vs. Alabama (FRI Nov 25-9:30pm) @ the PKI - TV: ESPN
- Thread starter the Blades
- Start date
The line is Alabama -1. Tonight's game should be much more competitive than last night. Nate Oats is one of the best coaches in the country and he was discovered by Bobby Hurley who was impressed by his coaching as a high school coach and hired him to his staff at Buffalo. Looking forward to this matchup.
Also tonight's game is moving over to the other Arena (Blazers former home), hope Uconn takes the shooting with em'
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Last night's game was by far the most physical opponent UConn has faced this year, and in past years UConn could wilt in games like this. But I agree with Bill Walton that the physical play in last night's game was "beautiful", because UConn withstood it and gave it back. I do not remember a UConn point guard getting hit and slammed like Tristan Newton got last night, and a smaller or weaker guard would have probably had trouble, but he put his head down and kept playing and UConn made 21-24 FTs. As The Tide Blog said:
"The Tide was physically overmatched for the first time all season. The Huskies bullied their way to success down low and hit enough deep shots to losen things up. Adama Sanogo, a 6’9” 250 pound beast had his way down low despite the best efforts of Bediako, Clowney, Noah Gurley, and Nick Pringle. Sanogo finished with 25 points to lead all scorers."
www.rollbamaroll.com
Nate Oats postgame:
“It’s a tough loss. UConn’s obviously a really good team. It’s the first loss of the season, so you learn about yourself a little bit. I thought our first-half turnovers killed us, but we did a good job. I thought we showed a lot of fight getting back. We tied the game up a couple different times in the second half. And then we just fouled too much. We went 17-of-18 at the free-throw line. Fouling just negates all of our hustle on the defensive end. When we needed some stops, we couldn’t get them. They kind of broke the thing open, it went from tied to 10 there pretty quick. We’ve got a lot of stuff we’ve gotta get better at. We’ve gotta take care of the ball better.
“I didn’t think we had a very good plan for how to attack their pick-and-rolls. Obviously, stuff’s hard with no practice time. We played last night, played today. So the coaching staff’s gotta do a little better job, the players gotta do a little bit better. I didn’t think our effort was bad. I thought we played pretty hard for most of the game. We just couldn’t get some stops when we needed to there in the second half. They kind of opened it up, we fouled a little bit too much and our offense struggled at the same time our defense struggled when they were on that run there to break it open in the second half.”
"The Tide was physically overmatched for the first time all season. The Huskies bullied their way to success down low and hit enough deep shots to losen things up. Adama Sanogo, a 6’9” 250 pound beast had his way down low despite the best efforts of Bediako, Clowney, Noah Gurley, and Nick Pringle. Sanogo finished with 25 points to lead all scorers."
UConn Too Much For The Crimson Tide
The 18th ranked Tide lost to the 20th ranked Huskies 82-67 on Friday night
www.rollbamaroll.com
“It’s a tough loss. UConn’s obviously a really good team. It’s the first loss of the season, so you learn about yourself a little bit. I thought our first-half turnovers killed us, but we did a good job. I thought we showed a lot of fight getting back. We tied the game up a couple different times in the second half. And then we just fouled too much. We went 17-of-18 at the free-throw line. Fouling just negates all of our hustle on the defensive end. When we needed some stops, we couldn’t get them. They kind of broke the thing open, it went from tied to 10 there pretty quick. We’ve got a lot of stuff we’ve gotta get better at. We’ve gotta take care of the ball better.
“I didn’t think we had a very good plan for how to attack their pick-and-rolls. Obviously, stuff’s hard with no practice time. We played last night, played today. So the coaching staff’s gotta do a little better job, the players gotta do a little bit better. I didn’t think our effort was bad. I thought we played pretty hard for most of the game. We just couldn’t get some stops when we needed to there in the second half. They kind of opened it up, we fouled a little bit too much and our offense struggled at the same time our defense struggled when they were on that run there to break it open in the second half.”
The two key stats in the game were TOs and assists. UConn had 18 assists and 12 TOs, while Alabama had 10 assists and 21 TOs. Given the quality of the Alabama defense, I would say that the 12 TOs by UConn was a good number/manageable. Newton had 8 assists to 1 TO despite being physically abused most of the night.
I am trying to remember a very, very physical game UConn was involved in that I enjoyed watching more and I really do not. I seriously doubt UConn will see another team as big and athletic and as abusive as this one was the rest of this season. But UConn not only passed the test, they aced it.
I am trying to remember a very, very physical game UConn was involved in that I enjoyed watching more and I really do not. I seriously doubt UConn will see another team as big and athletic and as abusive as this one was the rest of this season. But UConn not only passed the test, they aced it.
Not that we didn't think this was possible before the season, but this Uconn team is proving they have alot of answers, especially on offense. So much depth and so many options DH has been able to go too. And all this without Samson Johnson who would have been a perfect match-up defensively for Bama's long and athletic ( but overpowered by Uconn) front line.
One key on O is how this team, unlike the last few years, never gets stuck out on the perimeter playing "hot potato hand off". Newton and Co. (with all the bigger the guards) constantly control real estate towards the hoop, anytime they want, forcing the D out of position. Also shout out to the way AJ played in the last run of the game (strong D, rebounding and pushing the ball up the court without forcing to much). So I'm hoping DH reeled him in from his 3pt forces, which makes the team so much better.
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> UConn's depth, however, was again a major factor as foul trouble sent key Huskies to the bench for extended periods of time. But UConn's reserve corps was up to the task<
"We knew we had to be tough and play well to beat that Alabama team," Hurley said. "That's a heck of a team. The length, the point guard play and Miller, who's obviously a tremendous player. And the level of coaching, so it was a great win."
uconnhuskies.com
"We knew we had to be tough and play well to beat that Alabama team," Hurley said. "That's a heck of a team. The length, the point guard play and Miller, who's obviously a tremendous player. And the level of coaching, so it was a great win."
UConn MBB In PKI Championship Game After Victory Over Alabama - University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn Athletic Communications / Nov. 25, 2022
uconnhuskies.com
Newton plays downhill and is not afraid of contact going to the rim, and it kind of shows that the "hot potato handoff" was more because of the personnel they had, than the offense they were running. They had guys afraid of contact and afraid of making mistakes. Newton is not afraid.
Which brings me to another observation which is that for the last 8 or 9 years, when UConn played games like this against large, athletic, and very physical opponents, with smaller, weaker, UConn teams without this kind of depth, they would lose them on a consistent basis. There would then be a parade of posts on this board whining and complaining about the officiating, when in reality UConn just did not have the bodies to stand up to the bullying. I remember in particular a game against Tulane, on the road, probably in 2015, under Ollie's watch, in which UConn was severely bullied and abused inside. Facey had to play center after Brimah got fouled out, and then Facey fouled out in 8 minutes, against a Tulane team that had some big physical guys with probably 10% the talent that Alabama's frontcourt group threw at them last night. After that game there were around 10 posts blaming the refs for the loss. It was not the refs, it was UConn not being able to stand up to bullyball.
Last night UConn stood up to bullyball. Newton stood up to it, AJ stood up to it, Sanogo stood up to it, Karaban stood up to it and Clingan MORE than stood up to it. And it was beautiful to watch, just like Walton said. A lot of weird stuff comes out of that tree hugger's mouth, but that was his most salient observation in 2 games. He really likes the UConn team and so do I.
Clingan is playing behind an All American center, which is the ONLY reason he is getting the minutes that he is getting. I think the time has come to start thinking about playing Sanogo and Clingan together on the floor for some stretches. Clingan would likely be starting at just about every other D-1 program in the country and they need to give him more minutes especially in games like the last 2 against large, physical opponents.
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