The 23rd ranked Huskies battled their way to victory on Tuesday night against a tough Vermont team that played with passion and energy, but ultimately lacked the talent to keep up.
There will be two takeaways from this game. UConn’s suffocating defense, and their inability to rebound consistently. Vermont had 10 offensive rebounds in the 1st half alone, frustrating head coach Kevin Ollie. “In the first half we’d have 25 good seconds and the last 10 seconds we’d let up,” said Ollie. Guards Ryan Boatright and Shabazz Napier were very effective in pressuring Vermont’s ball-handlers, leading to disjointed offensive possessions for the Catamounts. Vermont shot an astonishingly low 23% from the field in the first half. Yet, with so many 2nd chance opportunities, Vermont kept the game close – trailing by 9 at intermission.
It was the 2nd half where UConn started to dominate. Shabazz Napier, who was held scoreless in the first, finished with a game-high 13 points. As a team, the Huskies shot 56% in the 2nd half (45% for the game). After the game, Ollie said of Napier “when he plays with an attack mentality, there’s not a guard in America that can hang with him.” UConn managed several easy inside baskets after settling for 9 three-point attempts in the 1st half. Tyler Olander distributed the ball beautifully from the high post and RJ Evans came off the bench to do RJ Evans things, namely yelling a lot and making a ton of layups after hard drives to the basket.
Much of the talk after the game focused on Olander. He played remarkably well and really looks to be developing into the post player UConn really needed last season. “He’s not a step slow,” like last year said Ollie. “He’s playing with confidence.” Napier noted that the ball movement missing from last year’s team has been greatly improved with Olander manning the high post. One look at Olander’s stats tells you the rest: 9 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks, and 0 fouls.
Some other notes:
- Ollie had some choice words for Napier at the half – he declined to give specifics – and was clearly happy with Shabazz’s response, saying “his leadership has been remarkable.”
- Napier took a couple tough falls after driving lay-ups in the 2nd half and was favoring his right hip before shaking it off and finishing out the game.
- Phil Nolan scored his first official basket as a Husky, a pretty reverse layup in the first half. He also picked up 3 fouls in only 7 minutes.
- Napier is clearly the leader of the team but RJ Evans has become a vocal presence both on the court and from the bench. Said Ollie of Evans “he’s a stabilizer. He relishes the big stage and understands his role and his limitations.”
- That last note on Evans – realizing his limitations – is evident. He was 5-5 from the field.
- 2 final Ollie quotes: “We’re not the biggest team but we work and we do things with effort, and that brings our physicality.” | “ Wins and losses are a dime a dozen. I just want them to compete.”
Up next: On Thursday the team will fly to St. Thomas for the US Virgin Islands Paradise Jam. Poor things. They will play Wake Forest on Friday Nov. 16 at 6:30pm. The game will be televised on something called CBS Sports Network.
