Bench Play Rounding Into Form
The Story: Tyler Polley and Jordan Hawkins are the first two players off the bench for the now No. 18-ranked men’s basketball team, and as we saw Sunday, when both get it going, the Huskies are difficult to stop.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Polley is an enigma in many ways. The 6-foot-8 forward has a deft 3-point shot and a high release, and when he gets hot, he is one of the most explosive scoring players in the Big East. Then, let’s take Hawkins, who looks like a young Ray Allen and is not only a shooter but a scorer who can take it to the basket and finish with a thunderous dunk, as Georgetown found out. They had it going on Sunday. Polley and Hawkins each scored 11 points in the win over Georgetown and made Adama Sanogo‘s foul-plagued performance irrelevant.
SHOOTERS & REBOUNDERS? How important is shooting in the modern era? Let’s take an extreme example.
• Former UConn star Andre Drummond is considered one of the greatest rebounders in NBA history. At 28, he is entering his prime as a player. The other rebounders who are comparable to Drummond are in the Hall of Fame. Is Drummond going there? Not even close. He’s the best rebounder in the NBA and is on a minimum-salary contract with the Brooklyn Nets and averaging 6.6 points and nine rebounds per game. He’s a good players and there is a lot more to the game that Drummond doesn’t do (defense, free throw shooting), but his rebounding even at a legendary rate doesn’t make up for his lack of floor spacing.
• Now, let’s take Pistons backup center Kelly Olynyk, who received a three-year, $37 million contract during the offseason. Olynyk is a backup center averaging nine points and five rebounds who brings really only one skill to the table — 3-point shooting. The best rebounder in the NBA or a bench 3-point shooter with size? It’s an extreme case, but spacing and shooting is much more valuable than rebounding these days.
• Why are we telling you this? Because shooting and spacing are what every basketball coach is after and Dan Hurley has two players who can provide it off his bench.
THE POLLEY EFFECT: We gotta thank The Hartford Courant’s young Shreyas Laddha for unearthing Polley’s advanced stats and showing us the way. Polley hasn’t been great this year. He is shooting only 34.7 percent from 3-point range. But, despite some inconsistencies, it just so happens that just having him on the floor does the trick. The top two five-man lineup combinations this year include Polley. When he replaces Sanogo or Whaley at the four, the Huskies’ offense starts to hum.
• What’s going on here? The mere threat of shooting with Polley is giving space for Sanogo and R.J. Cole to operate and driving lanes for Tyrese Martin and Andre Jackson. Polley can have an effect on the game even if he doesn’t put up a single shot. It’s hard to believe, but that is what the threat of the 3-point shot can do for an offense.
• The best part? Polley isn’t an empty threat either and has 36 points in his last three games. He probably isn’t going to win sixth man of the year again, but that offense brings the Huskies to another level.
HAWKINS COMING ON: Then there is Hawkins, who is going to be a major scorer for the Huskies in coming years. Hawkins had his best game in more than a month with 11 points — his first game in double figures since Jan. 25 — and showed the versatile game that the Huskies need if they are going to take a March run.
WHAT DID HURLEY SAY? “It allows us to take to another level what we can accomplish with the team. The one [question] about this team is the firepower from the perimeter. Do they have enough firepower to beat the best teams? If we get that type of production from our bench, we know how we rebound and we know how we defend.”
CAN THE HUSKIES SUSTAIN? Here’s where the rubber meets the road. If Polley and Hawkins can provide some scoring punch off the bench, which had 30 points on Sunday when you factor in Jalen Gaffney‘s eight, the Huskies become much more formidable. UConn has stretches where it can’t make shots and it is up to Polley and Hawkins to bridge those gaps when Cole and Martin aren’t getting it done.
• The Huskies are always going to defend and rebound. If they can get Hawkins and Polley to be that additional scorer and generate floor space, it’s going to make the Huskies all the more formidable in March.
Morning Reads
• The women’s basketball team is now a No. 3 seed in the latest NCAA Tournament bracket unveiling. Paige Bueckers is back, and what we have seen the last week should strike fear into the universe. (Hearst Connecticut Media)
• Olivia Nelson-Ododa has had an up-and-down time at UConn and has not always lived up to the outrageous expectations placed on her, but the final year of her career has shown how indispensable she has become to the Huskies’ success. (Hartford Courant)
• The men’s hockey team is ranked, but is it headed to the NCAA Tournament? Two losses this week to Northeastern really put a dent in its chances. (The UConn Blog).
