Chief’s Briefs - Arkansas Edition

[Chief00]

40 minutes to Houston!

Great first half doubling their rebounds (22 to 9) and shooting (61% to 33%). These trends continued throughout the game.

For the first time this season Adama played under the screen in the high hedge maybe because Arkansas is poor from 3. At halftime all starters had between 6 and 10 points. Sanogo dominated throughout the game.

Love the subtle shot Danny sent Big East’s Val Ackerman’s way going into halftime by saying UConn’s does well against national non conference opponents. So true and it shows the impact of unprofessional bias officiating! We are undefeated against some top national teams.

Sanogo was the monster we have come to expect with skillful offensive moves, rebounding and quick feet. Our two centers shot 84%, rebounded and blocked shots.

Still think Hurley is slow on the timeout, needs more stop momentum urgency in second half.

Karaban shot well and rebounded, Newton while not a pressure breaking pg, assisted and rebounded well and hit a couple of threes. Clingan gave Arkansas penetrators headaches and kept the show going when Adama goes to the bench.

Having said that we rained threes as Hawkins shined. Very happy with Alleyne the last several games. Was perfect from the FT, scored a few hoops and made good decisions with the ball and played solid defense.

Andre played great, found the open man, slipped through for baseline dunks. An untold story is how much his dribbling had improved. I do think sometimes with all his great moves he takes his eyes off the rim on drives. Not sure why, since you don’t get extra points for degree of difficulty. His defense was outstanding.

We are closing better but still make foolish fouls but we’re saved by Arkansas missing front ends of 1 on 1’s. Give Arkansas credit for not quiting.

NEXT UP!

 

[GHSWolverines]

It was a good move having AJ bring up the ball most of the time. He is able to handle the pressure D better.

 

[scotty0330]

Love the subtle shot Danny sent Big East’s Val Ackerman’s way going into halftime by saying UConn’s does well against national non conference opponents. So true and it shows the impact of unprofessional bias officiating! We are undefeated against some top national teams.

Talk about making something fit your narrative.

 

[Chief00]

It was a good move having AJ bring up the ball most of the time. He is able to handle the pressure D better.

So true, and that’s about a guy working on his handle. There’s no reason, this summer he can’t make the same progress on his shot.

 

[Chief00]

Talk about making something fit your narrative.

And how Danny feels but can’t directly talk about. I thought it was genius.

 

[GHSWolverines]

During the 1rst half, Van Gundy commented on AJ's value. He said there is a place for a player like him in the NBA. He may not be a scorer but brings so much more to the game. Nice to hear from a former coach in the league

 

[Nostical]

Talk about making something fit your narrative.

It was actually a double entendre. Our fan base picked up on the sarcasm re BE officiating, while the guys watching with me heard a plug for the strength of the conference.

 

[ucp990411]

Once we inbound the ball and get it to Andre teams are calling off the press. Andre scares opponents with his speed

 

[FreeKlaiber]

Danny impressed me, by changing up his defense, "reinventing it" as Van Gundy said a couple of times and adapting it to an excellent help man with a drop, instead of the deny and high hedge...Ive wanted him to use this against teams like st j or any team that drives a bunch- van gundy even said he expected to see alot of 2-3!!! (clearly doesnt know danny lol)

if you watch close, karaban did SUCH a good job on that help man, playing one man free safety at times in middle of zone, as well as having to stiffen up to stop post up..and clingan able to play help is devastating...sanogo even had two blocks as he could come off his man to help drives...all in the philosophy shift

other than the timeout brainfreeze in 2nd half, he coached a very strong game, and i am usually x and o critical... past 2 seasons in tourney (as well as games against nova) we would get iso'd 1 on 1 on defense, and always thought danny was wayy to stubborn to adapt...he changed my tune yesterday...impressed

 

[M.S.G.]

It was just an absolute clinic on both sides of the ball last night.

Remarkable that this team has recaptured the defensive intensity we had in Oregon in November. I’ll go as far as to say we are playing even better now.

Conference play is conference play, it’s a grind.. I am just beaming at how proud I am of this group along with Danny.

This was his “prove it” year and he has done that and more. Too many hours in between now and Saturday night, gonna be a grind!

 

[86.578]

40 minutes to Houston!

Great first half doubling their rebounds (22 to 9) and shooting (61% to 33%). These trends continued throughout the game.

For the first time this season Adama played under the screen in the high hedge maybe because Arkansas is poor from 3. At halftime all starters had between 6 and 10 points. Sanogo dominated throughout the game.

Love the subtle shot Danny sent Big East’s Val Ackerman’s way going into halftime by saying UConn’s does well against national non conference opponents. So true and it shows the impact of unprofessional bias officiating! We are undefeated against some top national teams.

Sanogo was the monster we have come to expect with skillful offensive moves, rebounding and quick feet. Our two centers shot 84%, rebounded and blocked shots.

Still think Hurley is slow on the timeout, needs more stop momentum urgency in second half.

Karaban shot well and rebounded, Newton while not a pressure breaking pg, assisted and rebounded well and hit a couple of threes. Clingan gave Arkansas penetrators headaches and kept the show going when Adama goes to the bench.

Having said that we rained threes as Hawkins shined. Very happy with Alleyne the last several games. Was perfect from the FT, scored a few hoops and made good decisions with the ball and played solid defense.

Andre played great, found the open man, slipped through for baseline dunks. An untold story is how much his dribbling had improved. I do think sometimes with all his great moves he takes his eyes off the rim on drives. Not sure why, since you don’t get extra points for degree of difficulty. His defense was outstanding.

We are closing better but still make foolish fouls but we’re saved by Arkansas missing front ends of 1 on 1’s. Give Arkansas credit for not quiting.

NEXT UP!

I agree about Alleyne....he may be the most under-appreciated guy on the team....does a lot of things pretty well

 

[Hoophound]

It was absolutely a reminder that the Big East officials screwed us. He’s defensive about it because he felt we were good the whole time and the refs stole our mojo. He faced a lot of criticism during the slump. Frankly, it was pretty bad. At the same time, it forced changes to our offense and defense that are paying big dividends now, so I’ll take it.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

During the 1rst half, Van Gundy commented on AJ's value. He said there is a place for a player like him in the NBA. He may not be a scorer but brings so much more to the game. Nice to hear from a former coach in the league

true...so nice hearing a real bball mind doing color commentary in Van Gundy....especially after donny overload lol

 

[caw]

It was absolutely a reminder that the Big East officials screwed us. He’s defensive about it because he felt we were good the whole time and the refs stole our mojo. He faced a lot of criticism during the slump. Frankly, it was pretty bad. At the same time, it forced changes to our offense and defense that are paying big dividends now, so I’ll take it.

When there are national reporters saying the refs are fed up with the head coach and then the bad calls UConn got start, it sure doesn't look good for the refs or the BE.

 

[RichZ]

Great first half doubling their rebounds (22 to 9) and shooting (61% to 33%). These trends continued throughout the game.

Our rebounding was insanely good all game, except for two short spurts of three or four possessions

Sanogo was the monster we have come to expect with skillful offensive moves, rebounding and quick feet. Our two centers shot 84%, rebounded and blocked shots.

Sanogo has been the most dominant force in the tourney thusfar. I'm not talking just our games. Just an overall force. One thing that doesn't show up in the stat sheets is how often an opposing player starts to drive, sees Sanogo move into his path, and just turns around or passes the ball out to the perimeter.

Still think Hurley is slow on the timeout, needs more stop momentum urgency in second half.

I thought he did fine thwarting the Ark run in the 2nd half. He knew he had a bunch of points to work with, and stopped it relatively easily following the timeout, before the cushion got shorter than the halftime lead.

Andre played great, found the open man, slipped through for baseline dunks. An untold story is how much his dribbling had improved.

I notice that as soon as he gets his shoulder past the closest defender, he starts really pushing the ball way out in front of him. Looks chancy, but seems to work for him. And a couple times last night, he used a behind the back dribble at speed to get past a defender. That shows increased comfort level handling the ball. Just a great job by Ajax all around last night.

NEXT UP!

An intriguing matchup. Some of us feel that the Zags record gets inflated by overall lesser quality of opponents than we face. I've wanted to play the Zags for a long time. We haven't played them since a 3 point loss in 2015, and the largest margin of victory in the three games we've played the Zags was our 5 point win in 2008. Few's only in his 60's, and been the HC at Gonzaga since we won our first Championship. All ancient history. Looking at tis years teams, I think we match up really, really well against them.

 

[RichCTBB]

I thought he was fine with his timeouts. We are up by 20+ when they made their run 10 point run in 0 seconds. A clock stoppage and substitution was all we needed to get settled there.

 

[ColchVEGAS]

Masterclass by Hurley and the team with executing the plan. First two games they struggled to get in the groove and took over the 2nd half. This one was beginning to end, except for that 2 minute spell when the lead got to 27, excellence. Good thing the team got the message of Arkansas being a 15 point better team on a neutral court and made sure to put them away when they had the opportunity.

 

[uchusky32]

Danny has arrived as a coach to be reckoned with. Not just a recruiter. Masterful adjustments last week to how ARK plays offense. Changing how we defended. And AJ masterfully ran started our offense. Create the pace we would play at.

 

[HCCForever]

Satisfied with the game and players except for Andre running through the Arkansas defender and getting the technical. Thankfully, only 1 free throw was made. This was during the time when UConn had a hard time throwing the ball in and their lead of 29 was decreased by 9 or 10.

Imagine if UConn cut down their turnovers and made more free throws? They could have won by 30 plus.

 

[Poe]

I agree about Alleyne....he may be the most under-appreciated guy on the team....does a lot of things pretty well

He was not good at all the first 3/4 of the season, but the last quarter of the season he has been a key piece of the puzzle off the bench and playing with a lot of confidence. No opposing coach is game planning for Alleyne, so it’s demoralizing when he comes in and starts hitting jumpers.

 

[Palatine]

40 minutes to Houston!

Great first half doubling their rebounds (22 to 9) and shooting (61% to 33%). These trends continued throughout the game.

For the first time this season Adama played under the screen in the high hedge maybe because Arkansas is poor from 3. At halftime all starters had between 6 and 10 points. Sanogo dominated throughout the game.

Love the subtle shot Danny sent Big East’s Val Ackerman’s way going into halftime by saying UConn’s does well against national non conference opponents. So true and it shows the impact of unprofessional bias officiating! We are undefeated against some top national teams.

Sanogo was the monster we have come to expect with skillful offensive moves, rebounding and quick feet. Our two centers shot 84%, rebounded and blocked shots.

Still think Hurley is slow on the timeout, needs more stop momentum urgency in second half.

Karaban shot well and rebounded, Newton while not a pressure breaking pg, assisted and rebounded well and hit a couple of threes. Clingan gave Arkansas penetrators headaches and kept the show going when Adama goes to the bench.

Having said that we rained threes as Hawkins shined. Very happy with Alleyne the last several games. Was perfect from the FT, scored a few hoops and made good decisions with the ball and played solid defense.

Andre played great, found the open man, slipped through for baseline dunks. An untold story is how much his dribbling had improved. I do think sometimes with all his great moves he takes his eyes off the rim on drives. Not sure why, since you don’t get extra points for degree of difficulty. His defense was outstanding.

We are closing better but still make foolish fouls but we’re saved by Arkansas missing front ends of 1 on 1’s. Give Arkansas credit for not quiting.

NEXT UP!

We were saved by Arkansas missing four points from the foul line? I get nervous watching games even with big leads. But those fouls shots made zero difference.

Clingan fell off a bit in the second half but I love Hurley let him play and rested Adama.

 

[tuvent08]

Danny impressed me, by changing up his defense, "reinventing it" as Van Gundy said a couple of times and adapting it to an excellent help man with a drop, instead of the deny and high hedge...Ive wanted him to use this against teams like st j or any team that drives a bunch- van gundy even said he expected to see alot of 2-3!!! (clearly doesnt know danny lol)

if you watch close, karaban did SUCH a good job on that help man, playing one man free safety at times in middle of zone, as well as having to stiffen up to stop post up..and clingan able to play help is devastating...sanogo even had two blocks as he could come off his man to help drives...all in the philosophy shift

other than the timeout brainfreeze in 2nd half, he coached a very strong game, and i am usually x and o critical... past 2 seasons in tourney (as well as games against nova) we would get iso'd 1 on 1 on defense, and always thought danny was wayy to stubborn to adapt...he changed my tune yesterday...impressed

This is a fantastic post. I have gotten on Dan for being too stubborn and emotional, particularly in stressful situations. Emotional coaching isn't a bad thing unless it negatively impacts decision-making (and technical fouls!), which I think has clearly happened in the past.

But he's been channeling it really well this tournament. The tactical flexibility and not running too hot is just awesome to see, albeit we haven't had a close game down the stretch. Incredibly promising signs and he seems to put his money where his mouth is when it comes to growth. It sounds good to preach "personal growth" all the time, but it's a whole different thing to do it. Kudos to Dan.

 

[UDann]

He was not good at all the first 3/4 of the season, but the last quarter of the season he has been a key piece of the puzzle off the bench and playing with a lot of confidence. No opposing coach is game planning for Alleyne, so it’s demoralizing when he comes in and starts hitting jumpers.

Of all the transfers he carried himself as if not happy with his roll for most of the season. His play has picked up in February and a big part of the success.

 

[RedStickHusky]

Danny impressed me, by changing up his defense, "reinventing it" as Van Gundy said a couple of times and adapting it to an excellent help man with a drop, instead of the deny and high hedge...Ive wanted him to use this against teams like st j or any team that drives a bunch- van gundy even said he expected to see alot of 2-3!!! (clearly doesnt know danny lol)

if you watch close, karaban did SUCH a good job on that help man, playing one man free safety at times in middle of zone, as well as having to stiffen up to stop post up..and clingan able to play help is devastating...sanogo even had two blocks as he could come off his man to help drives...all in the philosophy shift

other than the timeout brainfreeze in 2nd half, he coached a very strong game, and i am usually x and o critical... past 2 seasons in tourney (as well as games against nova) we would get iso'd 1 on 1 on defense, and always thought danny was wayy to stubborn to adapt...he changed my tune yesterday...impressed

This and the fact that we run different offense for Sanogo and Clingan. Coaching and coachability; We're a smart team (on our best days).

 

[Chin Diesel]

It was a good move having AJ bring up the ball most of the time. He is able to handle the pressure D better.

So true, and that’s about a guy working on his handle. There’s no reason, this summer he can’t make the same progress on his shot.

It's not even that Jackson has such a tight handle, it's that he creates so much space with his speed and change of direction. The defender doesn't get a chance to get tight on AJ because he covers so much ground when bringing the ball up.