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Film Review: UConn's Flawed Finish in Tulsa

A disappointing end to the second half sunk UConn against Tulsa on Thursday night, dropping the Huskies to 11-5 overall and 2-2 in the American Athletic Conference. Below is a review after re-watching the game of what went wrong (and right) in another game that seemingly slipped through UConn’s fingertips.


Defense

The final shooting numbers for Tulsa (35.3% from the field compared to 44% on the season) reflect favorably on the 2-3 zone which the Huskies used. UConn did a great job of limiting the Golden Hurricanes to one-and-done possessions, giving up zero first-half offensive rebounds.

But the shooting numbers and tied score at the half were a bit misleading. Tulsa easily found the gaps of the Huskies’ zone via dribble penetration but was unsuccessful in converting a handful of high-percentage opportunities in the lane. UConn was overzealous most of the night on the defensive end, many times closing out to the perimeter too hard and allowing easy blow bys for the Golden Hurricane, compromising the back end of the defense (Shonn Miller, Kentan Facey and Phil Nolan all ended the game with 4 fouls).

Near the end of the first half Tulsa began to implement more high-ball action, setting screens and delayed screens at the top of the key. The strategy worked to perfection as Rashad Smith continually found holes down the right side of the lane after receiving the ball on pick-and-pop action.

In the second half, the Huskies extended their zone, sending harder hedges on the high-ball-screen sets, slowing the strategy’s effectiveness (kudos to Kevin Ollie for the halftime adjustment). However in doing so, the Golden Hurricane had more opportunities to crash the offensive boards, allowing six extra possessions off the glass in the second half of a game which was closely contested down the stretch.


Shot Selection

It became evident very early in this game that Ollie and his staff focused on limiting Tulsa’s transition game. Many times the Huskies were sending four defenders sprinting back on defense with only one big crashing the boards.

Slowing the pace to a half-court game is ideal for the Huskies at this point but it was poor decision making on the offensive end that killed them defensively.

Quick three-point attempts early in the shot clock by Rodney Purvis and Daniel Hamilton led to easy threes in transition for the Golden Hurricane and ended UConn runs that could’ve extended its first half lead.

Another quick chuck from deep by Hamilton gave way to an easy Tulsa basket in the second half, cutting the Huskies’ lead to 37-34. The Golden Hurricane at one point missed 12 straight threes before James Woodard buried a couple of big ones to help the home team pull away late. UConn was equally anemic from the field in the second half, closing out the game with a barrage of jump shots and finishing just 1-of-10 during Tulsa’s game-clinching 25-9 run.

Need more evidence that UConn was settling too often? Tulsa attempted twice as many free throws as the Huskies did, 26-13.


Education of Jalen Adams

Jalen Adams is the future of this team—his skills are obvious to even the untrained eye.

The assumption is Ollie’s success as a collegiate and professional point guard is going to bring Adams to new levels. On Thursday you saw some of that development.

It appears Adams' natural instinct when he gets possession in transition is to turn on the jets and fly to the rim. However, as previously mentioned, it didn’t look as though UConn was comfortable getting into an up-and-down game with Tulsa. So with the Golden Hurricanes on a first-half run, Adams grabbed a rebound and began jetting his way up court. Ollie slammed the breaks on the freshman from the bench assumingly wanting his team to get the right shot, not just a quick shot. Slowing down led to an easy Sterling Gibbs bucket followed by Adams finding Gibbs on the next possession for another hoop plus the foul, putting the Huskies up 13-7.

Adams did miss a big corner three in the closing 1:37 but he is only a freshman, and the sooner Adams has a better feel for the flow of the game, the better off UConn will be for it down the road.


Hamilton's Struggles Continue

Don’t those Magic Johnson comparisons seem so long ago?

I have not watched every single possession of Daniel Hamilton this season but have kept up on his recent struggles (10 for 48 from the field in the last 4 games; 11 turnovers).

In my humble opinion (couch coach!) Hamilton appears to be struggling to find his confidence. He was shooting early in the shot clock when he should have been moving the ball and dropping off passes in the lane when it appeared the wiser move was taking it hard to the rim.

At one point in the second half, Hamilton had an open look from the wing and instead of stepping into a rhythm jump shot, hesitated, dribbled into the heart of the Tulsa defense before dropping off a pass to Miller. That indecisiveness screams of self-doubt.

You don’t just lose the type of talent it takes to put up the numbers Hamilton did early in the season, but right now his offensive game looks like it has left him. If I’m Ollie, I’m running a few sets for him early at Houston on Sunday to get him easy looks going towards the rim. Seems to me he just needs to see the ball start to tickle the twine once again.


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