over Creighton and Wisconsin.

What was amazing to me was how quickly UConn erased an 18 point deficit on the road. Only really good teams make 18 point leads disappear in under 5 minutes. It had to bring back an awful memory for Marquette's coach Wojo, who was Duke's PG when they blew a 21 point lead to Kentucky in the last 6 or 7 minutes of the 1998 Elite 8 game. I don't remember a worse collapse in the NCAA tournament. Wojo had TO after TO after TO against the press Tubby Smith and UK unleashed on him.

Marquette looked like they had no gas from the 12 minute mark of the second half on, and clearly UConn's bench won the game.

I think you guys witnessed firsthand tonight what depth means. To have a guy like Tyler Polley, who is a senior that can get hot, shoot 3s and fill up the basket, come in off the bench and do what he did, is something we have not seen in a very long time. 23 huge second half points and he was the man and should be Big East Player of the Week.

The only thing I ever saw that compared to that was Rashad Anderson doing the same thing to erase a 25 point deficit against a UMASS, but that was at home against a weaker team than what UConn played tonight.

 

[the Blades]

Oh and Isaiah is back, not that he ever left....15 points, 13 rebs and a force everywhere on D...along with a money 3 right in the middle of that huge run !

Boxscore- UConn 65 - Marquette 54

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Whaley had a very good game both end, but the PGs again did not really do much. Cole and Gaff were 1-7 combined on FGs but at least they made a few FTs and Cole had 5 assists. Poor Ty Martin got bagelled tonight - 0 points- despite having some pretty good point blank looks. Martin was 0-5 and UConn shot only 41% as a team, but held Marquette to 38% FGs and 27% on 3s and horsed MU on the boards by a 42-28 margin. I think this UConn team is very good. They should be 6-0 right now and they have played 4 solid or better teams. And they came back from 18 down to win by 11 tonight, mostly without Bouknight in the game and injured and not effective when he was in the game.

 

[the Blades]

Whaley had a very good game both end, but the PGs again did not really do much. Cole and Gaff were 1-7 combined on FGs but at least they made a few FTs and Cole had 5 assists. Poor Ty Martin got bagelled tonight - 0 points- despite having some pretty good point blank looks. Martin was 0-5 and UConn shot only 41% as a team.

But shot 50% on 3's, (how did that happen ) ......thank you Tyler

 

[the Blades]

 

[CaNOLEE]

If you said Bouk and Martin combined for 6 and we were down 18 in the second half, you’d think we lost by 25+.

but as Lee Corso says ‘not so fast my friend’!

something special is brewing in Storrs, kid’s.

 

[the Blades]

Who said they can't shoot...don't tell Tyler that !!!!....best Uconn comeback win in years !!!

I guess it had been awhile.....