UConn game thread

[muskieman]

Time to step up on a quick turnaround

[Cliff Clavin]

Love the galaxy brain of Steele to watch X struggle to score 34 points, and still only play Edwards 1:10 seconds. Smart to test edwards mettle and see if he is strong enough to not transfer. Should pay some major dividends for Clemson or South Carolina next year! I guess in fairness Freemantle is doing a lot to keep him on the bench. It’s not easy to lose out on multiple rebounds, be responsible for 35% of UConn’s points as the on ball defender, and continue to miss four footers.

[Anti-Homer]

Love the galaxy brain of Steele to watch X struggle to score 34 points, and still only play Edwards 1:10 seconds. Smart to test edwards mettle and see if he is strong enough to not transfer. Should pay some major dividends for Clemson or South Carolina next year! I guess in fairness Freemantle is doing a lot to keep him on the bench. It’s not easy to lose out on multiple rebounds, be responsible for 35% of UConn’s points as the on ball defender, and continue to miss four footers.

For Edward's sake, it probably would be a good move if he wants to develop. Selfishly, I hope he stays. Crowd was chanting for Edwards, or he wouldn't have come in. I think he played about 80 seconds. Meanwhile, Free-Bluiett, who is giving nothing offensively again, and is constantly getting beaten on D, still gets 18 minutes. Hunter is playing better and is much more suited to the athletic, lengthy players at UConn. I now know what Dayton felt like with Gregory. Steele is the new Gregory South. Pass it on.

[Cliff Clavin]

Love the galaxy brain of Steele to watch X struggle to score 34 points, and still only play Edwards 1:10 seconds. Smart to test edwards mettle and see if he is strong enough to not transfer. Should pay some major dividends for Clemson or South Carolina next year! I guess in fairness Freemantle is doing a lot to keep him on the bench. It’s not easy to lose out on multiple rebounds, be responsible for 35% of UConn’s points as the on ball defender, and continue to miss four footers.

For Edward's sake, it probably would be a good move if he wants to develop. Selfishly, I hope he stays. Crowd was chanting for Edwards, or he wouldn't have come in. I think he played about 80 seconds. Meanwhile, Free-Bluiett, who is giving nothing offensively again, and is constantly getting beaten on D, still gets 18 minutes. Hunter is playing better and is much more suited to the athletic, lengthy players at UConn. I now know what Dayton felt like with Gregory. Steele is the new Gregory South. Pass it on.

Why would Hunter play more tonight? That would require Steele to identify a better matchup. I mean it is only the 24th game on the schedule he is trying to figure out lineups!

Still overall a strong half for X with only four turnovers and out rebounding UConn by 4. Keep up the effort and X should still be able to win. Best to go right after Sanogo and Cole.

[Anti-Homer]

Hunter is the only one who can credibly guard Martin. He should be playing this half in lieu of Free.

[Jesseandrippers]

Hopefully Free fouls out and laughs it up on the bench again. Should get him more mins next game.

[Anti-Homer]

Great effort by Free!

[Anti-Homer]

Gutsy win. I really hope Nunge comes back next year b/c he bails X out so often on both ends of the court. Free was really good offensively in the 2nd, but his defense........I would have subbed Hunter for Free up 6 with 1:30. X pressed, Odom was picked, and Free's job on that press was to contain Cole, not trap him, but he ran towards him allowing a 4 on 3 lab in 6 seconds. Odom is limited offensively but so cerebral. They beat Uken on the boards, and even had more blocks.

[Anti-Homer]

Meant Uconn. Damn talk texting.

[pdxmuskie]

Love that X won. Could have been a lot easier but Ucon helped with some discipline issues. I do feel a bit bad about the T for slapping the ball down. He wasn't angry with anyone other than himself and being down. Rules are rules so X gets a nice break and the W.

Free was terrible in the first half but came alive in the 2nd. Some excellent effort plays and good offensive decisions. He and Scruggs were both guilty of poor defensive effort late in the game. Both allowed their guy to get uncontested 3 point shots off. Scruggs got lucky and his man missed twice. Scruggs played strong on ball defense but got lazy 2 straight times when his guy cut under the rim and was open for the 3. Free simply gave too much space to whoever he was guarding. I will excuse the first offense as X was up 9 and he was switched onto a guard. He opted to guard against the drive and allow the deep shot. 1 would hope that if he defended the 3, help would be there to stop penetration but that is not always the case with this team. Shot went down and then Free allowed the next guy an open 3 (this time not a guard). That 1 is inexcusable and if I recall correctly it happened a 3rd time. These mental/effort lapses can't happen if X wants to be great. I say mental because players generally look for big opportunities to cut into leads when the clock is running down. Shooters will certainly want to take the open 3 with game time running down. I do not know the shooting percentages of the Ucon players so if Free was guarding low percentage shooters then I apologize for the harsh criticism. Might want to be a bit closer but playing the odds of a miss on a bad shooter is acceptable.

Nunge is so good.

Odom with another nice game. Scruggs with moments but some bad decisions as well and missed late game FTs.

Jones made more mistakes than usual but also had moments.

Nice to see Nate hitting shots again. He was mugged going to the hoop in the first half with no call. Maybe that was a good thing as I suspect he was a bit angry about that. Some play better angry, others, significantly worse. My guess is Nate would play better angry.