Four Thoughts on Georgetown vs. Connecticut

Posted by IRenko on February 2nd, 2012

I. Renko is a DC-based correspondent for Rush the Court.  You can follow him on twitter @IRenkoHoops.

The headline numbers from Georgetown’s win over Connecticut last night are the Huskies’ paltry 44 points on horrendous 27.6% field goal shooting.  It was the third-lowest point total in team history.  RTC was there live in the District, and here are four things we saw as the keys to Georgetown’s humbling of the Huskies.

It Was a Rough Night for Jim Calhoun and the Huskies (Damien Strohmeyer/SI)

  1. (Lack of) Veteran Leadership — UConn had three players on the floor last night who played more than 25 minutes in the NCAA Championship game last year:  Jeremy Lamb, Shabazz Napier, and Alex Oriakhi.  They were a combined 4-28 from the field, including 2-13 from three-point range.  I guess Oriakhi’s defense is that he only played seven minutes as part of his ongoing disappearing act — though that was more than enough time for him to rack up two fouls and three turnovers to go with his single rebound.  But Lamb and Napier, who lead the team in scoring, were out of sync all night.  While Lamb didn’t stop shooting, he couldn’t stop missing either.  Contested or open, it didn’t seem to make much of a difference on a miserable night for the sophomore guard.  By contrast, Georgetown’s big three — seniors Jason Clark, Henry Sims and junior Hollis Thompson — combined for 42 points on 16-34 shooting.  After the game, Jim Calhoun dismissed, in characteristically colorful fashion, the fact that his team is the sixth youngest in America:  “I have no idea what that means.  It means sh*t in plain English.”  And indeed, it probably shouldn’t mean much to a team that that returns four starters from a championship squad.  Sure, Andre Drummond stepped up for UConn with 18 points on 9-12 shooting, but you can’t rely on freshmen to lead the way on the road in the Big East.
  2. Ryan Boatright’s Second Foul — When freshman Ryan Boatright picked up his second foul with 10 minutes left in the first half, UConn was up 15-14.  They would score six points the rest of the half and head into the break down 31-21.  Boatright gave the team a great spark to start the game, notching three assists in the first four minutes of play.  He looked poised, in control, and more than capable against Georgetown’s sometimes-perplexing mix of zone and man principles.  When Napier, perhaps rattled by having to come off the bench, replaced him, UConn’s offense lost its way.  Napier seemed more tentative against the Georgetown defense, frequently looking unsure of how to pick apart the zone.  After the game, Jim Calhoun acknowledged what was even clearer from press row — Napier’s poor body language:  “I expect more out of him.  A lot more out of him.  Including body language.”  Although there were moments where Napier would get into the seams of the Georgetown zone and find an open teammate (who would, more often than not, proceed to clank one off the iron), they weren’t enough to mitigate his otherwise lackluster night.  Worse for UConn, when Boatright finally returned in the second half, he failed to bring back the decisive floor leadership that he’d given the team early in the first.
  3. The Difference in Discipline — To beat Georgetown and its famously disciplined offensive style, you have to be disciplined yourself.  But the Huskies gambled too often in too many important situations, kneecapping their own chances of mounting a comeback.  Calhoun repeatedly returned to this theme after the game:

The defense was generally good, except we had people who felt, down nine, with 12 to go, the game was over, so they were gonna gamble.  Bang.  You’re not down nine any more, you’re down 11.

We came back to six, somebody went for a steal, then we took a bad shot, and now we’re down 10.  You can’t keep running up the hill.

If we just stayed with our defense, that was probably gonna be a 42-42 game.  But we took chances.  Give [Georgetown] credit.  They stayed with their offense.

I’m disappointed in the fact that we took chances on defense that really cost us.  [What Georgetown’s] system does — and I do have a tad bit of experience, like 40 years, against Pete Carril and some of these other great coaches — you make a mistake, [they] got you.  You make a lunge, you leave your feet, you take your eye off the ball, you’re back cut.

4.  Second Chances in the First Half — Over the past five years, UConn has been a surprisingly poor defensive rebounding team.  Perhaps when you spend so much time blocking shots, you end up out of position for boards.  Georgetown made them pay in the first half, scoring eight second-chance points on five offensive rebounds en route to the double-digit lead that would last them the rest of the game.  Importantly, Georgetown also managed to keep UConn off the offensive glass, where the Huskies’ rebounding tends to be much better.  UConn rebounded just 18% of their missed shots and managed just two second chance points.  When your offense isn’t clicking in the half court, you need to find easy ways to score, such as on putbacks.  The Huskies struggled to get those chances in the first half, leaving them in a hole that was hard to escape.

IRenko (64 Posts)


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