Jerome Dyson's 23 paced the Huskies
UConn 76, Hofstra 67
Well, that wasn’t much fun, was it? Some scary moments in this one…
The Huskies (3-0) played well in the first half, a nice continuation from last night. They had a nice energy level, good ball movement, they took a 30-23 lead into the half. Then the second half happened…the Huskies were ice cold early, and Hofstra went off…3 pointers all over the place……Hofstra pulled ahead 54-45 with a 21-5 run, at the 9 minute mark…it wasn’t looking very good. (I thought Jimmy C could have called a time out to shorten that run, but he’s Jimmy C, so whatever) Stanley Robinson hit a big three to stop the run, pulling the Huskies to within 6… and the Huskies began to turn it around.
Jerome Dyson has ice water in his veins…he scored 15 of the Huskies last 21 points, leading the Huskies to a tough 76-67 win. Dyson scored 23 points, but only had 4 field goals…what he did was go 14-15 from the stripe…money.
Another game, another block party, the Huskies blocked 13 shots tonight…they are now averaging 9.3 for the year. Gavin Edwards led the way with 5 blocks.
The Huskies had 4 guys in double figures (Dyson 23, Walker 16, Robinson 15, Edwards 10)…Alex Oriakhi added 8 points and 14 rebounds.
Kemba Walker played pretty well, I thought. The stat sheet shows just 2 assists, which surprises me…he had 4 steals, 16 points, and was a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line.
Want to be genuinely concerned about something? The Huskies bench scored 4 points in this one…in Friday night’s opener the bench scored 5 points…Monday night vs Colgate Jamal Coombs-McDaniel scored 11 off the bench, so the news isn’t all bad, but it ain’t great. They will absolutely need more production from the bench if they are going to make a run this year…It doesn’t have to be a ton, but 4, and 5 point performances can’t continue.
2-8 from deep…yuck.
30-36 from the stripe…excellent.
Tough gritty win, not pretty by any stretch…I am encouraged by this team’s ability to bear down at critical junctures… it was nice to see us fight back from down 9, with under 10 to play. There is a long way to go, it’s just November. The team will get a full week to prepare for the next opponent…and with three games under their belt, they know exactly what’s working, what’s not, what they need to do better, and what they need to do more of…
Patience.
Next Up : Time TBA vs LSU November 25 – Madison Square Garden
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Good to see Dyson just take over and carry the team on his back when needed. Let’s hope that keeps up as come tournament time ya need someone like that.
What is the story with our 3pt shooting the last few years?
Bench scoring of course is a concern but not a big deal in my eyes this early on. Work on getting the rotation set and find regular contributors off the bench.
The piss poor 3 point shooting and the inability to defend the perimeter are becoming problems game in and game out.
Can’t disagree with you Mr. Hopkins…we did shoot well from 3 vs Colgate, but we aren’t defending the 3 well at all…
Lots to work on….but a win…I’ll take it.