Humble pie may turn out to be quite delicious.

[TheChamps990411]

I hope this embarrassing loss only makes this team angry and even more focused. They should want to take it out on the remaining schedule. Nothing like a good whoopin to put things in perspective and realize youre not invincible. It can all be taken away.

 

[SwingDog]

I agree. I think coming off the Marquette blowout and riding a 14 game winning streak, they had gotten a bit comfortable, which is very uncharacteristic of them. A key factor in the Huskies success is that they make their opponents uncomfortable, and make it difficult for them to get good shots. They didn't do that tonight. Many of Creighton's baskets were uncontested, with out-of-position UConn defenders having to run frantically at shooters to no avail.

Some might say to just flush this one and move on to Villanova but I say they really need to look at the film and see where they made numerous costly errors. As I said in another post, give Creighton credit as they clearly were prepared for this matchup. They made the shots, disrupted our offense and absolutely deserved to win, but tonight we made it too easy for them as we got away from much of what has brought us success this season.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I'm not sure an attempt to put a positive spin on this does anything. I will in fact go so far as to say that if this team/staff needed this kick in the backside/wakeup call/whatever you want to call it, they aren't the team I thought they were.

Yes, we still have a far better chance of cutting down the nets in Arizona in Apri than anyone else. Yes, we will put this behind us, continue to work and remain focused on the ultimate goal. The place where this changed things is with the fans, many of whom were behaving as if we couldn't be beaten, regardless of what was thrown at us. Now some social media bravado needs to take a few steps backwards.

 

[UCLJ0211]

Don’t go there. I just got lambasted in the other thread for implying the same thing.

 

[CL82]

Don’t go there. I just got lambasted in the other thread for implying the same thing.

 

[Conndog]

I agree. I think coming off the Marquette blowout and riding a 14 game winning streak, they had gotten a bit comfortable, which is very uncharacteristic of them. A key factor in the Huskies success is that they make their opponents uncomfortable, and make it difficult for them to get good shots. They didn't do that tonight. Many of Creighton's baskets were uncontested, with out-of-position UConn defenders having to run frantically at shooters to no avail.

Some might say to just flush this one and move on to Villanova but I say they really need to look at the film and see where they made numerous costly errors. As I said in another post, give Creighton credit as they clearly were prepared for this matchup. They made the shots, disrupted our offense and absolutely deserved to win, but tonight we made it too easy for them as we got away from much of what has brought us success this season.

have to focus on defensive breakdown- why were so many Creighton players open? I would expect other teams to replicate what Creighton did offensively, so what is a better defensive plan for that kind of offensive attack? Is it just that Clingan has to stay out of foul trouble? Also, until yesterday, I thought our offense was great- but, maybe it isn't so great. What offensive options could we have tried since it was so hard to get any shooters open? And I don't know if it is some kind of pet peeve for me or something more central, but I really hate that high hedge that Samson tries to do- how many times does he foul someone 30-40 feet away from the basket? Everyone else has to scramble to cover the big man and someone was always open. There must be some other way to handle a screen up high.

 

[jibsey]

Was it lack of effort that they had that many wide open 3's? When their shots missed we left their shooters open on the perimeter, how many 3's were off first shot misses?

 

[Tyler2Rings]

For all the winning this team does, when they lose they lose big. That's two 15+ point losses now.

Last year's team had more losses but the worst loss was by 12

 

[Palatine]

Losing is losing there are no moral victories.

This is the second straight game the opponent has done a good job taking away the the point shot. That has to get straightened out. Our offense has been good inside the arc but we need the three point line to be open.

 

[uconnfan68]

Losing is losing there are no moral victories.

This is the second straight game the opponent has done a good job taking away the the point shot. That has to get straightened out. Our offense has been good inside the arc but we need the three point line to be open.

That what happens when Clingan leaves the game too early.

 

[SwingDog]

That what happens when Clingan leaves the game too early.

When you say that you turn us into Purdue. We have a lot more weapons than them and have proven we can make adjustments and win games against good teams without Clingan on the floor. It's a dangerous thing when success hinges on one player being out there.

To me, this was a perfect storm for Creighton. A #15 ranked team, fully prepared after getting beaten in ugly fashion the first time, now playing the #1 ranked team coming off a blowout victory on their home court in a supercharged environment. It didn't have to be, but it had all the makings of a letdown for the Huskies. They can and should learn from this loss, and it should pay dividends going into March.

 

[Kenny11]

I am not worried about this one. The crowd was insane. They were draining threes from everywhere. The little guy who looked like he dumped his pants against us earlier this season was a superstar against us last night. At one point they were shooting 80% from 3. Clingan predictably got 2 fouls before the first tv timeout. If the announcers were correct, one of their players hit 2 threes against us and had not had a 3 the whole season prior to that? One a neutral court, each of these things could still happen but all of them would not happen.

 

[AdamaNation]

Was it lack of effort that they had that many wide open 3's? When their shots missed we left their shooters open on the perimeter, how many 3's were off first shot misses?

Everyone chill out!! There is no way we were running the table with a what … 28 game win streak. We are currently unanimous #1. We lost at a tough venue to an elite 8 team from last year. This loss shouldn’t even knock us off the top spot but I would assume the top 3 share 1 votes. It looked like a scrimmage pace and I had the feeling that if there was one game left to take an L this was the one. Marquette is too close in the standings.

I can’t take anything away from creighton but we figured we were walking this out at the 5 minute mark in the first half. Now if this was legit my biggest concerns are again our bigs and fouls. And for the love of god Sampson please stop the awful fouls. But cam probably gave up 40 points last night. He was brutal defensively. Shooters often miss and good shooters also get hot. We saw both. Little man from the logo let us know we were in for a fight with our A game. Hurley may never want to win in Omaha so long as it means we are overall successful. He’s weirdly superstitious with things.

 

[uconnfan68]

When you say that you turn us into Purdue. We have a lot more weapons than them and have proven we can make adjustments and win games against good teams without Clingan on the floor. It's a dangerous thing when success hinges on one player being out there.

To me, this was a perfect storm for Creighton. A #15 ranked team, fully prepared after getting beaten in ugly fashion the first time, now playing the #1 ranked team coming off a blowout victory on their home court in a supercharged environment. It didn't have to be, but it had all the makings of a letdown for the Huskies. They can and should learn from this loss, and it should pay dividends going into March.

In 2 of 3 losses, DC has been limited or hurt. In the other, no Castle. We need a full team, playing without fouling, to win some games. We can make do in some others.

 

[SwingDog]

In 2 of 3 losses, DC has been limited or hurt. In the other, no Castle. We need a full team, playing without fouling, to win some games. We can make do in some others.

There is no question we are better with a full roster ready to go, and having Clingan out on the floor for the majority of the minutes. That said, we can't allow teams to make a strategy out of getting Clingan into foul trouble and then using it to their advantage because we are unable to compete otherwise. What we learned when Clingan and other players were on the bench is that we have several guys who can step up, and that we can make adjustments at the 5, play small, etc...BUT we haven't faced a lot of Kalkbrenners either. So your point is well taken, that THIS was one of those games where we needed all hands on deck.

 

[SwingDog]

You saw what happened to Purdue the other night when Edey got two first half fouls, Ohio State exploited it to their advantage, and the Boilermakers never recovered. Again- we are not Purdue where we live or die by one man being out on the floor, rather we can hurt you in many ways on offense, which should make us difficult to prepare for but we can't give up 85 points. Creighton took it to us, plain and simple.

 

[Seamus84]

Everyone chill out!! There is no way we were running the table with a what … 28 game win streak. We are currently unanimous #1. We lost at a tough venue to an elite 8 team from last year. This loss shouldn’t even knock us off the top spot but I would assume the top 3 share 1 votes. It looked like a scrimmage pace and I had the feeling that if there was one game left to take an L this was the one. Marquette is too close in the standings.

I can’t take anything away from creighton but we figured we were walking this out at the 5 minute mark in the first half. Now if this was legit my biggest concerns are again our bigs and fouls. And for the love of god Sampson please stop the awful fouls. But cam probably gave up 40 points last night. He was brutal defensively. Shooters often miss and good shooters also get hot. We saw both. Little man from the logo let us know we were in for a fight with our A game. Hurley may never want to win in Omaha so long as it means we are overall successful. He’s weirdly superstitious with things.

Not only Cam. Steph lost his guy/got caught out of position at least twice during the 5-minute 3pt barrage as well.

 

[JohnFSilver]

I hope this embarrassing loss only makes this team angry and even more focused. They should want to take it out on the remaining schedule. Nothing like a good whoopin to put things in perspective and realize youre not invincible. It can all be taken away.

Loss wasn’t embarrassing. Team played hard, just got beat.

Didn’t play well, step slow on D, offense didn’t have crispness.

But when it’s a 10-pt game with 4 minutes left, it isn’t an embarrassing game.

If the refs just looked at Kalk falling down, and UConn hits a 3, it’s a 7-point game with 4 to go.

But, what happens is a phantom foul. 2 FTs, the. 5 straight empty possessions .

Ball game

 

[Dutch Boyd]

Nothing wrong with a little humble pie. If you told me in November we would only have 3 loses on 2/20 I’d would say sign me up. I told a friend a team would have to play almost perfect at their house to beat us and that’s what happened. Our defense was not there last night, but hopefully they regroup for the remainder of the season.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Loss wasn’t embarrassing. Team played hard, just got beat.

Didn’t play well, step slow on D, offense didn’t have crispness.

But when it’s a 10-pt game with 4 minutes left, it isn’t an embarrassing game.

If the refs just looked at Kalk falling down, and UConn hits a 3, it’s a 7-point game with 4 to go.

But, what happens is a phantom foul. 2 FTs, the. 5 straight empty possessions .

Ball game

A couple points to add:

We get very aggressive with help defense. Creighton designed quite a bot of their offense to tke advantage of this. They found the man who was open (due to his defender helping on the ball handler) and they hit the open threes (I believe at one stretch they had made eight of nine). We aren't going to see many teams with the passing ability to pull this off and even the best shooting teams will seldom be as hot as Creighton was during that stretch. Credit to them for doing what they did.

A year ago, our (in season) difficulty kind of began when at Creighton, they left Jackson wide open from three point range and basically dared him to shoot. He missed early and had zero confidence almost immediately because of that. They did the same thing last night to Castle and it got into his head. He was tenative after that, quite often passed up an open shot to drive into traffic or pass to a covered teammate. Once he travelled because he seemed to decide as he went up to shoot that he shouldn't shoot there. He'll easily move beyond this but I want to know what it is about that place that causes this.

 

[JohnFSilver]

A couple points to add:

We get very aggressive with help defense. Creighton designed quite a bot of their offense to tke advantage of this. They found the man who was open (due to his defender helping on the ball handler) and they hit the open threes (I believe at one stretch they had made eight of nine). We aren't going to see many teams with the passing ability to pull this off and even the best shooting teams will seldom be as hot as Creighton was during that stretch. Credit to them for doing what they did.

A year ago, our (in season) difficulty kind of began when at Creighton, they left Jackson wide open from three point range and basically dared him to shoot. He missed early and had zero confidence almost immediately because of that. They did the same thing last night to Castle and it got into his head. He was tenative after that, quite often passed up an open shot to drive into traffic or pass to a covered teammate. Once he travelled because he seemed to decide as he went up to shoot that he shouldn't shoot there. He'll easily move beyond this but I want to know what it is about that place that causes this.

Good points.

Why were the Huskies helping off shooters? That, to me, is insane.

Consider.

1. Creighton guarded the 3 at all cost. Newton had 21 shots, hit 10, and probably should have hit 5 more 6 footers. They decided to let Kalk protect rim.bland were gonna live with Newton making shots. He wasnt going to pass to Karaban or Spencer for 3.

2. UConn, playedtraditional inside out. You are taught to always defend the rim first. You need to make a conscious effort to trust your teammates have the driver handled by the big man

When Clingan was in the game, absolutely no reason to help on the drive. Inexcusable. With Johnson? Hurley gotta find a way to guard the rim when Johnson/Kataban are at the 5. Helping off driving was not a good strategy.

Also? The hard hedge got punished. Once they beat the quick hedge, it was 4-on-3. Someone is open because the defensive wing drops to pick up the role man, leaving the wing open for 3.

They should have stayed with drop coverage with Johnson and made Creighton hit mid range shots.

It’s just an adjustment.

 

[DogMania]

Good points.

Why were the Huskies helping off shooters? That, to me, is insane.

Consider.

1. Creighton guarded the 3 at all cost. Newton had 21 shots, hit 10, and probably should have hit 5 more 6 footers. They decided to let Kalk protect rim.bland were gonna live with Newton making shots. He wasnt going to pass to Karaban or Spencer for 3.

2. UConn, playedtraditional inside out. You are taught to always defend the rim first. You need to make a conscious effort to trust your teammates have the driver handled by the big man

When Clingan was in the game, absolutely no reason to help on the drive. Inexcusable. With Johnson? Hurley gotta find a way to guard the rim when Johnson/Kataban are at the 5. Helping off driving was not a good strategy.

Also? The hard hedge got punished. Once they beat the quick hedge, it was 4-on-3. Someone is open because the defensive wing drops to pick up the role man, leaving the wing open for 3.

They should have stayed with drop coverage with Johnson and made Creighton hit mid range shots.

It’s just an adjustment.

Not sure how many teams UConn will face that have the offensive capability to exploit this aspect of their defense, but Creighton did lay down a blueprint on how to attack our defensive strategy.

Note that Creighton not only had players that can knock down threes at an amazing clip, at least last night, they have some players that can drive and finish in the paint or at the rim. If they relied on the perimeter Defender to stop penetration and contest shots, I don't think that would have gone well for UConn last night either. There are just two man-to-man D choices a team can make when it comes to defending high screens , either do what they were doing which is hedge and re-engage or do constant switches, which UConn rarely does and can result in in favorable matchups especially with teams that have dynamic perimeter players and a dominant big man like Kalkbrenner.

It will be interesting to see what defensive adjustments Hurley deploys to counter teams that try to follow this blueprint.

 

[BIIIG]

The problem with losing Clingan to early foul trouble was not in that UConn lost their offense or is one dimensional...it was that Creighton had a 7 footer that now had a much easier job. UConn has proved it can play without Clingan, but when the opposition has a 7 footer, losing your own 7 footer becomes that much more detrimental.

Also this team has very little experience playing from behind. Once Creighton got up 6 you could see all comfort leave UConn and they started to get sped up at times. All things I'd rather happen in late February than late March.

 

[DogMania]

I don't think this loss was a wake-up call for the players. For the most part, I don't think they lacked effort last night. The loss was due to a combination of factors, McDermott and his team did a great job of scheming on both ends of the floor against what UConn usually does well. They also shot lights out from Deep.

The only good that came out of this loss was for Hurley and his coaching staff to make and implement some offensive and defensive adjustments and for the team to practice those adjustments so that they will be ready to execute a few wrinkles on both ends of the floor if an opponent tries to do what Creighton did last night.

It's better to learn now what adjustments are needed and practice those than to run into something like this during the upcoming win-or-go-home tournaments where trying to execute some in-game adjustment might not be possible.

 

[jibsey]

Creighton is a FF capable team that played lousy early. They and Marquette will be tough outs. I mean St. John’s was a tough out when we are not fully on.