WATCH: UConn Men's Basketball Pregame - Merrimack
- Thread starter Ian Bethune
- Start date
From what KO said sounds like we might not see Dave Onuorah until the opener against Colgate. Onuorah will not be needed against Merrimack and I hope that they don’t play him. Ollie also seemed to say he doesn’t like using Kwintin Williams against zone defenses because he isn’t a shooting threat, and that Williams still needs to learn the plays.
If Merrimack runs the offense he mentioned that should be a good test for a UConn Defense that allowed 67% FGs against PC. I really think the defense in the lane will be better when Onuorah returns, but for now we could see some attacking of the UConn rim.
Had Onuorah played against PC there would have been less of a rim attack, I suspect. And better depth at the 5
If Merrimack runs the offense he mentioned that should be a good test for a UConn Defense that allowed 67% FGs against PC. I really think the defense in the lane will be better when Onuorah returns, but for now we could see some attacking of the UConn rim.
Had Onuorah played against PC there would have been less of a rim attack, I suspect. And better depth at the 5
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I went to the game, alot of it was tough to watch....Opponent had a starting 5 of ...6-7( their only player taller than 6-5 )..6-5/ 6-2 / 6-2 and 6-0. At least Uconn was smart enough to score down low... ...1-14 on 3%'s ...even with plenty of wide open looks... Uconn got beat off the dribble to many times by this group of "Lilliputians" ...Uconn players never rotated over to help out most of the time and obviously there's no shot blocking presence...17 TO's by Uconn ...got it stolen 9 times ...saving grace was Merrimack turned it over 22 times. Whaley looked active, Larrier made a bunch of close in shots.... well everyone did.....70 Uconn points in the paint, but can't see these same points being there vs. real D-1 teams... Need to dominate ( 30 pt +win) teams like this but they can't because they have to many guys with to many flaws that give away points and possessions ( turned it over a 3-4 times in a row on a few occasions)...
Also think the refs were calling the game with a mercy whistle, no way Uconn should have only been to the line 4 times to 18 for their opponent, Uconn got fouled a bunch of times underneath going up but it seemed like the refs made most of them "play ons" because of the big height advantage... Uconn didn't get the same benefit down the other end......So much work needed, don't know if there's enough on this roster to step up in time to win games out of the gate ..which they have to or else...
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Also think the refs were calling the game with a mercy whistle, no way Uconn should have only been to the line 4 times to 18 for their opponent, Uconn got fouled a bunch of times underneath going up but it seemed like the refs made most of them "play ons" because of the big height advantage... Uconn didn't get the same benefit down the other end......So much work needed, don't know if there's enough on this roster to step up in time to win games out of the gate ..which they have to or else...
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3 point shooting is going to be a huge problem in this offense, you can't pick and roll your way to points without shooters on the wings, otherwise you have guys just standing around. The last time we saw good offense was with Niels & DeAndre. Defenses can sag on this group & I just don't see that improving.
Well the holding of Merrimack to 35% FGs is something of a positive with no Onuorah. Diarra had 11 points on 5-7 FGs in 10 minutes and Whaley 10 points on 5-6 FGs in 8 minutes, which is efficient production suggesting both should have played more. On the negative side 17 TOs is too many against a team like this with the ballhandlers UConn has.
