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Connecticut
Fourth place (Def. Michigan, 74–60; Lost to Syracuse, 79–76; Lost to Gonzaga, 73–70)
The good: The Huskies were my pick to win this tournament, and even though they went 1–2 in the Bahamas, I still believe they were the best team here. They just didn’t play well.
Their two best players, guards Sterling Gibbs and Rodney Purvis, had come into the tournament shooting well over 40% from three-point range, but in the two losses they combined to shoot 5-for-21. Gibbs was especially horrid against Gonzaga, missing all six of his three-point attempts. “I don’t think Sterling is going to go 0-for-6 the rest of the year,” coach Kevin Ollie said.
And yet, the Huskies were in both games. They gave Syracuse a much tougher test than Texas A&M did in the championship, fighting back from a 10-point deficit with under eight minutes to play. Then they erased that 21-point deficit over the last 18 minutes of the third-place game against Gonzaga. That tells you a lot about the competitive spirit of this team. “I love the heart we showed,” Ollie said. “We’ve played three games in 36 hours. I was able to play a lot of people and I saw some stuff from our bench that came together. We just have to have better consistency on the defensive end.”
Indeed, when Gibbs was in the tank during that last game, Ollie gave more minutes to freshman point guard Jalen Adams. He played superbly, scoring 10 points and dishing out two assists over 17 minutes to spearhead the comeback. Overall, Ollie gave significant minutes to all six of his bench reserves, but Adams’s play was the most encouraging development. “Jalen was great but he’s got to play this way because I can’t play Sterling 35 minutes,” Ollie said. “I need to get him off the ball a little bit so we can get him some easy looks and save his legs.”
The bad: It’s nice that UConn came back, but falling behind by significant margins in back-to-back games is disconcerting. That puts a lot more pressure on the remaining marqueenonconference games against Maryland, Ohio Stateand Texas.
The Huskies were also suspect on the defensive end. Syracuse shot 48% against them (45% from three) and outscored UConn from the foul line by 10 points. The problem is that for the Huskies to be successful defensively, they must always be in attack mode, but that can be risky given the way the games are being officiated. “We’re not going to make that excuse,” Ollie said. “We’ve just got to do a better job.”
Finally, interior scoring is a concern. Junior center Amida Brimah is primarily a defensive specialist, and Shonn Miller, the 6’7” senior transfer from Cornell, is undersized, although he definitely showed a spark while going for 19 points against Gonzaga’s vaunted front line. If Miller can carry more of the load, that will alleviate the problems, but he has to develop the right mindset. “I just want him to be aggressive all the time,” Ollie said. “Everything is not going to be perfect, but I want him to play with the passion and the fire that I saw out there. He took the challenge against Wiltjer, mano a mano, and it was pretty good.”
Fourth place (Def. Michigan, 74–60; Lost to Syracuse, 79–76; Lost to Gonzaga, 73–70)
The good: The Huskies were my pick to win this tournament, and even though they went 1–2 in the Bahamas, I still believe they were the best team here. They just didn’t play well.
Their two best players, guards Sterling Gibbs and Rodney Purvis, had come into the tournament shooting well over 40% from three-point range, but in the two losses they combined to shoot 5-for-21. Gibbs was especially horrid against Gonzaga, missing all six of his three-point attempts. “I don’t think Sterling is going to go 0-for-6 the rest of the year,” coach Kevin Ollie said.
And yet, the Huskies were in both games. They gave Syracuse a much tougher test than Texas A&M did in the championship, fighting back from a 10-point deficit with under eight minutes to play. Then they erased that 21-point deficit over the last 18 minutes of the third-place game against Gonzaga. That tells you a lot about the competitive spirit of this team. “I love the heart we showed,” Ollie said. “We’ve played three games in 36 hours. I was able to play a lot of people and I saw some stuff from our bench that came together. We just have to have better consistency on the defensive end.”
Indeed, when Gibbs was in the tank during that last game, Ollie gave more minutes to freshman point guard Jalen Adams. He played superbly, scoring 10 points and dishing out two assists over 17 minutes to spearhead the comeback. Overall, Ollie gave significant minutes to all six of his bench reserves, but Adams’s play was the most encouraging development. “Jalen was great but he’s got to play this way because I can’t play Sterling 35 minutes,” Ollie said. “I need to get him off the ball a little bit so we can get him some easy looks and save his legs.”
The bad: It’s nice that UConn came back, but falling behind by significant margins in back-to-back games is disconcerting. That puts a lot more pressure on the remaining marqueenonconference games against Maryland, Ohio Stateand Texas.
The Huskies were also suspect on the defensive end. Syracuse shot 48% against them (45% from three) and outscored UConn from the foul line by 10 points. The problem is that for the Huskies to be successful defensively, they must always be in attack mode, but that can be risky given the way the games are being officiated. “We’re not going to make that excuse,” Ollie said. “We’ve just got to do a better job.”
Finally, interior scoring is a concern. Junior center Amida Brimah is primarily a defensive specialist, and Shonn Miller, the 6’7” senior transfer from Cornell, is undersized, although he definitely showed a spark while going for 19 points against Gonzaga’s vaunted front line. If Miller can carry more of the load, that will alleviate the problems, but he has to develop the right mindset. “I just want him to be aggressive all the time,” Ollie said. “Everything is not going to be perfect, but I want him to play with the passion and the fire that I saw out there. He took the challenge against Wiltjer, mano a mano, and it was pretty good.”
