Coming into the 2020-21 season, Dan Hurley said two of the team’s main goals for the season were to finish in the top three of the Big East standings and qualify for the NCAA tournament. Despite taking a bumpy ride to get there, UConn reached those goals and returned to national prominence. James Bouknight proved himself to be one of the best players in the country when healthy, Adama Sanogo emerged as the best Huskies freshman big man since Andre Drummond, and transfers R.J. Cole and Tyrese Martin made huge impacts on both sides of the ball. UConn became an extremely strong defensive team and on the boards, and could be very fun to watch on offense, especially when it ran and shared the ball well. The Huskies earned signature wins against USC, Xavier without Bouknight, Seton Hall and Marquette.
As strong as the Huskies were in some areas, however, they were pretty weak in others. Their offense was extremely inconsistent and they did not shoot very well, especially for a team of their caliber. UConn played at a slow tempo, often seemingly to their detriment, and did not share the ball well at times. While Cole emerged as a solid second option to Bouknight late in the season, for much of the season te team’s best or second-best player was different from game to game. On defense, the team struggled to avoid foul trouble, especially from its bigs, and sometimes did a poor job of playing help defense. Most glaringly, the Huskies defense was burned by teams who played five-out offense in losses (Villanova, Creighton, Maryland). All of these weaknesses came to a head in Saturday’s first-round loss to Maryland.
In the 63-54 loss, UConn shot just 23.1% in the first half and 32% in the game. It had more offensive rebounds (22) than field goals (21), and went completely cold in the final minutes of the first half after tying the game at 19 with 7:54 left, getting outscored 14-3 for the remeainder of the half. The Huskies continued to struggle to execute on both sides of the ball in the opening minutes of the second half, and their comeback attempt was thwarted by poor shot selection and an inability to convert at the free throw line, where the team went 5-12. Ultimately, UConn scored just 0.93 points per possession despite taking 22 more shots than Maryland, while the Terrapins scored 1.09.
Maryland and its pack-line defense were all over James Bouknight, who shot 6-16 and just 1-6 from three to finish with 15 points. Bouknight seemed to always have at least two defenders on him when he tried to shoot, and the sophomore did a poor job of handling the ball (three turnovers) and finding open teammates in what was almost definitely his final game in a Husky uniform. The Terrapins were able to clog the paint because of UConn’s inability to make midrange and 3-point shots consistently (where it went 7-23). Bouknight got very little help from Cole and Martin, with the trio combining to shoot 10-37. The only Husky who had a strong offensive game was Jaylen Gaffney, who scored 12 on 4-6 shooting in 20 minutes.
The UConn defense had a mostly disappointing performance as well. It really struggled to cover Maryland on the perimeter and defenders were regularly late to to the ball. The Terrapins went 9-18 from behind the arc, with Aaron Wiggins shooting 4-6 from three, and they shot over 50 percent overall and recorded 13 assists. The Huskies also struggled to defend Maryland’s guards off the dribble as well, and were helpless to stop David Ayala, who finished with 23 points on 8-14 shooting. Maryland’s players took advantage of their ability to draw defenders out to force UConn into foul trouble. Andre Jackson played just eight minutes due to four fouls, and Sanogo committed two fouls and played just 16 minutes overall while struggling to keep up on defense.
Below, I examine further how weaknesses on offense and defense as well as a lack of tournament experience helped doom the Huskies.
UConn’s poor shooting and inability to finish at the rim consistently was at its most glaring, leading to its ugliest offensive performance of the season
Anyone who consistently watched the Huskies this year knows that they were an inefficient offensive team, even when Bouknight was playing. While the offense was ranked 27th in KenPom as of Monday, this ranking is hugely bolstered by UConn’s skills on the offensive glass. Dig a little deeper, and the team is ranked poorly in all types of shooting and offensive rankings. This includes an effective field goal percentage of 49.0% (215th in the country) and 2-point and 3-point shooting percentages of 48.3% (233) and 33.5% (176) according to KenPom, a 3-point rate of 33.4 (271st) and assist rate (which measures assists to field goals made) of 49.3 (230th) according to barttorvik.com, and 78th in offensive ratings according to masseyratings.com.
At the guard and forward spots, UConn does did not have a high-quality shooter. After returning from his injury, Bouknight’s shooting was never at the level that it was early in the season and he struggled with turnovers, and obviously his offensive performance and shot selection was very poor in the last two games. Cole’s 3-point shooting improved tremendously over the course of the season and he finished at 38.6% for the year, but he struggled tremendously with scoring at the rim the entire season and can fall into the habit of hogging the ball and taking poor shots instead of looking to pass. Even with his improved offensive performance at the end of the season, especially behind the arc, Gaffney still only shot 41% on the season and has demonstrated he is better at shooting guard then the point, and Jackson is currently extremely limited offensively. At forward, Martin absolutely fell off a cliff offensively after Bouknight returned and Polley did not evolve at all while shooting the lowest percentage from three of his career. While Whaley showed a decent midrange game and shot well from beyond the arc at times, he is also limited offensively and Sanogo has little range at this point. As discussed more below, UConn’s lack of shooting and inability to stretch the floor against some times can make players outside of Bouknight easy to guard.
The Huskies inability to score on open shots and putbacks at the rim at times is even more confuding than their struggles from the perimeter. While the loss to Maryland was the most blatent example of this, the team was plagued by the issue both in other losses as well as some wins.MAs a team, UConn made 56.4% of their shots at the rim and 58.2% of putbacks, lowever than many teams of their caliber. Many players seem to have a habit of either not going up strong at the rim or putting the ball up too hard when attempting layups, and have a tendancy of forcing shots at the rim instead of looking for open teammates. Cole and Martin, who were first and third on the team in shots at the rim, are the biggtest offenders in this regard, making just 37% and 54.4% of their shots from there. Martin and Whaley also struggled to make putbacks compared to the average player, making just half and 56.7% of their putbacks, respectively. I am not sure what Hurley and his players can do in drills and practice to improve at shooting around the rim and on putbacks next season, but it is imperative that they do to make the next step, especially for a program where offensive rebounding is a huge part of their team’s DNA.
The way the game played out again showed the danger of being too dependent on one player
For many college basketball fans, especially those who didn’t pay heavy attention to UConn, this year’s team was defined by the greatness of James Bouknight. Fans who regularly followed the team know that this isn’t the case, and that the Huskies are at their best when multiple players are contributing. Too much of the time this did not happen however, and against Creighton and Marquette Bouknight was out on an island with almost no help. I already discussed the struggles of he as well as Cole and Martin, but Sanogo and Jackson also had poor games and Polley did nothing outside of his two threes. Besides Gaffney, everyone else appeared ratteled and overwhelmed as the game went on and were trying to do to much, whether that meant forcing shots or trying to make unnecessary passes when teammates were not ready. It was deflating to see, especially when you knew this was the chance for UConn to show its depth and athleticism to the biggest possible audience.
The final two games of the season captured a snapshot of Bouknight at his worst and most overwhelmed. As I said before, the star’s shooting was diminished when he returned, but its almost impossible for anyone to be efficient offensively when two or three defenders are draped over them at all times. What Bouknight can be called out for is trying to do to much and score no matter what, leaving him to take poor shots and putting his defense in poor position. I would have liked to see Bouknight show more trust in his teammates and create plays for them, even if it had not paid off. I just hope Bouknight’s recent struggles has fans forget just how fantastic he can be, and how much he did to help the program turn around.
With the departure of Bouknight and the arrival of highly-touted freshman as well as possibly multiple transfer players, next year’s team will almost definitely be more balanced on both ends of the floor. Even if there isn’t a number one option at Bouknight’s level however, multiple players will still need to emerge as UConn’s offensive leaders for the team to be consistently successful.
The team’s final two losses clearly showed it was better when it played at a faster tempo
One of the Huskies defining features as a team was the slow tempo they played at. According to KenPom, their adjusted tempo is currently 65.6, which is 308th in the country, and their average possession length 18.8 seconds, 318th in the country. It was understandable that Hurley wanted the team to play at a slower pace when Bouknight was out to keep games lower-scoring. Starting with the win against Xavier however, UConn made a clear effort to play at a faster pace, and kep this up for the remainder of the regular season and its win over DePaul in the Big East quarterfinals. It scored over one point per possession in each of its final seven wins and at least 70 points in six of them. The offense looked much more efficient when it played at a faster tempo, with players sharing the ball better and the team being able to take advantage of its depth. In particular, Cole, Gaffney and Jackson appeared to be much more comfortable playing at a faster pace. In addition, it allowed the Huskies to take advantage of its athleticism.
Against Creigton and Maryland, they were forced to bring the ball up slowly and play a more plodding style, and the results were not pretty. I’ve already talked about how inefficient the team looked in the losses. UConn looked uncomfortable playing at that tempo, and once Bouknight’s shots weren’t falling the team appeared overmatched. Their shot selection declined in both games, and it was more difficult for them to score in transition. As a fan, it was also more difficult to enjoy the game with the tempo they were playing.
Next season, it is my hope that the team consistently plays at a faster tempo, especially if the guard play has improved. I believe it takes advantage of both the team’s and individual players biggest strengths, and it will make it more difficult for opponents to contain the offense. I believe Hurley wants to play this way at all, and I hope the aforementioned losses serve as a wake-up call.
The season-ending loss underlined that opponents focused on perimeter shooting and five-out offenses were the Huskies Acchilles heel
For the entire season, UConn defended the three very well and generally played strong peremiter defense. However, many of their losses came against teams which were especially strong from the peremiter, such as Creigthon, Villanova and now Maryland. The Huskies are arguably overly reliant on the hard hedge, and these offenses are able to take advantage of players like Sanogo and Carlton who do not have the speed to defend well on the peremiter. In addition, these teams were able to take advantage of Cole’s lack of size to shoot over him and beat defenders off the dribble at times. Next year, UConn has to find a way to adjust its defense so that it can defend these types of offenses more easily. This could mean occasionally playing a zone or pressing, being less relient on the hard edge, or attracking larger guards through the transfer portal. Basketball teams are playing these types of offenses more and more in the modern age, and the Huskies have to get with the times.
HUSKY NATION 