Note: I know this article is being published after UConn already beat Butler on Tuesday. It was delayed by some family issues I have experienced the last few days. However, hopefully it can serve as a comparison piece to the Huskies performance against the Bulldogs. Thank you for reading.
After an ugly loss to St. John’s, No. 23 UConn played much toughter and with more energy at No. 11 Creighton on Saturday and were able to stay with the Bluejays for over 30 minutes despite poor shooting. In the final 10 minutes of the game however, Creighton shot the lights out and pulled away against the short-handed Huskies, winning 74-66.
Just like in UConn’s previous two games against Butler and St. John’s, the team struggled mightily on the offensive end. The Huskies missed a lot of layups and shots in the paint despite getting many second-chance opportunities, and struggled to run smooth offensive sets and get easy scoring opportunities against Creighton’s strong defense.
UConn (7-3, 4-3 in Big East) had just 13 points with seven minutes left in the first half before finally getting on track offensively. It started the second half well and kept pace with Creighton on the offensive end in the opening minutes, but the Bluejays defense eventually tightened up and helped ensure UConn hit few perimeter shots, allowing their offense to pull away. The Huskies finished the game shooting 36.5% overall and 7-23 from three. Meanwhile, Creighton couldn’t miss in the game’s final minutes. After shooting 43% in the first half, it shot 58% in the second.
Uconn liked like they could be on the verge of getting blown out in the early minutes of the game, as it started 6-27 and trailed 23-13 with seven minutes remaining in the first half. The Huskies finally got on track in those last few minutes and trailed by just one at halftime, 29-28.
Cole helped lead this comeback and ignite a 9-0 run, scoring eight points in the final 4:27 and making a beautiful crosscourt pass to Brendan Adams for a wide-open three that cut the deficit to one. Cole did an excellent job handling the ball during this stretch and showed some nifty moves while hitting contested jumpers. UConn’s defense, meanwhile, played very well in the final seven minutes against one of the country’s best offenses. It consistently limited the Bluejays to one shot and forced a few key turnovers and consistently challenged shots on the peremiter. The Huskies also benefited from Creighton struggling at the free throw line.
UConn absolutely obiliterated the Blue Jays on the glass in the first half, grabbing 26 rebounds and recording an 11-1 advantage in offensive boards. Nearly every player did their best to crash the glass, and the team did an excellent job of outhustling Creighton’s players to rebounds. However, the Huskies didn’t come close to generating the number of points they should have from their rebounding prowess, as they had very few second chance points despite a ton of great opportunities. For the half, UConn shot just 29.4% and 2-9 from three. Cole and tje Bluejays Denzel Mahoney each had 10 points in the 20 minutes.
The Huskies offense continued to play well at the beginning of the second half, keeping pace with Creighton in the first few minutes even as the Bluejays offense began to return to its high-flying ways. UConn attacked earlier in the shot clock instead of their recent custom of playing hot potato with the ball for much of its possessions. Adama Sanogo led the way, scoring seven points in the opening 9:42, and a dunk by the freshman off a pass by Jalen Gaffney tied the contest at 50.
From that point, it was downhill on both sides of the ball. On defense, UConn allowed Creighton to go on a 12-0 run after tying it, and the Buejays shot 7-13 in the last 10 minutes, while also making 11 free on 19 attempts. Mahoney led the aforementioned run, scoring five points and assisting on a Marcus Zegarowski 3-pointer. Creighton did an outstanding job moving the ball and avoiding turnovers in the second half, committing just two (it had nine for the game). The Bluejays were constantly able to penetrate the middle of the floor and get open jumpers, and also hit many open shots. The offense also wore the Huskies down by getting to the rim for either layups or free throw attempts. The Huskies were in foul trouble throughout the second half, and Sanogo and Martin fouledo ut. Finally, Creighton did a better job of rebounding in the half, grabbing just one less than UConn.
On offense, the Huskies struggled to make jumpers and 3-pointers in the final 10 minutes, shooting 5-15. It was hard for UConn to go inside near the end due to foul trouble, and the team continued to miss shots at the rim.
Creighton got good offensive contributions up and down the lineup despite not playing to its loftly offensive standards. Four players finished in double figures, with Manhoney shooting 8-14 and 3-7 from three on his way to 20 points. Zegarowski struggled from beyond the arc, shooting 1-5, but still finished with 15 points, and Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 10 points in 22 minutes. The Bluejays got to the line 32 times, but made just 20 free throws.
Cole led UConn in scoring, finishing with 14 points and going 6-7(!) from the line while also adding five assists. However, he again slowed down after a hot start, scoring just four points in the second half. Sanogo was rewarded for his performance against St. John’s by earning 20 minutes despite foul trouble and made the most of it, scoring a season-high 13 point on 5-9 shooting and grabbing five rebounds. Sanogo could have had even more if it was not for his inconsistent footwork and ball handling, as he committed five turnovers. Martin scored 11 points but disappeared for minutes of a time on offense, and Whaley had 10 points and nine rebounds but shot 4-13. Finally, Tyler Polley again had an ugly day, going scoreless and 0-4 from three in 17 minutes. The senior had just one rebound and no assists. The Huskies had 14 assists but 12 turnovers, and recorded just three steals.
As I elaborate upon below, UConn has nothing to be ashamed about losing to Creighton. Despite missing Bouknight as well as Andre Jackson and Akok Akok due to a bruished shin, the Huskies fought the Bluejays to a draw for 30 minutes, did an outstanding job on the boards, and played solid defense in the first half. UConn understandably were worn down and got in foul trouble largely because of Creighton’s athleticism, and the Bluejays are capable of going on scoring tangents like they did in the second half against any team. However, UConn’s inability to make easy shots in the paint and at the rim and earn so few second-change points is embarassing, Bouknight or no Bouknight. You cannot be one of the top teams in the Big East if you are not making open layups (the Huskies were 6-16 on layups in the game) or bunnies at the rim. The team has a thin margin of error right now, and they could be in danger of losing every game without their star if these struggles continue.
Below are five observations on the loss to Creighton:
This team’s inability to make layups and other shots at the rim is stupifying
For UConn to beat Creighton, they would have had to shoot very efficiently. Instead, the offense was extremely inconsistent and struggled to make shots inside 15 feet for all 40 minutes, despite getting many open looks. The Huskies shot 6-16 on layups (37.5%) and rarely scored on their second-chance opportunities despite grabbing 18 offensive rebounds.
While myself and others would have liked UConn to occasionally push the tempo more and shoot earlier in the shot clock, the team’s offensive approach made sense against the Bluejays. Slowing down the tempo and crashing the boards on missed shots limited their scoring opportunities and took away possessions. If the Husies had made their layups and second-chance opportunities at a decent clip, then they probably could have kept the game close throughout and have a decent chance at the upset. UConn’s inability to score on second-chance opportunities was front and center when it grabbed two or three offensive rebounds off misses on multiple possessions and still failed to score on shots surrounding the basket. On one possession, players missed four consecutive shots.
As of Monday night, the Huskies were shooting just 52.7% on shots at the rim (layups, dunks, and tip-ins), which ranked 325th in the country in Division I, out of 347 teams. Only one power conference team (Washington St.) ranked lower than UConn. Five Huskies were shooting under 50% on 2-pointers and three (Adams, Gaffney, and Cole) were under 40%. There are plenty of factors for why many players are struggling so much at shots at the rim and on 2-pointers. The most glaring include poor footwork, rushing shots (paging Whaley), either not taking the right angles on shots or failing to go up strong, and only occasionally getting out in transition. Despite UConn’s size and depth in the frontcourt, it seems the team rarely dunks.
Its hard to imagine the team won’t improve its shooting rate at the rim, but it has to work at finding strategies and drills in practice that can help lead to such improvement, Otherwise, there is almost no way the team can play over .500 with Bouknight out.
UConn’s performance on the boards was remarkable
The Huskies have been an elite rebounding team this season and one of the best offense rebounding teams in the entire country and the best in the Big East, even with Akok barely playing. In the previous two games, however, DePaul had the same number of rebounds as UConn and St. John’s controlled the boards in their wins. Against Creighton, UConn bounced back and dominated the boards from start to finish. It ultimately outrebounded the Bluejays 43-27, and grabbed 18 offensive rebounds to Creighton’s five. Despite the Bluejays players being more athletic than the Huskies players, they showed great rebounding instincts and crashed the boards on every missed shot, beating Creighton to the ball again and again. It’s just a shame the offensive rebounds rarely resulted in points.
What’s most remarkable about UConn’s rebounding ability is that it has multiple guards who are nearly as good on the boards as the Huskies bigs. Against Creighton, Adams tied Whaley for the team lead in rebounds with nine, and his four offensive rebounds led UConn. Martin, who is quickly establishing himself as one of the best rebounding guards in the program’s recent history, grabbed five (three offensive) and Cole had four boards. Sanogo had five rebounds and Carlton managed to grab four in just 10 minutes of play. The Huskies rebounding prowess should allow them to be competitive in every game, with or without Bouknight.
Sanogo continues to play at a high level
After a strong performance against St. John’s in which Hurley inexplicably sat freshman for the final 12 minutes, Hurley said that Sanogo had earned more playing time and would get it as long as he continued to work hard in practice and plays well on offense. Sanogo rewarded Hurley for his decision by scoring 13 points on 5-9 shooting and grabbing five rebounds in 20 minutes of play before fouling out. He continued to show good touch around the basket and the ability to manuever around defenders. While Sanogo’s footwork was shaky at times (he committed five turnovers and traveled multiple times), I’m confident he can improve in this area with by concentrating better and not rushing his shot.
After the game, Sanogo praised Sanogo’s performance but said it’s a problem when the center is UConn’s best offensive player. That is certaintly true. However, it is awesome to see how many strides Sanogo has made on offense recently. At the moment, he is the Huskies most efficient big when shooting at the rim (54.2% for both effective field goal percentage and shots at rim). Even with Sanogo’s inconsistency on defense and his limited passing ability, he absolutely deserves to have more minutes than Carlton, and is making up for the abscence of Akok. If Sanogo continues to improve at this rate, he could be the best big man UConn has had since Andre Drummond in a season or two.
This was a strong effort by the Huskies overall
After a deflating loss to St. John’s and looking like Creighton could below them out early, it was nice to see the Huskies not get discouraged and play so hard from start to finish. The players displayed a lot of energy and toughness, and many of them looked confident despite facing the conference’s second-best team without Bouknight. UConn played very good defense in the first half, and still managed to hold the Bluejays offense under their season average despite Creighton shooting the lights out in the last few minutes. As frustrating as it was to see the offense play so poorly, the Huskies put themselves in good position to win and definitely could have pulled off the upset if they shot more efficiently. Even if the offense only slightly improves, UConn can beat anyone.
Hey, UConn actually made free throws!
It was awesome to see the Huskies shoot 16-18 from the line. Now can they shoot near that rate in another game, please?
HUSKY NATION 