UConn fell to Stanford (8-2) late Wednesday evening, 53-51 — a frustrating loss and the Huskies’ first of the season. After a stellar first half that dispelled the notion that UConn may be rusty following a prolonged layoff for final exams, the Huskies absolutely fell apart.
Here’s some statistics for the pessimists in the crowd. In the second half, UConn shot 16% from the floor. They scored 13 points. They were 0-12 from three. Shabazz Napier alone was 0-5 from three, missed his last six shots, and came up short at the end of the game when UConn still had a chance to win it.
Ryan Boatright and Omar Calhoun both continued their cold streaks. Calhoun was 1-6 from three and 1-8 from the floor. Boatright was 0-2 from deep and 3-11 overall. For most of the season, that pair has been bailed out by the hot shooting of Lasan Kromah and Niels Giffey. Against Stanford, that duo went a combined 2-6 from deep, 0-3 in the second half.
The front court play was nothing short of atrocious in both halves for UConn. Phil Nolan and Amida Brimah each played 13 minutes. Brimah managed four rebounds and two blocks but again looked overmatched against quality opponents. Tyler Olander was also ineffective. After three misses shots, several of the “why in the hell are you shooting that?” variety, the crowd serenaded the senior with boos as he made his way to the bench.
UConn’s best offensive player was DeAndre Daniels. Why the rest of the squad launched 21 three-pointers, Daniels took only one (and he made it). He finished with a team-high 15 points on 6-10 shooting. However, as the Husky offense fell apart, Daniels barely touched the ball. Daniels hit a layup to give UConn a 47-46 lead with 8:33 left in the game. He did not attempt a shot until the final buzzer, save for a semi-miraculous tip-in of an offensive rebound.
UConn (#10, 9-1) chose to live or die by the three-pointer, practically ignoring Daniels against Stanford’s tough zone defense. Ball movement suffered, only two fast-break points were scored after halftime, and nothing went their way.
For the optimists, here’s the take away: this was a fluke. The 13 second-half points are the lowest point total in a half in over a decade (after an historically terrible first half against UMass, UConn would actually win that game). This year’s team is talented and full of shooters. They’re not going to shoot 0% from deep in a half very often. In you ignore the fallacy of the predetermined outcome, a sole make would’ve won the game for the Huskies.
Although it was somewhat odd that coach Kevin Ollie didn’t shuffle the roster even more to find a spark (Terrence Samuel and Kenton Facey never checked in), it was encouraging to see UConn employ a small lineup when their big men were struggling so mightily. Lasan Kromah and Shabazz Napier led the team with five rebounds each. If that’s happening, it doesn’t particularly matter if you have a seven-footer on the court.
All in all, this was a bad loss, but it is what it is. It won’t be the last game UConn loses this season but you can take comfort in the fact that they will probably not play a worse half of basketball.
Notes:
- The odd weeknight late start didn’t seem to effect the players. The crowd topped 11,000 — which was good — but man did they get quiet when UConn let the game slip away. The Huskies didn’t give the XL Center patrons a whole lot to cheer for, but it’s got to be tough to play in a silent arena at home.
- Napier took the loss especially hard, faulting himself for not getting his teammates going. Asked if he iced himself by not attempting to score much until late, he said he doesn’t need to see the ball go in the basket to get hot. He never felt cold, or in a shooting slump.
- New UConn Football coach Bob Diaco was introduced in the first half and gave a rousing speech to the XL Center crowd. He praised both the men’s and women’s basketball teams and encouraged everyone to buy football season tickets. And he did it very handsomely.
Up Next:
The Huskies are traveling to Seattle on Thursday in advance of another Pac 10 matchup, this time against Washington on Sunday December 22nd. Tip is 3:30pm and will be ESPNU.
I don’t think the big men stunk as much as the perimeter players. The offense in the second half was 4 men passing the ball around the perimeter and chucking up a 3 with the lone big in the paint. That works when the 3s are falling. Not so much when they aren’t. one on three under the boards is a recipe for no offensive rebounds. Can’t blame the one guy left in the middle, consistently against 3 for not getting the boards.
Mind boggling that the shot deserted all our perimeter shooters at the same time, but it did.
Whatever speech KO gave at halftime when we had a 10 point lead, he needs to forget, and never use again.