Huskies Flop in Big East Opener
The Story: A sold-out XL Center was ready to rock on Saturday, but the men’s basketball team’s offense was stuck in the AAC as it fell 57-53 to Providence.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: UConn was without Adama Sanogo again, and once again, the offensive flow and shot-making ability vanished in a defeat. Just as it did in a loss to West Virginia, the Huskies’ offense slowed to a crawl and the percentages were awful.
• We don’t want to hear about defense, hustle, rebounding or heart and desire. The Huskies lost to Providence because they scored 22 measly first-half points, and shot 31 percent overall and an awful 28.7 percent from 3-point range (8-of-29).
• Here’s the thing for the Huskies, way too many empty trips up the floor: UConn had 64 possessions and only came away with points on 23 trips up the floor. R.J. Cole, who is being asked to mirror Allen Iverson, struggled shooting with 16 points on 5-of-19 shooting. He also added eight assists.
• The bench? UConn isn’t as deep as we thought. The bench had four points total and shot 1-for-13 and 1-for-10 from 3-point range. We never saw Rahsool Diggins or Samson Johnson.
COLE OR NOTHING? Let’s examine how much the Huskies are asking of Cole. He had 19 shots, as mentioned, and eight assists. UConn made 19 shots, with 13 the product of Cole’s efforts. That is way too big a burden for Hurley and the Huskies to put on Cole.
• The senior is more of a scorer than a true point guard and asking him to be an elite-level playmaker and leading scorer is just too much for one player in our opinion. The options for Dan Hurley aren’t good.
• Jalen Gaffney has struggled this season against the better competition and wasn’t good in 14 minutes with zero points. We love Gaffney’s profile and talent, but he is too inconsistent to count on.
• This leads us to the confounding non-play of Diggins. The freshman point guard is nowhere to be found in the rotation despite the fact UConn struggles at point guard. There has to be a second ballhandler who can help set Cole up and relieve pressure and get the offense moving.
• Tyler Polley’s frustrating play continues. He was 1-for-7 from behind the 3-point arc and is going through one rough shooting stretch. Polley is here to shoot and is shooting only 29 percent from 3-point range and 34 percent overall. In 24 minutes, he only had three points and two rebounds.
ZOMBIE BALL RETURNS: We don’t understand why UConn slows down when things go bad. UConn isn’t skilled enough offensively to play half-court basketball but continues to try to grind the game when things get difficult.
• UConn scored 53 against West Virginia and 53 against Providence, both losses despite the defense holding the opponents under 60. UConn should never lose a game when it holds opponents to under 60 points.
• UConn was effective when it went on the fastbreak and had 12 transition points. So why didn’t it play fullcourt pressure and look to speed Providence up? UConn only turned Providence over seven times for a measly four points. UConn doesn’t shoot the ball well enough to forsake points off their defense. The Huskies’ strengths are their strength and athleticism, not the halfcourt skill and execution.
• We love the 3-pointer, but 29 is too many when you aren’t really getting the ball inside. The Huskies’ lack of ability to score inside without Sanogo is pronounced when the shots don’t fall. What a weapon it can be to be able to throw the ball inside and get a good shot. Hurry back.
• Andre Jackson continues to tantalize. The sophomore forward had eight points and 14 rebounds and is the only player on the team who knows how to dribble and run the floor at the same time. He stuffs the stat sheet, enough that Providence coach Ed Cooley compared him to Scottie Pippen. Jackson has to become a scorer and attack the rim in the halfcourt. He’s light years better than he was a year ago. We need another big progression in his game.
MARTIN RETURNS: Tyrese Martin made his way into the lineup and added 15 points. Sanogo tried to go, but Hurley kept him out for another game with Marquette looming tomorrow night in Milwaukee.
BOTTOM LINE: A sellout crowd was ready to go crazy but the Huskies glaring weakness, halfcourt scoring, reared its ugly head without Sanogo. The Huskies are 9-3 and struggling, but hope to get Sanogo back soon. He’s the missing piece inside for UConn, and while we like some of what we see out of the Huskies with the big man out, they aren’t going to go anywhere in the Big East without that scoring presence inside.
A Star is Born? Ducharme Shines in Defeat
The Story: Freshman Caroline Ducharme scored a season-high 24 points in the No. 7-ranked women’s basketball team’s 69-64 loss to No. 6 Louisville yesterday at Mohegan Sun and gave the Huskies a lift when they desperately needed one.
FIGURING IT OUT: The Huskies, who are 6-3 for the first time since 2004-05 and have matched the second-worst start under Geno Auriemma, have been sputtering since they lost Paige Bueckers to a broken left leg. But in their past two games, they looked like they have started to move on without Bueckers, who will be out until the very end of the regular season.
• Ducharme, who played all 40 minutes, took 20 shots and made 10 of them. She went 3-for-9 from 3-point range, which isn’t great for a shooter of her caliber, but consider that the Huskies missed the other six 3-pointers she didn’t take. And she offered eight rebounds to fall just shy of her first double-double.
• “I think we’re all just going to try to come back and see what we can do to keep getting better,” Ducharme said. “There’s definitely a lot of fight in this team.”
• Ducharme has now scored 40 points in the Huskies’ three games without Bueckers, but she did score just two points in the first game, a loss at Georgia Tech. She has taken 38 shots over that span and is shooting 37.5 percent.
TOUGH OUTCOME: The Huskies were up 48-42 early in the fourth quarter and had a 52-51 lead midway through it, but they fell as the Cardinals (10-1) outscored them 27-17 in the final 10 minutes.
• It’s hard to be angry with the result; after all, Louisville is no Georgia Tech. UConn would have struggled to put the resurgent Cardinals away even if Bueckers, Azzi Fudd, Nika Muhl or Aubrey Griffin were healthy, so while we at the Daily are vehemently against the concept of a moral victory … this kind of was one.
• Evina Westbrook and Christyn Williams shot a combined 7-for-23. Williams had 10 points and Westbrook had six, while Olivia Nelson-Ododa had five points and five rebounds.
• “We obviously needed more help than just what Caroline was providing,” Geno said. “We needed more contributions from more people. We didn’t get them. You’re not gonna beat a really good team without that.”
• Dorka Juhasz looks like she has finally settled in as she had her second consecutive strong game. She had 15 points and eight rebounds while playing 36 minutes.
• The Huskies had a 37-32 edge on the boards and had 17 rebounds against the Cardinals’ 22 defensive rebounds. It was a strong performance on the board for UConn, but it did come against an undersized team.
UP NEXT: The Huskies will play their first game at the XL Center in more than five weeks on Wednesday when they host Marquette (7 p.m., SNY). But what’s actually up next could be the Huskies’ first tumble outside of the top 10 in the polls since the 2004-05 season.
Morning Reads
• Chris Gbandi, who starred for the Huskies from 1998 to 2001 and has been the men’s soccer coach at Northeastern since 2016, was hired to replace Ray Reid on Friday. Gbandi was also the first pick in the MLS Draft in 2001, played professionally for eight years and made one appearance for the Liberia national team. Welcome, Chris! (The UConn Blog)
