The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
A midseason checkup on the Huskies
Looking at where UConn has been and where it’s going
When next week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll drops on Monday at noon, it is possible that Auburn will be the No. 1-ranked team in the nation.
More likely, it’ll be Gonzaga. Still, Auburn entered Saturday night’s matchup against Ole Miss with an overall record of 15-1. That one loss? Yup, to UConn. The Huskies’ 115-109 win over Auburn on Nov. 24 in the Bahamas was one of the best games of this college basketball season so far. It was easily UConn’s best victory of the season — perhaps of Dan Hurley’s four-year tenure in Storrs.
It was also proof that, when fully healthy, UConn is a damn good team. Maybe one of the best in the country.
So why, when Monday’s rankings are revealed, will UConn (11-4 overall, 2-2 Big East) likely not be among the Top 25 for a fifth straight week? Because the Huskies have come up just short in some of their other chances for a resume-boosting victory: Michigan State in the Bahamas, at West Virginia, at home to Providence, at Seton Hall.
The common denominator for all four of those losses? The Huskies were either missing key players, or were affected by COVID-19 issues. Isaiah Whaley didn’t play against Michigan State. Adama Sanogo and Tyrese Martin were absent from the West Virginia loss. Sanogo also didn’t play against Providence.
UConn had everyone available against Seton Hall, but the team had had just one full, 5-on-5 practice in the preceding 2 1⁄2 weeks, due to a COVID-19 pause.
Now, if that all sounds like excuse-making — well, it is. There are two sides to every coin. Other teams have suffered injuries, and most have grappled with some sort of COVID issues.
St. Bonaventure was without leading scorer Kyle Lofton in a Dec. 11 loss to UConn. The Huskies won at Marquette with the Golden Eagles’ best overall player, Darryl Morsell, sidelined by CO
VID.
And that win over Auburn? The Tigers were without Allen Flanigan, who averaged 14.5 points last season and just recently returned to action.
No one wants to hear about injuries. Texas Tech, which knocked off No. 1 Baylor and No. 6 Kansas in consecutive games over the past week without its leading scorer, Terrence Shannon Jr. Houston has lost its leading scorer and fourthleading scorer for the season and is still ranked 11th in the country and No. 5 in the NET.
In Seton Hall’s win over UConn, the Pirates were without starting forward and rebounding menace Alexis Yetna (though the Pirates’ smaller lineup ended up hurting UConn). Also, third-leading scorer Tyrese Samuel was playing for the first time since a COVID pause.
We’ll shout it again from the rooftop: Injuries are excuses.
That said, they are also facts. It is a fact that UConn, when fully-loaded, is one of the better teams in the country. The Huskies are 9-2 with Sanogo a go, 10-1 when their entire roster is available.
We are at the midway point of UConn’s season — if such a delineation can be made in these COVID times. The Huskies have played 15 games. They have 16 more to play, hopefully. Three games have already been postponed, two rescheduled.
Here’s a look at where the Huskies are now, and what the road ahead could look like over the next couple of months.
NUMBERS GAME
UConn stacks up very well against its Big East brethren when it comes to traditional statistics. It probably doesn’t surprise you that the Huskies are tops in the conference in blocked shots, rebounds, rebounding margin, offensive rebounds and field goal percentage defense.
It may surprise you that UConn is second in scoring and 3-point percentage. Yup, 3-point percentage. And that’s not from a small sample size, either: UConn is third in 3-pointers made per game (8.1).
Despite an ugly effort on Wednesday night in a win over St. John’s, the Huskies are third in the league in free throw percentage.
UConn also leads the league in scoring margin (15.1 ppg). That number (and some of the others) can be partially explained by a host of early-season blowouts over low, lowmajors. Switch over to Big East games only and, while a much smaller sample size, UConn is still tops in blocks, as well as 3-point percentage and 3-pointers made. The Huskies rate fairly well in most of the other categories, though their rebounding and defensive numbers dip a little against Big East foes.
QUADRANT QUESTIONS
UConn is currently 3-3 in Quad 1 games (Auburn, VCU, Marquette, Michigan State, West Virginia, Seton Hall). Its one Quad 2 game was the loss to Providence.
All games are denoted Quad 1-4, depending on an opponents’ NET ranking. A team’s Quad 1 record can change without even playing: the Huskies’ win over VCU in the Bahamas recently bumped up from Quad 2 to 1 when the Rams’ NET ranking moved to No. 50. It could be back to a Quad 2 victory before the end of the weekend.
If it’s a little confusing, here’s one fact: UConn’s next Quad 1 opportunity won’t be until Feb. 5 at Villanova. The Huskies have three Quad 2 matchups, one Quad 3 (home against Butler on Tuesday) and a Quad 4 (home vs. Georgetown on Jan. 25) in the meantime.
Simply put, UConn can’t slip up in any of these games, like it nearly did in Wednesday’s OT win over St. John’s. That would have been a crippling, Quad 3 loss.
BIG EAST IS A BEAR
The league currently is third in the nation with an average NET of 67.27, with six out of its 11 teams (including UConn) projected for the NCAA tournament. UConn’s near slip-up at home vs. St. John’s (100 NET) would have been a perfect example of the league’s competitiveness from top to bottom, if not for an even better example the following night: DePaul, winless in its first five league games, knocking off 20th-ranked Seton Hall.
The Huskies travel to DePaul on Jan. 29.
PRODUCTION UPTICK
Sanogo, Martin and R.J. Cole — and to a lesser degree, Andre Jackson — have largely carried the Huskies to this point. They need some help.
Jackson does a lot of things well, but could be more of a threat offensively. Whaley has been strong defensively, but his overall production has dipped. Other than a handful of hot-shooting games, Tyler Polley has too often been invisible. Akok Akok has largely been an enigma, and Jalen Gaffney has simply had a tough season. Jordan Hawkins is a freshman and, lately, has been playing like one.
Those players must provide more consistent production. Hurley is stubborn, and it doesn’t appear he’s going to be giving much (if any) run to freshmen Samson Johnson or Rahsool Diggins anytime soon.
The pieces are there. When they’re all together and healthy, UConn is one of the better teams in the country. Time to prove it.
No more excuses.