Notes & Quotes: UConn Dominates UMKC
STORRS, Conn.—Graduate transfer Tarin Smith scored a game-high 22 points and Jalen Adams added 20 as the UConn Huskies improved to 2-0 with a 94-66 victory over the University of Missouri-Kansas City on Sunday afternoon. Dan Hurley has brought some excitement back to Gampel Pavilion, as the 7,261 in attendance could attest.
Here is a look at what went right and what went wrong for the Huskies ahead of Thursday’s matchup with Syracuse at Madison Square Garden in the 2K Empire Classic.
WATCH MORE POST-GAME VIDEO FROM DANNY HURLEY AND JALEN ADAMS HERE!!!
WHAT WENT WELL
1. Post-Graduate Experience: Tarin Smith came off the bench, scoring 15 of his game-high 22 points in the first half. The Duquesne transfer was super efficient, shooting 10-of-12 from the field while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out a pair of assists, all in 19 minutes. Hurley said after the game that Smith has been hampered by a quad injury, leading to optimism for the rest of Smith's time in Storrs.
Dan Hurley: “The thing with Tarin is he obviously got comfortable [coming off the bench] last year and when we prepared for [Duquesne] he was one of two guys who were the focal point in terms of our game prep, what we were trying to take away from them offensively. He puts so much pressure on the defense in transition and then in the half court he is so strong and athletic he can get in the paint so easy and when he takes good three he is a pretty good three-point shooter… Once he is fully healthy he might not be so accepting of the sixth-man role, especially when you play like that.”
Jalen Adams: “He brings so much—he is so versatile. He can shoot the three, get to the rim, so athletic and then he is unselfish. He kind of plays similar to me, he is crafty with the ball screens. He brings so much even if his jumper is not falling he can get to the paint. If his scoring isn’t working he can drive and kick out, he has a good eye at the point guard position.”
Smith: “I think just have fun playing basketball with guys who are as talented as the guys I’m playing with. I think getting people involved is something I like, getting guys shots and taking scoring opportunities when I can pick them. We all have so many facets of our game—Jalen has us playing together and not just five individuals.”
2. Man-to-Man Defending: The Huskies held the Kangaroos to 42 percent shooting while forcing 18 turnovers. UConn’s full-court pressure sparked a 14-0 in the first half, propelling the lead to over 20 that would climb as high as 31 in the second half. The guards in particular played well on the perimeter, harassing UMKC all night long. The Huskies shoot passing lanes and were aggressive on the ball leading to 27 points off turnovers and 26 points on the break.
UMKC Head Coach Kareem Richardson: “Credit to UConn, first and foremost they defend their tails off and make everything physical. Every pass, every catch, everything is just…Their defense was tremendous and coach Hurley obviously you can tell takes a ton of pride in that and their pressure. I think they even defend and pressure a little bit better [than previous great UConn teams] not to take anything away from those championship teams. If they guard the way they guard, they’ll obviously gives themselves a chance night in and night out.”
J. Adams: “We just have to work on our rebounding. Because we pressure teams we make them get out of offense, make them take shots they don’t really want to take and if we come up with those clean rebounds we can get out on the fast break and that’s when we are at our best. Today we had 20 something fast-break points and that’s what we really want those are really easy points for us.”
Hurley: “I thought our ball-screen defense was a little tighter. When our bigs were late to hedge it hard, we love to send the dribbler to half court, we guard it a couple different ways but option one is to be real aggressive and blow up the ball handler and I thought when were late doing that we did a better job stringing out the dribbler laterally. I thought we scrambled well, I thought we overall guarded the ball better.”
3. Offensive Balance: UConn had four players score in double figures, including getting nine points from Josh Carlton and eight from Eric Cobb. The Huskies shot 44.4 percent from beyond the arch, with five different players hitting at least one. Tyler Polley and Alterique Gilbert each dropped 12 as offensive roles are starting to become more defined.
Hurley: “I like our pace, I like how we attacked and how we got the ball down the court again. Tarin Smith was fantastic; Jalen Smith had that stretch where he is a dominant player; I liked the contributions from Eric Cobb—I thought Eric gave us a lift. [Alterique Gilbert] obviously was pretty good again as he continues to knock off the rust and then just having Tyler [Polley] seeing the ball go in today is good for us going into that [Syracuse] zone on Thursday. I thought we made progress from game one to game two and that’s what it is all about.”
“Now its about understanding your role. Which guy has to get the lion share of the opportunities, those have to go to our best players. If we are going to have a great season or better season than people think we are capable of, Jalen Adams can’t shoot 10 shots. Jalen Adams has to shoot 17 shots, 18 shots. The thing for me going into Thursday is role identification on offense is a big thing for us.”
Richardson: “Offensively [I] wasn’t really expecting those guys to shoot it that well from three, going 12-of-27 they shot the lights out and played a complete game.”
Tyler Polley: “It is really hard to guard us. We have shooters, bigs who can post and score, attackers who can get in the lane and make plays. Last game I wasn’t being aggressive because I had the nervous jitters but this game I tried to be more aggressive and make plays.”
WHAT NEEDS WORK
1. INTERIOR DEFENSE/REBOUNDING: While the perimeter defense was stellar, the bigs protecting the paint and the rim left something to be desired. The Kangaroos scored 28 points in the paint and had 11 second-chance the points. UMKC’s forward Danny Dixon led the team in scoring with 15 points. The Roos were outrebounded, 38-29, but the Huskies’ interior defense is still a work in progress.
HURLEY: “Obviously I’m disappointed with our one-on-one post defense. We have to work on being physical without using the forearm and just wall up better and not let them get it as deep. I’m not a post doubler… I love to guard the three-point line and try to take that way as best as possible and force tough twos. I don’t think some of the post-ups were tough twos, we were a little soft on the interior defense pre-catch and post-catch.”
2. COMING OUT OF HALFTIME: Things never really got that close in the second half but coming out of the break UConn did hit a bit of a lull. Offensively shots stopped falling and the ball movement wasn’t as crisp as it was in the opening half.
HURLEY: “I didn’t love the way we started the second half, probably credit to coach and the staff at UMKC, playing a zone that first possession and me not having us ready with a zone special there coming out of halftime was on me. I think I got us off to a bad start in the second half so I’ll own that.”
UP NEXT
UConn travels to its second home in Madison Square Garden for a matchup with longtime Big East Rival Syracuse, tipping off at 7 p.m.