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Uconn vs. St Johns- MON- TIME & TV change

the Blades

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Jan 20, 2003
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Uconn vs. St John's .....MON 2:30pm @ Gampel....TV: FOX (switched from FS1)

Huskies face St John's who is coming off a close loss at home to Marquette. The Red Storm have been starting a small ball line-up the last 2 games with 2 bigs and 3 guards that are 6-3 and under. They do bring more size off the bench.

click to enlarge:
BE-9-St-John-s-20-21-Roster-Stats-14-game.jpg



 
I watched their game against Marquette. They had chances to win that game at the end and missed shots. Marquette defended them well in the last minute and St. John's didn't get any good looks and also waited too long to get into their offense.

They are similar to DePaul, very solid team athletically. I was impressed with their point guard Dunn, he is a rocket in transition and blew past the entire Marquette team on one bucket. The main man player is Julian Champagnie who is a solid 6'8" wing who can handle and shoot. I think Whaley may need to defend him as he looks a little too strong for Polley. Marquette double covered him at the end of the game and he forced up some bad shots.
 
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Which UConn Player will most benefit from St. John's helter skelter pressing style?

(a) Cole- the driving lanes not open to him in the half court will suddenly be there

(b) Gaffney- he has had some amazing end to end drives in transition and can make it happen in this kind of game

(c) Polley - will be hitting transition 3s all over the Court

(d) Martin- some of the power drives we saw against DePaul will be seen in this game and he will be finishing stronger with fresher legs

(e) Adams- He will run the court and find scoring opportunities for himself
 
I am pretty sure the time change on the game and the bump up to Fox is due to UConn being in the top 25 and this being a marquis ratings game in the NYC/tri state area. Fox didn't want to waste a great TV game during the 5-7 pm dinner time slot. Was a smart move by the TV execs at Fox......now let's go UConn and take advantage of the time change to show the nation what you are made of!
 
I am pretty sure the time change on the game and the bump up to Fox is due to UConn being in the top 25 and this being a marquis ratings game in the NYC/tri state area. Fox didn't want to waste a great TV game during the 5-7 pm dinner time slot. Was a smart move by the TV execs at Fox......now let's go UConn and take advantage of the time change to show the nation what you are made of!
NOPE..... the game wouldn't have been changed except that the HBCU who was supposed to play in that time slot on MLK day had to opt out with the "covid rules exception"

"The Notre Dame vs. Howard nonconference game was originally scheduled for Fox in the 2:30 p.m. slot, but was canceled due to a COVID issue in Howard’s program. "
 
Which UConn Player will most benefit from St. John's helter skelter pressing style?

(a) Cole- the driving lanes not open to him in the half court will suddenly be there

(b) Gaffney- he has had some amazing end to end drives in transition and can make it happen in this kind of game

(c) Polley - will be hitting transition 3s all over the Court

(d) Martin- some of the power drives we saw against DePaul will be seen in this game and he will be finishing stronger with fresher legs

(e) Adams- He will run the court and find scoring opportunities for himself
All of the above will be nice if they are tight with their dribble, strong with 2 hands on the ball and sharp with their passes vs pressure as a team...as DH kinda mentions in the pre-game presser.
 
"Sharp with their passes" is going to be the biggest key. From what I saw of St. John's they are a very athletic team. Lazy and floated passes are not going to get it done in this game. In the past few games I have seen some really poor post entry passes by UConn and this has to be cleaned up.
 
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I think it opened at -8. When it went to -10 I knew that spread was too big and money would be bet on SJU
Nope .....read the top first row it opened at -10....also a few books are all the way down to -6 1/2

 
I think I looked at it and confused the opening and current lines- when I saw it it must have been down to -8 from the opening. The -10 is definitely too big a spread but a UConn 10 point win I would take!
 
I think I looked at it and confused the opening and current lines- when I saw it it must have been down to -8 from the opening. The -10 is definitely too big a spread but a UConn 10 point win I would take!
I hear ya.....just take care of business and win baby !
 
It's amazing to watch Tyrese Martin rip offensive rebounds away from the other team- boards he has no ownership interest in, but he just finds a way to grab them away.
 
After a good start by UConn, a shaky second part of the first half. UConn looked ragged and scattershot. This is exactly what St. John's wants. Hopefully they will execute better second half.
 
It's amazing to watch Tyrese Martin rip offensive rebounds away from the other team- boards he has no ownership interest in, but he just finds a way to grab them away.
True, but he gives it right back too many times when he has to dribble and make a pass. He's a power driver only, but I counted 3 times where he threw the ball away or couldn't get it to a Uconn guy wide open because he has no finesse to his game. He needs to play to his strengths (D and rebounding) Can't have him handling the ball vs. this team, it plays right into their hands.

Also can anyone on Uconn stay in front of their man ? If it wasn't for the drive by's ...St. Johns would be lucky to have 20 pts....
 
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I agree on Martin not handling any more against this team. Looks like DH told him to stop and stick to boards and defense, and Cole is doing the bulk of the ballhandling with some help from Gaffney.
 
the bump up to Fox is due to UConn being in the top 25 and this being a marquis ratings game in the NYC/tri state area. Fox didn't want to waste a great TV game during the 5-7 pm dinner time slot. Was a smart move by the TV execs at Fox......now let's go UConn and take advantage of the time change to show the nation what you are made of!
I guess Uconn's not ready for PRIME TIME !! .... and will RJ ( and Tyrese) send out another tweet telling Uconn Nation " he owes us one" for missing more clutch FT's ????? And will everyone say "wow what a swell guy he is" ???? Not blaming him for the loss, but be about it..... don't talk about it....Very disappointing.
 
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It seemed like UConn went small because so many guys were getting beat off the dribble. But the problem with that was they kept getting beat off the dribble and had no cohesion on offense. Sanogo seemed to be hot when removed. It seemed like UConn was outplayed and outcoached. My cousin in NY was watching the game and texted me that he was surprised by how weak UConn looked on D.
 
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My cousin in NY was watching the game and texted me that he was surprised by how weak UConn looked on D.
True, Anderson spread them out, got Whaley away from the basket, and then St. Johns started hitting 3's like the Splash brothers in the 2nd half, if they weren't beatin' RJ off the dribble.

Then Uconn's offense looked like the first half of Depaul a week ago.... dribble out the shot clock from 25 away, then go into desperation mode.

Tale of 2 halves----
ST.John's on 3's--- 1-6 (1st half) ...6-9 (2nd half)
Uconn on 3's----- 6-13( 1st )...Uconn 1-6 (2nd)
 
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It seemed like UConn went small because so many guys were getting beat off the dribble. But the problem with that was they kept getting beat off the dribble and had no cohesion on offense. Sanogo seemed to be hot when removed. It seemed like UConn was outplayed and outcoached.
Then how about continuing to exploit that smaller line-up on offense ? And has DH ever heard of a zone, so he doesn't get beat off the dribble ?
 
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Sometimes you get too caught up in matching up with the other team instead of making them match up with your team. UConn was getting the ball inside to Sanogo and he was getting easier scoring opportunities than anyone else was on offense the rest of the game.
 
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Sometimes you get too caught up in matching up with the other team instead of making them match up with your team. UConn was getting the ball inside to Sanogo and he was getting easier scoring opportunities than anyone else was on offense the rest of the game.
Truth
 
This is one coaching move I agree with for this game and what I've seen so far... Akok wants to play but he gets out of position to easy and can't move quick enough to recover

 
you have to do all the little things(hit your FTs, take care of the ball, guard, rebound) to win without your lottery pic. We obviously didn’t.

very disappointing. With Bouk, we could be special. Without him, we are an NIT team.
 
you have to do all the little things(hit your FTs, take care of the ball, guard, rebound) to win without your lottery pic. We obviously didn’t. very disappointing. With Bouk, we could be special. Without him, we are an NIT team.
True story...They now have no big shot maker or shot creator with him out. Tyler had a hot hand in those 2 games but he's a catch and shoot guy. I'm not convinced the team is better with RJ running the team even though he had a good 1st half hitting 3's vs. St. John's. He isn't great creating off the dribble because he's not that fast, his lefty dribble gets shut down and his 6-16 FG's in the game ain't doing anybody any favors, along with blown FT's (again).

The Courant had an article that covered alot of what I've' been thinking about with Gaf. I think DH handing his starting job to RJ has been a net negative to Gaf and maybe effected his confidence. Because he did a great job running the team last year when DH replaced Al with him. And I'll tell you another thing, Gaf ( and CV ) didn't miss clutch FT's last year like RJ and Tyrese are. It's all the difference in the world between winning and losing.

But since no one else can really create DH is convinced RJ is the answer even though his FT's killed the team (twice) and his D was really bad vs. Posh/ St. John's, especially in the 2nd half when they made their run. DH played him way to many minutes, plus he's not a great athlete anyway. I was thinking an offense to defense sub with Gaf could of helped. But Hurley is stuck on RJ now. Even though it's something he created.... probably not for the better..

He's some of the excerpts.

“We can’t afford for [Gaffney] to not play better,” Hurley said. “He’s a core guy, first-recruiting-class guy, and now has had back-to-back games where he’s played less than 12 minutes. Especially with James out, or even without James out, we need the big second-year bump from him to make this work. Now we’re desperate to get improved second-year play, but he’s got to get out there and do it. He’s got to believe in himself. He’s got to make plays. We’ve got to get more production out of him.”........
" Gaffney, a 6-foot-3 guard, helped turn last season around when he took over at point guard. Though his scoring was modest, he ran the team on the floor with a lot of poise. This season, though he is bigger and stronger, Gaffney has struggled to find his voice. He’s fallen from the starting lineup, averaging 20.3 minutes, 5.4 points with 14 assists and 12 turnovers. There are flashes; his one big move to the basket created a 3-point play vs. St. John’s, but he was in foul trouble and thus limited when UConn needed him to help cover the opponents four-guard lineup. ......It sounds like rebuilding Gaffney’s confidence should be a priority. "

 
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The fix seems pretty simple to me: put Gaffney on ball and Cole off ball at shooting guard and see what happens. The point guard play has been ineffective and nobody seems to dispute this.
 
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