Not ten minutes ago, our beloved Huskies fell to Syracuse in the Big East Tournament Quarterfinals. I was at work and unable to actually watch the game; therefore, I had to settle for the ESPN Gamecast version of the matchup, so all I have to go on is the numbers.
The first thing that irks me about this game is the second half presence, or lack thereof, of Jeremy Lamb. He’s a fantastic player with the talent to take over the game. The fact that he only had THREE shots in the second half is inexcusable. From what I can gather via twitter, it seems that Syracuse did a great job of adjusting their zone to deny Lamb the ball. If that’s the case then there needs to be some sort of adjustment made. Someone, anyone, needs to make that adjustment. That means Lamb himself, that means Calhoun, that means Shabazz Napier or Ryan Boatright running the point…someone, needs to make an adjustment to get the team’s best offensive player the ball.
As an aside, games against Syracuse always make me wonder why more teams don’t play zone against the Huskies. They tend to pass the ball around the perimeter without much penetration and it slows the game down and forces UConn to take a lot of jumpers, which they’re not always so great at. While playing against 2-3 zones in the future, it might make sense to have Lamb–who can shoot excellently/pass and dribble competently–flash in and out of the soft spot in the zone, just above the free throw line and just below the three point line. From there, he can be the one to run the offense by kicking it out, driving, or hitting a turnaround jumper. As it stands, Alex Oriakhi usually occupies that space, and it’s not helpful in the least.
Speaking of Oriakhi, today was far from his finest moment. He was essentially a non-factor in the game, hitting just one of his five field goal attempts, grabbing just three rebounds, and getting into foul trouble. Andre Drummond stepped up in the second half and was able to cover up some of Oriakhi’s in-game short comings, but it clearly wasn’t enough. Of course, Alex wasn’t alone in the offensive malaise at the Garden today.
Tyler Olander shot just 2/7, though he did pull down eight boards and dish out four assists. Boatright was 2/9, but like Olander found other ways to help, puling down six rebounds of his own; he also had three assists. Roscoe Smith disappeared, missing all six of his shot attempts and hitting just one of his four free throws. And while no one will ever deny that Napier has heart, he still needs to work on his shot selection. He finished the game just 5/17 (29%) and had a game leading five turnovers.
Regardless, it seems that UConn’s ticket to the big dance is punched, and they are playing well heading into the tournament, though a win today would’ve locked that spot up. Depending on their seeding, they could make some noise. There is, however, work to do.
I am a big stupid idiot.