Pace - 285th Nationally

[Lefty2one]

Looking at previews for tonight's game I noticed we're 285th in the country in pace. That puts us in the 12th percentile, one of the slowest teams in America. Not ideal. I am not surprised by this as our motion offense has largely involved passing the ball around the perimeter for 20 seconds while putting no pressure on the defense before having to force up a shot as the shot clock dwindles down.

DePaul likes to play on the faster side, though not blazing, ranking 71st in pace. Hopefully we get a more up-and-down game and it'll help us get some easy buckets. I imagine Hurley has noticed this statistic and will try a few adjustments.

 

[M.S.G.]

Why is it not ideal?

We don't have to play fast, who says we do?

Sure we have a lot of great guards and wings who can get out and run, but again this comes back to people ripping Cole.

If they want to play fast tonight we'll run them out of the gym, UConn has dictated the pace in every game this season - we'll play whichever speed helps us win tonight.

 

[Edward Sargent]

And here I thought we were playing the 285th ranked team Pace University tonight

 

[CTBasketball]

It’s tough when we have no flow on offense. We’re best in transition.

 

[mauconnfan]

And here I thought we were playing the 285th ranked team Pace University tonight

Same thing that crossed my old mind Ed!

 

[BigFanCT]

Hurley has struggled mightily so far with forming an offense.

 

[Husky68]

Good point. Lot of wonderball 35 feet from basket. Where are the hard cuts and driving tight to the guy setting the pick? UConn makes half court offensive basketball look so hard.
Can't have an offense of Bouknight and the Pips.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Several new pieces with no practice to get in sync in offensive sets, leads to timid passing/movement

 

[HuskyHawk]

As I will undoubtedly be saying on the Chat tonight. Run Run Run. We are so much better when we run. Every defensive rebound, every steal, run.

 

[Palatine]

When we run we get very loose with the basketball. Our fast break isn't very good, even our two on ones often fail. This is an area that has much room for improvement.

 

[UconnU]

This is criminal. We need to get easier buckets in transition.

 

[BFieldHusky]

Hard to really look at this stat when we have played 4 games, and a lot of teams have played 10 games. UConn wanted to slow the pace against Creighton for sure. They felt it was their only way to win, and was a smart strategy if Cole hits his FTs.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

I think this is a huge reason why A-Jax (has he been designated a nickname yet?) hasn't really made an impact yet.

 

[Hoophound]

Pretty hard to play at a faster pace without a solid point guard or two. We don’t push the ball because our guards can’t or won’t do it. Gaffney isn’t aggressive with the ball. Not sure Cole can do it either. Diggins will fix it.

 

[ucawn]

Yea hopefully offense was a point of emphasis these past 10 days. Hopefully some set plays for Bouk or Polley catch and shoot

 

[Kenny11]

As I will undoubtedly be saying on the Chat tonight. Run Run Run. We are so much better when we run. Every defensive rebound, every steal, run.

Especially in 3 guard lineups, which Hurley likes. If you play 3 guards, you better be running and attacking.

 

[BParkDog]

I agree with the general premise, but, I note . . .

. . . in 2014 we won a national championship running an offense that regularly ran the shot clock down significantly before a shot was attempted. Of course, we had Shabazz, who was unique and an incredible baller, but the point is . . . slow play does not always equal poor play.

 

[Lefty2one]

I agree with the general premise, but, I note . . .

. . . in 2014 we won a national championship running an offense that regularly ran the shot clock down significantly before a shot was attempted. Of course, we had Shabazz, who was unique and an incredible baller, but the point is . . . slow play does not always equal poor play.

Correct. But when the accompanying offense stats are poor it's something to note. Again, a very small sample size, but...

220th in FG%
216th in TS%
200th in assists
246th in 3PT%

Obviously the percentages will balance out in time.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Interesting, teams who run offense on a low pace tend to do better in March when the game slows down and possessions are low.

For example, 80% of last year's top-25 teams had tempo rating 100th or worse in the nation.

KenPom's top-10 teams in 2020 averaged 189th in tempo. KenPom's bottom-10 teams averaged 147th.

Also, 4 out of the 10 fastest teams last year ranked in the 334-351 range according to KenPom. The best teams within the top-30 in tempo included Alabama, Arizona State, South Carolina, St. John's and Memphis while the best teams within the bottom-30 of tempo included San Diego State, Virginia, Butler, Wisconsin, Purdue.

 

[ToolzieFan]

Interesting, teams who run offense on a low pace tend to do better in March when the game slows down and possessions are low.

I’m not doubting this claim. I’m wondering if you have some evidence to support this. I might look through some KenPom stats later if I have time because I’m genuinely curious if pace matters much on its own.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I mean, the other teams know we wanna run and send 4 guys back on shot attempts. If we tried to run 2 v 4 fast breaks y’all would complain about that too

 

[MexicoHusky]

Looking at previews for tonight's game I noticed we're 285th in the country in pace. That puts us in the 12th percentile, one of the slowest teams in America. Not ideal. I am not surprised by this as our motion offense has largely involved passing the ball around the perimeter for 20 seconds while putting no pressure on the defense before having to force up a shot as the shot clock dwindles down.

DePaul likes to play on the faster side, though not blazing, ranking 71st in pace. Hopefully we get a more up-and-down game and it'll help us get some easy buckets. I imagine Hurley has noticed this statistic and will try a few adjustments.

At this point this is all I'm looking for out of our 2 controversial PGs. I'd like to see our fast break consistently produce easy buckets. So far it really hasn't. Our PGs don't turn it over a ton. Which is cool. Now they just need to produce layups in layup situations. I don't think this is too much to hope for out of a PG.

 

[Kemba Time]

I’m not doubting this claim. I’m wondering if you have some evidence to support this. I might look through some KenPom stats later if I have time because I’m genuinely curious if pace matters much on its own.

Here are two random examples I picked from KenPom:

2011 UConn -- 221
2014 UConn -- 254

 

[auror]

We've played against a lot of zone so far and have a very good defense. Not that surprising. It's a bit of an artifact of small sample size. The game against USC was glacially slow and bringing down all the numbers

 

[Chin Diesel]

I have suggested several times that Hurley sacrificed pace and points the first couple of games to work on rotation, assessing players and trying to run a half court offense.

I have little doubt that if Hurley chose to play 11 players and pressed full court, UConn would have scored a bunch more and won by larger margins. And gotten nothing from it.