Learning From Consecutive Losses

The A Dime Back staff took a pass at recapping UConn’s consecutive losses in the Bahamas last week. For one, our readers let it be known that they had no interest in reliving the details of the Huskies’ back-to-back defeats against Syracuse and Gonzaga. And also, we were stuffed with food and drink, incapable of forming coherent sentences.

Now, with a few days between us and the Battle 4 Atlantis, let’s skip the chronology part of our traditional recaps and take a look at the big picture ramifications of two games gone awry.

We’ll even use our trademark The Good/The Bad bullets! But we’re starting with…

The Bad

• Look, losing these games was rough. It knocked the Huskies out of the top 25, if you care about such things. It also erased two chances to register “signature wins” so desired by the selection committee in March.
• It also confirmed some things that we thought might be a problem. For starters, the rotation. UConn coach Kevin Ollie ran out 10 guys against Syracuse and 11 against Gonzaga. The bench contributed 53 minutes in each game. Neither of those are bad things in their own right, but in close games against good opponents, the timing of substitutions needs to be purposeful and appropriate. The play-by-play notes are a little wonky, but in the Syracuse game, the Huskies got off to a hot start, leading 17-9 at the time of the first substitution. The starting lineup rarely played together again until the second half began. Ideally, the Huskies would stick with hot lineups for as long as possible*. We’ll get to the asterisk part of this bullet in the next section.
• Defending the three-point line is a problem. Anecdotally (read: too lazy to check statistics), this has been a problem for UConn for several seasons. Last week, it manifested itself in ugly ways against good three-point shooting teams. Gonzaga and Syracuse shot over 43 percent from deep against the Huskies.
• Also on the defensive end, the Huskies are still finding the right balance between aggressive defense and assault. While a nice chunk of their 25 fouls in the Syracuse game were of the eye-rolling variety, they still relied too much on reaching in than sound positioning. Four of the five starters, and Jalen Adams and Kentan Facey on the bench, had four fouls. That’s a recipe for disaster.
• We’ve talked at length about the bevy of scoring options available to Ollie, but we also witnessed the need for consistency among the backcourt. In the Cuse game, Rodney Purvis struggled for much of the game before catching fire with some late three-pointers. Sterling Gibbs scored eight points in the first 3:15 of the game and only four the rest of the way. His 2-10 shooting performance the next day against Gonzaga didn’t do much to right the ship. The Huskies will need more consistency from that pair, especially in big games.
• You can’t spot a good team a big lead. While the Huskies get credit for whittling down Gonzaga’s 21 point lead, it was a lack of focus and execution that allowed that deficit to balloon in the first place.

The Good

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• But enough about the bad. Let’s get to the silver lining. We should start with the fact that UConn competed closely with two tournament-caliber teams. Teams with, arguably, sweet sixteen talent. While the losses weren’t a whole lot of fun, it’s good to get in these types of non-conference games before the AAC play.
• Several of our observations from UConn’s first four games held true against the Atlantis competition. Purvis showed himself capable of defending athletic guards. Daniel Hamilton’s passing ability was on full display against defenders who were both long and big. And Jalen Adams looked more than capable late in the game against Gonzaga.
• Speaking of Hamilton, he is so close to figuring it all out. In the two losses, he averaged 16 points, 9.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists. He’s been incredibly productive while still showing room for improvement on his three-point shot and his decision making. Whenever it all finally falls into place, we’ll start hearing Hamilton’s name a lot more in the national media.
• There were some anomalies in these games that should ease some concerns moving forward. For one, the Syracuse zone is unique to them. The Huskies could have handled it better, but their offensive performance against that niche defense isn’t a good measure of their ability. Against Gonzaga, the Huskies were 1-12 from three-point range including an 0-8 performance from Gibbs and Purvis. If just a few of those shots were dropping for UConn, the game would have looked quite different. There’s no reason to expect the shooting to remain so poor going forward.
• Also anomalous is the very nature of the Atlantis tournament. It’s played in a weird ballroom with short ceilings, featuring hard rims and with a schedule that is begging for fatigue and distractions. Here’s the asterisk to that bad bullet: *if Ollie’s substitutions were made because his players were tired from playing three games in 50 hours, they become understandable.
• On the plus side, playing in front of only 3,000 people should prepare UConn nicely for the crowd in Houston.

Up Next

The Huskies will play at the XL Center for the first time this season when Sacred Heart comes to Hartford on Wednesday. The game tips at 7 p.m. and can be seen on SNY.