Jim Calhoun must be sick after this one, the Huskies gave this one away. Credit to Louisville to for forcing their share of turnovers, but overall, UConn was just careless with the ball. 22 turnovers, Jerome Dyson led the way with 6 of them, and Stanley Robinson was nearly as bad with 5. The Huskies led by as many as 13 in the first half, but Louisville chipped away and closed the half with some momentum, down just 5. Louisville carried that momentum into the second half which became a dog fight late, but Edgar Sosa’s lay in with 8 seconds remaining won it for Louisville, 78-76.
Kemba Walker was superb, 28 points on 7-16 shooting, 4-7 from three, 10-10 from the stripe, 3 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks and just 1 turnover. Kid is an animal. His three gave the Huskies the lead with 1:39 remaining, 76-75, but the Huskies couldn’t hold it. I thought UConn made a fatal error with 39 seconds left in a tie game, they put the ball in Jerome Dyson’s hands…who drove to no man’s land and turned it over. Gut punch. Kemba Walker should have been the one with the ball, for a slew of reasons. 1) Jerome Dyson is turnover prone. 2) Kemba Walker is infinitely more clutch at the free throw line, should a foul have occurred. 3) Kemba Walker was white hot.
I don’t want to pile onto Jerome Dyson, because the kid is what he is. He’s as gritty as they come, and has some unbelievable moves to get tough baskets down low and in transition…but he’s probably not the guy we want handling the ball in the waning moments, he’s a turnover machine. Dyson finished the game with 13 points on 6-13 shooting.
Stanley, Stanley, Stanley. This isn’t how we wanted to see him play his last game at Gampel, because it wasn’t pretty. 11 of his 14 points came in the first half, which is a theme for Stanley. He pulled down 13 boards but the turnovers were the story for Robinson today…telegraphed passes that Louisville could see coming from Bradley Airport.
Gavin Edwards played arguably the best game of the season, posting 17 points and 13 boards. He was a little loose with the ball as well, but overall it was a very good performance. UConn ran their offense through Gavin for most of the game, and at times it was very effective.
With the loss the Huskies fall to 17-12 and 7-9. Still in very good position for an NCAA tournament berth, but there is now clearly work to do. The Huskies might need to win their remaining two games to secure their spot. It’s all about “who have you played” (Duke, Kentucky, Syracuse, Texas, Villanova, West Virginia) and “who have you beaten” (Texas, Villanova, West Virginia)…the Huskies have some big wins…the berth is still there for the taking.
Next Up: Notre Dame, who’s won consecutive games over ranked opponents, Pittsburgh and Georgetown. South Bend is an extremely difficult place to play, but the Huskies have to dig deep and get it done. The margin for error is very small now…
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Part 1 of 2
Wow, where to begin?
Main reasons we lost – 1. Too many open 3s for them. 2. Too many brain-dead turnovers for us. 3. We have the ball in the wrong guy’s hands at the wrong time and we run the wrong play. 4. Did not bring the energy.
I really will never understand it. When I played ball, playing hard just came naturally. Taking plays off, letting your guy run back ahead of you on D, not going for boards – none of it ever appealed to me. I liked to win too much.
Stanley has had his worst 2 turnover games against Nova and LVille. What those teams have in common is quick athletes. For whatever reason, Stan passes like every guy on the opposing team has the mobility of an average player, even after they’ve already picked off a pass or two.
But, other than the glaringly unpolished turnovers, Stan had a good game. For a half. In the second half, no Stan.
Conversely, in the 1st half, not much Dyson, and, in the 2nd half, lots of Dyson.
First half, we’re winning handily, go in up by 5 – would have been more if not for a lucky shot.
Second half, we lose. Easy math. As always, too much Dyson, not enough of everybody else.
Why on God’s green earth is the ball in Dyson’s hands for the 1 on 5 bull rush with under 2 minutes left in the game? How many tight ones do we have to lose before JC sees that this is not an effective end-of-game strategy?
This was the perfectly representative last game of Dyson’s career at Gampel. 1 of 4 from 3, less than 50% total, good boards, a few assists, flashes of brilliance . . . and 6 turnovers. And let’s not forget, block shots aren’t counted as TOs, so give Dyson about 3 more TOs from the crashing into the defenders and getting blocked with no teammates withing sniffing distance.
The 2nd half starts and Dyson decides in “JD time”. He comes out and gets two awful turnovers. He misses the front end of an important 1 and 1. He eventually turns the ball over on the second to last possession on a brainless drive into traffic – again, may not be in the record, as he was blocked, but it’s no difference in the end.
I will never understand how the Dyson defenders can stay so loyal to this kid. He is a plague. He sucks the life out of the team with his brainless errors.
Kemba makes everybody around him better. Dyson makes everybody worse.
Why oh why does Dyson have the ball on the 2nd to last possession? Kemba is having yet another awesome game, 10 for 10 from the line – and we have Dyson bring it up and make the move? What?
In the end, Dyson is not to blame – his lack of basketball maturity has been an ongoing theme for 4 years. In the end, Calhoun has to assume responsibility for allowing Dyson to negatively impact the team.
Part 2 of 2
For the rest of the guys, Edwards, Kemba, and Stan in the first half brought energy. Okwandu was awesome and I’m happy for the kid. Showing a lot of potential. Really needs to figure out how to let a guy shoot once in a bit without hacking – part of being a great shot blocker is NOT going after every shot.
Did it seem in the 2nd half as though every bounce went to Ville? Every loose ball. It’s all about effort. The higher energy team gets the bounces, almost always.
Dyson is an energy vampire. When he goes into “JD time” mode, everybody else just ratchets it down.
Having your 35 minute a game shooting/point guard turn the ball over 6 times and get blocked with loss of possession a few times and miss the front end of a 1 and 1 is anathema.
I for one can’t wait for the Jerome Dyson era to finally be done.
I’ll say this as positively as I can – the guy simply is not a winner.
Okwandu’s effort was a huge help pn the boards early…he was getting the loose ones, it was good to see. I hear you on Dyson, he definitely screwed up. He’s a good player, not a great player. I’ll never know why he had the ball for the drive at the end…and the decision to drive into 3 or 4 defenders…ugh. Walker had been so money, I saw it as his game to win or lose. Eh, we still have a good shot, we need to take care of business…we still control our destiny.
Just when I thought that I couldn’t dislike Jerome Dyson even more . . .
Here are two quotes from Stan and Jerome after the game:
Stan – “Definitely not a good way to end my senior year in Gampel,” Robinson said. “No excuses. Just blame us.”
That, folks, is the sign of a winner.
Jerome – “I was thinking one thing,” Dyson said. “Another player was thinking another. That’s how the turnovers occurred a lot of times. We weren’t thinking the same thing.”
That there, folks, is the sign of a LOSER. Not HIS fault. It was a “communication error.” And of course, if it’s not his fault, he doesn’t have to f—ing fix it, which explains why the kid’s game is exactly the same as it was the day he walked onto campus. Same so-so shot percentage. Same low 3 point percentage. Same turnover machine.
Here’s the link for the quotes – http://www.courant.com/sports/other/hc-jeffcol0301.artmar01,0,1390226.column
Dyson, already a toilet swirler IMO, then goes on to say this – “Dyson, in turn, said he felt he played well until Calhoun yanked him for 1:24 early in the second half. He said he let it affect him.”
Well obviously, idiot Jerome doesn’t like being benched when “failures to communicate” occur, like when he coughed up 2 turnovers to start the 2nd half and put us on our heels.
4 years in a Husky uniform and getting yanks for 2 dumb turnovers “affected” him. Kid is not a winner. His mindset has sucked since he arrived in Storrs. He’ll play for a team somewhere in Europe for 10 years. Come back in 20. With his attitude, he’ll be broke and without prospects.
Here’s a positive – I actually think that Calhoun is starting to see the light with Jerome. I actually think Calhoun is finally seeing that Jerome is only helpful IF he’s restrained. Perhaps it’s not too late.
There might only be 1 guy in UConn world who is unhappy about Walker’s emergence as the true star of the team.
Somebody please post the Stan and Dyson quotes, together, on the Scout and Rivals boards – I’d love to see the Jerome defenders tell me why the guy is not a complete loser for not taking the blame on his 6 turnovers.
The quotes are troubling…but I must say Frank, while your points are well taken, you might ease up on the kid a bit. He is afterall just a kid…21-22 years old. He’s a Husky, he’s one of us, he’s not the opponent. There is nothing wrong with pointing out flaws, but we should refrain from getting personal. I’m rooting for Jerome, because I am rooting for the Huskies.
His time remaining in the Blue and White is short, while you may be anxious for it to come to an end, let’s hope it goes a little bit longer into March, if you catch my drift…
Mike well said with your response to that he is just a kid and all of us in UCONN nation take things a bit to personally after wins and loses. I was at the game and I did not see Dyson come out of the half and he had a very bad game and he knows that. Many of these players are not the best public speakers and quotes at times are taken well out of context. I feel that Dyson has had an up and down four years and he has made many mistakes on and off the court. With that said he is still a kid and is a big part of this program. I do think that the coaching staff on Louisville made some good adjustments and kept the ball out of the high post area where UCONN were looking to attack and were successful in the first half. Some of the turnovers were lazy and UCONN’s fault but otherw were good D by Louisville. I am much happier today than two weeks ago and we still have a chance to play our way in and it starts at 7:00 at Notre Dame. Frank I have appreciated your conversation throughout the last two weeks and the passion runs deep inside of you we all know. Keep the faith and believe and hopefully two weeks from yesterday we will get the nod from the committee and we can watch the Huskies in the tourney
You guys are right of course – it’s a game and I’m being emotional about it for selfish reasons. So my apologies for that.
As for Dyson – well I suppose it is personal for me. The kid is part of a team at a school at which I hold multiple degrees and which I have supported for many years. But I feel as though he has the worst sense of “team” of any player ever to play at UConn. I don’t think he’s a bad speaker. I think he said what he felt – “the TOs were caused by me thinking one thing and another guy thinking another.” What crap. The TOs were caused by his horrible decision making. Period. And it’s insulting to the other players to say, “they were thinking something different.” Yah. They were thinking something different. They were thinking, “Jerome is going to crash to the rim and throw up garbage again.” Imagine that?
And, by the way, saying, “I was thinking X but the other guy was thinking Y,” is, from my cynical perspective, just a clever way of saying, “the other guy wasn’t thinking the right thing.”
In the end, my biggest issue with Dyson is that Calhoun has built this team, in substantial part, around this kid, and more than any other player on the team Dyson’s play affects the outcome.
I said it last year – we were better without Dyson after he went down. Lots of people yap on about how we “would have won it all” if Dyson hadn’t gotten hurt. Ridiculous. If Dyson hadn’t gotten hurt he would have had his 3 for 15, 5 TO, 4PF, 3SBA game well before the final four, and anybody who has followed this year is delusional if they think he would have strung together 6 straight good games to get us into the finals.
I posted lots of stats last year – Stan emerged when Dyson went down. I thought we should have come out this year with the thought that – gee, AJ was able to make Stan a monster, let’s focus on repeating that. Unfortunately, we didn’t. Instead, we tried to have the Jerome Dyson show.
So my dislike of Dyson is because I think he’s not a team player, that he is bad for team chemistry, and that if he could just play for the team first, and not his own stat line, we’d be about 4 or 5 wins better right now, if not more.
If Dyson was near as good as some people say, we would never have gotten as far as we did last year. Last game, and about 10 others this year, show that, while the headline numbers suggest that Dyson is a great scorer and so on, a thorough analysis shows that the kid is utterly break even at best, and maybe a net negative. I would have loved to have been able to play this season again without Dyson.
And Jim – I’m going to pop a beer and hope you’re right. It’s not too late. We can still make a run. I loved that Calhoun pulled Dyson after the bone head TOs to start the 2nd half. I hope he has a long chat with the kid in which he says – “it’s now or never Jerome. You’re either going to be a team player and carry us far, or you’re going to be remembered as the only 4 year starter in UConn recent history to never win an NCAA game.”