Giffey Playing Time

[SaeHusky]

I was stunned he didnt start 2nd half and then more stunned he didnt enter game until the 10 min mark. At one point I thought he was injured. He was unbelievable in 1st half.

 

[OklahomaUconn]

I was stunned he didnt start 2nd half and then more stunned he didnt enter game until the 10 min mark. At one point I thought he was injured. He was unbelievable in 1st half.

Yea i was saying the same thing he was like 5/6 and playing awesome ..then.....he sat

 

[James]

it's going to be tough balancing minutes between kromah Giffey and Calhoun . Giffey deserves them however

 

[upstater]

I'm not going to get on Ollie for that. They pushed the lead to 17 with Calhoun in there, they had momentum.
The problem was multiple when the wheels fell off. It was defensive breakdowns on the perimeter and slobby ball handling. Granted, Giffey would have been good there. Maybe the move would have been to put in Giffey when they were up by 17 (before the ridiculous tech on Napier).

 

[Hugo]

Ollie's substitution pattern in the second was puzzling. Giff didn't enter the 2nd half until late and I didn't see Kromah at all. Did he even get in ? I definitely would have used Kromah as our perimeter D was pretty bad and we needed some size to counter Wells. WE needed some change of pace out there and without Giff and Kromah we became stagnant.

 

[FeedTheDove]

That is the one part of tonight's game that I questioned KO's coaching. Niels provided an insane amount of firepower in the first half. And contributed to the rebounding total as well, obviously. No clue why he didn't get more playing time. While I'm disappointed we didn't run them out of the gym like I thought we would at one point, I'm happy we showed a gritty defensive effort down the stretch and won this game without Bazz in there.

 

[SaeHusky]

Giffey is solid at all facets of the game and should start. Omar is a streaky shooter who would be best suited as a spark plug off the bench in my opinion. Im not sure there is one thing that Omar does better than Giffey - Defense, Rebounding, and passing for sure he is better. And I for one have more confidence in Giffey knocking down an open jumper than Omar

 

[upstater]

Giffey is solid at all facets of the game and should start. Omar is a streaky shooter who would be best suited as a spark plug off the bench in my opinion. Im not sure there is one thing that Omar does better than Giffey - Defense, Rebounding, and passing for sure he is better. And I for one have more confidence in Giffey knocking down an open jumper than Omar

I would take Omar knocking down a jumper over Giffey but I agree that Giffey excels at defense and rebounding. Omar was near automatic midrange and after his start last year, he was a hot 3 point shooter.

 

[UCONNfan1]

It was a win that almost felt like a loss. I think the whole team can learn something from this game including the coaches. They had a disastrous 10 minute stretch that almost cost them the game that they had easily in hand.

 

[CAHUSKY]

It was a win that almost felt like a loss.

It feels nothing like a loss. A win is a win and they are all fantastic

 

[phillionaire]

A dubbya is a dubbya

 

[HailUConn]

That is the one part of tonight's game that I questioned KO's coaching. Niels provided an insane amount of firepower in the first half. And contributed to the rebounding total as well, obviously. No clue why he didn't get more playing time. While I'm disappointed we didn't run them out of the gym like I thought we would at one point, I'm happy we showed a gritty defensive effort down the stretch and won this game without Bazz in there.

Ditto here.

Another part i had issues with KO's coaching is Boatright's minutes. This is where I missed Jim. He would have yanked Boatright and plugged Giffey in and matched up MD offensive spurt. The basketball game is a chess match, oftentimes, it's not about your best players, it's the right players. Hancock for Louisville's last NC is a case in point.

 

[UCONNfan1]

It feels nothing like a loss. A win is a win and they are all fantastic

Um, ok. Great win.

 

[mcs333]

It is valid to question how KO used NG. He was great in the first half and hardly played in the second half. Why, hopefully the media will ask why. KO will get a pass because we won. If UCONN had lost, he would have faced a ton of questions on this. I wonder if JC mentioned this on the radio?

 

[3uconn]

He should have played late in the game. He's known as being fundamentally sound and reliable.

 

[Zionn]

@NeillOstrout: Giffey: “Lasan had a great first half. I had a great first half. Then you end up on the bench for the first 10 minutes of the second half...

@NeillOstrout: More Giffey: ....But it doesn’t matter as long as we win.”

 

[Gurleyman]

The first media timeout was about the 14:00 mark and Calhoun had just hit a couple threes (one of which didn't count). I can see leaving him out a little longer to keep his hot going, but you'd figure we could rest DD or Boat and get Giffey some minutes to keep him in rhythm.

Kromah came in and unfortunately for him just had a rough sequence. Totally lost #10 in the left corner and gave up a 3, then tried to drive baseline when nothing was there and lost it o/b (I think right after we had lost it o/b the possession before, so it was a point when we needed to settle down). Just a small sample size and nothing alarming - and after he had been sitting a long time (b/w halftime and first 9-10 mins of 2H). Guessing, but KO might have not liked that baseline drive, and might have wanted to get Bazz back out there ASAP to settle us down since the lead went from 17 to 9 pretty quick.

 

[SaeHusky]

I know Giffey is glad that the team won but no doubt he must have been frustrated (and his comments convey that to some degree)that he sat the first 10 min of the 2nd half. Hopefully when the staff reviews the tape they realize what a mistake this was

 

[James]

Who do you bench ? Daniels boatright or Calhoun though ? All three may have enigmatic characteristics but also have unquestioned talent. A win that almost felt like a loss? . What does that even mean

 

[UCONNfan1]

I know Giffey is glad that the team won but no doubt he must have been frustrated (and his comments convey that to some degree)that he sat the first 10 min of the 2nd half. Hopefully when the staff reviews the tape they realize what a mistake this was

Agree. Was surprised but impressed by Giffey's comments. Almost felt like he was calling the coach out on that one. Kid's got stones.

 

[Gurleyman]

Who do you bench ? Daniels boatright or Calhoun though ? All three may have enigmatic characteristics but also have unquestioned talent. A win that almost felt like a loss? . What does that even mean

I think at the 14 minute mark, you get Giffey out there one way or another - maybe for Daniels just for a spell and then DD can spell Omar. Not because DD was doing anything wrong, but to make sure you get Giffey off the bench and loosened up again before he gets too cold. I've always thought a shooter feeling good in a nice rhythm is a valuable weapon that you don't want to waste if at all possible.

Either way, this is a nice problem. Last year, we were figuring out how the hell to rest people, not how to get people minutes who needed them.

 

[RichZ]

More than the substitution pattern, what I came away questioning, is what the hell they are talking about in time outs. Three times in the 2nd half and at least once in the first half, the possession immediately following our time out resulted either a turnover or an awful shot attempt.
In each case, the team looked disorganized and confused after inbounding the ball.
But the game turned on the phantom technical on Bazz. What was that for? Sarcastic smiling? Donny's place in Husky history for acquiring the weirdest T has now been taken over by Bazz. Not only did it change the momentum of the game, without it, Bazz is still there at the end, and you've got to believe he rights the ship and it doesn't come down to the nail biter it ended up.

 

[SeattleHoop]

My solution to give Kromah, Calhoun and Giffey more time would be to go small and play either Giffey or DD at the 5 spot once in a while.

Line-up would be:
Bazz/Boat
Calhoun
Kromah
Giffey
DD

 

[Gurleyman]

More than the substitution pattern, what I came away questioning, is what the hell they are talking about in time outs. Three times in the 2nd half and at least once in the first half, the possession immediately following our time out resulted either a turnover or an awful shot attempt.
In each case, the team looked disorganized and confused after inbounding the ball.
But the game turned on the phantom technical on Bazz. What was that for? Sarcastic smiling? Donny's place in Husky history for acquiring the weirdest T has now been taken over by Bazz. Not only did it change the momentum of the game, without it, Bazz is still there at the end, and you've got to believe he rights the ship and it doesn't come down to the nail biter it ended up.

They stopped the replay too soon. I wanted to at least see if he said something to a Maryland player, because otherwise the tech makes no sense. If he said something to Maryland fans, who cares. They aren't part of the game.

 

[djct1999]

To me, Giffey was the second best UConn player on the floor. He will have a huge impact on the season and we are hands down a better team with him on the floor.