It’s finals week in Storrs which, on the college basketball calendar, signifies the end of the nonconference season.
For the UConn men, it means time to rest and recover before an additional test, 10th-ranked Gonzaga, in Seattle for its nonconference finale on Friday night. And, head coach Dan Hurley said, the five days between games present an opportunity to get some practice time in after the three-game stretch against then-No. 5 Kansas, No. 9 North Carolina and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
“A chance to sharpen up some things,” Hurley said after Monday’s 101-63 win over the Golden Lions. “With the way our schedule’s fallen recently, we haven’t had a lot of practice time. And when you don’t get a lot of practice time, it’s tough to clean a lot of things up.”
UConn, 9-1, has the 12th-best scoring offense in the nation at 87.4 points per game. It has the fifth-best assist to turnover ratio (1.93), ranks No. 13 in effective field goal percentage (58.2%) and its scoring margin, plus-24 points per game, is the sixth-best in the country.
According to KenPom, the Huskies are the fourth-best offensive team in terms of offensive efficiency.
But Hurley wants more.
“(We’re) gonna try and re-invent ourselves a little bit offensively,” he said Monday. “Just obviously work on some different things that we haven’t shown.”
Part of that involves re-incorporating freshman guard Stephon Castle, who returned from his knee injury during the North Carolina game and has averaged five points, four rebounds, 2.5 assists and a steal in 14 minutes per game since coming back. UConn will likely have him back in the starting lineup, where he began the season, as soon as he is fully recovered.
Both centers, Donovan Clingan and Samson Johnson, weren’t at 100% when they went into Monday’s game against the Golden Lions. Hurley “got on them” for their rebounding in the early stages of that game. Point guard Tristen Newton and forward Alex Karaban are the team’s top two rebounders thus far at 7.2 and 6.2 per game, respectively. Newton also leads the team in points (17), assists (7.2) and steals (1.5).
“A chance to get some of these guys healthy,” Hurley said. “Sam came in banged up, Donovan’s been banged up, so it’s a chance to get some practices, get healthy and start prepping for just another one of the biggest nonconference games of the nonconference season. Gonzaga, UConn, in Seattle, in a crazy atmosphere. It’s gonna be awesome.”
As they prepare for the Bulldogs, a new-look team from the one last year’s Huskies dominated in the Elite Eight last season, most of the focus is on the defensive end.
“The 3-point line defense,” Hurley specified, after the Huskies again struggled against the deep ball on Monday. “Some of the things where we need to get better as good as we’ve been and as efficient as we’ve been.”
UConn’s defense, regularly a critical part of the identity of Hurley’s teams, hasn’t been as aggressive on the ball as he normally likes. The Huskies, 26th in the nation allowing 63.2 points per game and ranked 17th in defensive efficiency by KenPom, have allowed opponents to shoot 37.4% from beyond the arc, which ranks 329th out of 351 Division I teams.
Gonzaga doesn’t shoot anywhere close to as many 3s as previous opponents Arkansas-Pine Bluff or New Hampshire, both top-20 in 3-pointers attempted per game with 29 and 28.5, respectively. The Bulldogs are No. 226, averaging 21.1 attempts from the 3-point line, where they shoot 33.2% and rank 189th in the nation. Most of Gonzaga’s offense, focused on forwards Graham Ike, Anton Watson and Braden Huff, comes from the inside.
The Bulldogs have only three players who’ve attempted more than 25 3s this year and only one, junior Nolan Hickman (36.1%), is shooting above 31%. Still, they have KenPom’s 17th-most efficient offense in the nation.
Gonzaga will enter the game ranked No. 10 in the AP poll after rebounding from its second loss of the season, 78-73 to Washington, with a 78-40 win over Mississippi Valley State. The Bulldogs will wrap up UConn’s nonconference slate as the third Quad 1 opponent on the schedule. The Huskies are 1-1 so far in those games, beating North Carolina and losing at Kansas.
“We booked a good nonconference schedule to help us prepare for the Big East, everybody really looks forward to those big games and we got one up next and then the Big East. We know how the Big East is, so, yeah, we’re ready,” Newton said.
“We’re obviously banged up right now, we have some minor injuries,” added Karaban, who dislocated the middle finger on his shooting hand in a practice before the UNC game. “Just taking the extra time to take care of our bodies and just become fully rested heading into a big game and at the same time just continuing to dial in on what we need to get better at. We have the whole week to rest, get healthy, but then also fix our weaknesses.”
Commercials Cooperation Advertisements:
(1) IT Teacher IT Freelance
立刻註冊及報名電腦補習課程吧!
电子计算机 -教育 -IT 電腦班” ( IT電腦補習 ) 提供一個方便的电子计算机 教育平台, 為大家配對信息技术, 電腦 老師, IT freelance 和 programming expert. 讓大家方便地就能找到合適的電腦補習, 電腦班, 家教, 私人老師.
We are a education and information platform which you can find a IT private tutorial teacher or freelance.
Also we provide different information about information technology, Computer, programming, mobile, Android, apple, game, movie, anime, animation…
(2) ITSec
www.ITSeceu.uk
Secure Your Computers from Cyber Threats and mitigate risks with professional services to defend Hackers.
ITSec provide IT Security and Compliance Services, including IT Compliance Services, Risk Assessment, IT Audit, Security Assessment and Audit, ISO 27001 Consulting and Certification, GDPR Compliance Services, Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA), Penetration test, Ethical Hacking, Vulnerabilities scan, IT Consulting, Data Privacy Consulting, Data Protection Services, Information Security Consulting, Cyber Security Consulting, Network Security Audit, Security Awareness Training.
Contact us right away.
Email (Prefer using email to contact us):
SalesExecutive@ITSec.vip