Hurley laments UConn’s late-game woes
After Saturday’s overtime loss at Seton Hall — failure in the type of game that the Big East demands UConn succeed in more often than not — coach Dan Hurley lamented the fact the Huskies’ four losses have come by a combined total of 14 points.
That is a razor thin margin between what is and what could be. Imagine if UConn had won them all? The Huskies, as Hurley mentioned, would probably be a top-five team. Imagine if they’d won just two? The team’s resume would look significantly better.
Then again, imagine UConn had lost every game that has come down to a few plays and possessions. The Huskies would be spiraling. They’re not. They’re just hovering at 10-4 (1-2 Big East), unranked, knowing they need to develop better late-game answers.
“We’re going to be in a lot of games like this the rest of the way and we’ll get more comfortable in them,” Hurley said Monday. “Games like this have a way of evening themselves out, hopefully, over the course of the year.”
UConn, 14 injury-riddled and COVID-disrupted games into a 31-game journey, plays St. John’s Wednesday night at Gampel Pavilion.
Saturday at the Prudential Center, the Huskies led the Pirates by nine in the second half and failed to run plays resulting in scoring opportunities at both
buzzers. Tied at 77, R.J. Cole tried to find a rolling Adama Sanogo, but instead was forced into a wild shot, well off the mark, in the closing seconds of regulation. The Huskies had 26.9 seconds to work for the winning basket in overtime but Tyrese Martin, also looking to feed Sanogo, lost the ball while trying to split defenders.
Games that play out like that are opportunities, and they do shape seasons in deep conferences. UConn hadn’t played in nearly three weeks due to COVID issues, and was limited in the ways it could practice, and largely performed well against Seton Hall (11-3, 2-2). The Huskies just couldn’t find the dagger.
“The remedy for that would be to have multiple guys that you can put the ball in their hands that are creative shot makers, shot takers,” Hurley said. “That’s not necessarily how we’re built. We made a multitude of mistakes on the defensive end vs. Seton Hall, and in other games where we would have had maybe a little bit more breathing room. We could have maybe played with a two-possession lead late. But, obviously, we’re going to have to find a guy that can win a 1-on-1 situation at the end of a big-time game.”
With Sanogo and Martin out with injuries, UConn was equally sloppy in the late possessions of a 56-53 loss Dec. 8 at West Virginia, going 4:30 without a field goal. Trailing by two with under a minute remaining, the Huskies missed four shots on a particularly chaotic possession and Cole’s 3-pointer at the buzzer was no good. UConn was outscored 8-2 down the stretch.
The Huskies, with Martin having returned but Sanogo still unavailable, were outplayed for the bulk of their 57-53 loss to Providence Dec. 18. Their first loss was Nov. 25 to Michigan State, 65-60, at the Battle 4 Atlantis. UConn led by five with 1:41 to go but was outscored 10-0 from there.
James Bouknight is in the NBA. Preseason analysis of this team was that it was deep and balanced but might have a problem identifying a go-to scorer.
It has been a slight problem of late. Sanogo is dominant inside, but UConn, with the final segments against Seton Hall as evidence, have become predictable in leaning on him. Outside, R.J. Cole is a marvelous playmaker but Jalen Gaffney is struggling, and freshmen are inconsistent (or out of the rotation).
“He can still have the type of year that he wants,” Hurley said of Gaffney, who has three field goals and nine turnover the past four games. “But he’s got to do it now.”
The Huskies don’t have a scoring guard who is a consistent in force in being able to make and operate in space with the game on the line. And some play calls to circumvent that reality have been snuffed out by opponents.
“That killer, that assassin, mentality like, ‘I want the ball, get out of my way’ ... there’s no drill for that,” Hurley said. “But we do have a lot of really, really talented players. We’ve got some young ones who I think can develop into that. We have some older guys that are going to have the ability to do that as well. I just think, for us, we could have done things to avoid the ball being in somebody’s hands to bail us out with a game-winning shot.”
Hurley hated how “soft” UConn was in its 1-on-1 defense against Seton Hall. He also sees missed opportunities beyond the final possessions that always stand out after losses.
“Listen, any time you’re in a situation where you’re up 1, down 1, you’re playing with fire,” Hurley said. “So let’s get up by five or seven and not try to be in a situation where it’s a one-possession game.”
Obviously, UConn hasn’t succeeded all the time in such a scenario.
It hasn’t failed all the time, either.
The Michigan State loss was sandwiched by victories over Auburn in doubleovertime (115-109) and Virginia Commonwealth in overtime (70-63), important resume builders.
Auburn made tying jump shots in the closing seconds of regulation and overtime before Tyler Polley and Sanogo pushed UConn ahead for good in the second OT. Against VCU, Isaiah Whaley made the tying 3-pointer late in regulation and the go-ahead 3 in overtime.
The next several weeks were challenging. Martin missed three games with his wrist injury, Sanogo four with an abdominal injury that he’s still recovering from. Gaffney has struggled and some freshmen — guard Rahsool Diggins, forward Samson Johnson — haven’t yet worked their way into the rotation.
“If there’s a guy that’s killing it in practice there’d be mutiny on this ship if I was holding a guy back,” Hurley said. “You’ve got to be patient and become a good player and force your way out on the court by how you show up for practice every day. And when you consistently show us that you’re a better option than what we’re sending out on the court, then you go out there.”
UConn plays Saturday at Providence and has a home-and-home (Tuesday/ Thursday) with Butler next week.
“We have so many games remaining, 17 league games left” Hurley said. “At a place like this, any time you lose there’s a certain level of hysteria. My job right now is to get these guys to kind of turn off the noise and to lock in on what we’re doing, to understand that with 17 games to go we can accomplish all the goals we set out to accomplish, that when we’re fully healthy we have a chance to be potentially as good as anybody.”