Grave Diggers

If you live by the sword then you will die by the sword. UConn’s inability to score points out of the gate and then play from behind finally caught up with them. The front line had another tough day and Adrien and Thabeet ended up only taking 9 shots. There has been a consistent theme in most of their games, missing easy shots early, their opponents get hot from outside, they turn the ball over, miss free throws, and don’t get the early calls. All this leads to a sputtering start, and once they get things settled, they make a run and chip away at the lead until it is down to single digits. Once out of the break, they go on another run and take the lead, but unlike other games in this streak, they couldn’t make the plays down the stretch.

Dyson is coming back just in time and should have fresh legs. The pressure to score and make plays is forcing A.J. into bad shots. He took 22 shots and only made 6, 3 of those were from downtown. It isn’t UConn’s game to take 20 or more threes, especially when you have an advantage down low. Price’s missed free throw down the stretch was costly. Austrie had another solid performance, hitting the outside shot, protecting the weak side rebound, playing superior defense, and settling the team down in half court sets, but he didn’t take a free throw, one of his greatest assets. Wiggins, who was playing extremely well, hit a roadblock. He went 0 for 3, all 3 were from the arch, and didn’t get a rebound. He did play great defense, but he should be able to juke his man and take it to the tin more. He is our best free throw shooter and needs to use that part of his offense more.

Robinson played an all around great game. He showed an outside game, a mid-range game, a spectacular slam dunk, blocked 2 shots, had a steal, and pulled down 9 boards, 4 of those were offensive. He was able to get into the offense early and avoid the fouls, while playing his aggressive defensive style. It is great to see that getting yanked from the game on his first shot didn’t affect his game. He still shot 12 times, that is about the right number for him.

The big men are continuing to have slow starts to games. Thabeet couldn’t get anything going early and Villanova’s double teams frustrated him and Adrien, but they started finding their game in the second half. Hasheem is getting much better rebounding the ball and brought down 10 boards, 2 of those were offensive. Villanova didn’t force the ball into the paint until the second half, and why not, they shot 60% from three in the first. Thabeet was getting mauled early on and the referees had left their whistles in the locker room. In the second though, he started getting free of the double team and getting to the rim, but he only took 3 shots. When you have the advantage down low, they need to feed the big man. 3 shots is pathetic.

Adrien had an Adrien performance. Which is to say he had a double-double, 15 points and 10 boards. But he only took 6 shots, that number should have been in double figures. He had another bad night at the line, and probably cost them the game, only hitting 5 of 10. You can’t knock his intensity out there, but until he becomes consistent from the stripe, intensity and bad free throw shooting are a horrible combination.

Kelly took a nasty fall and hopefully his elbow is okay. He was just scratching some playing time and this could knock him down the depth chart for awhile. Gavin came in and played a solid 10 minutes, getting to the line, pulling down 3 boards, 1 offensive, and making an assist. Where was Mandeldove? I expected to see a glimpse of him when Curtis went out.

You can’t dig yourself a hole in every game and expect to climb out. When you do that, then every mistake is magnified. Credit this team for getting back into the game, but in an elimination tournament, you don’t want to tempt fate that way. Barring a complete collapse, knock on wood, UConn is playing for seeding now. They don’t want to get themselves in the 6, 7 or 8th seed. So these last few games and Big East Tournament are important. They are going to need to play better in the first 10 minutes of games or these holes they are digging themselves will be graves.