SMU

[mcgoo369]

Brimah was a monster... Amazing how much better this team is when they don't jack 3s

 

[dbaum_]

Great win tonight! We finally kept the game in control and made the plays we needed to during the most crucial part of the game. Brimah was an absolute beast in this game and was the reason we won it. His presence on the floor changes the dynamic of our team with his defense and passion. This was the best win of the season and a great effort from the guys. Let's beat the Bearcats in Cincinnati Saturday!

 

[the Blades]

Stayed consistent for 40 minutes ..check ......kept the TO's under 8.........check.....Also thought Omar played one of his better games, by staying in control and taking what the D gave him...... though he didn't shoot great on 3's ( only 1-4 ).....JA gave UConn the X-factor in the half court set, love that KO went without Purvis down the stretch, who was struggling (1-6 FG's)..and Gibbs is the better ball handler ( I think the O runs better if they have 3 guys who can handle with D-ham, him and JA ).. and as already mentioned Brimah !!!.... Also like that he kept Miller and Brimah on the court together for D and rebounding.... to many times KO had gone small at the end of these close games to chase guys on the perimeter, but he loses to much underneath....also won the game on FT's 13-15 ...to 5-10 for SMU

Final Stats

"Now, we've got to take care of business down in Cincinnati," coach Kevin Ollie said. "If we take care at Cincinnati and play hard, it could really separate us right. We can't get fooled, get drunk off of winning over SMU. We've got to make sure we stay sober, practice hard."

 

[CaNOLEE]

If we win out, is a 4 seed as high as we can go? Although, I'd sign for 4-1 and the American tourney championship. Obviously.

 

[Ozzie3178]

I think because of lack of respect for AAC and the fact we won't have that many top 25 wins will put us a 6 seed possibly if we get lucky a 5 in that scenario Canolee...

 

[Dominicfrank]

Pump faking the three and driving makes us a different team. There were a couple possessions that we did it 4-5 times until the shot happened. Great basketball.

Adams is going to be good guys.

 

[TripleDribbleMan]

One thing not being discussed here is a terrible backfire in the SMU strategy. It was noted during the game by Len Elmore that SMU wasn't crashing the boards and was rotating 4 guys back because, according to Len Elmore, SMU "fears UConn's lighting strike transition attack." In fact, I don't think that was the strategy. They didn't crash the boards because UConn is dead last in the AAC in offensive boards and they figured UConn was more likely to hurt them in transition than on the O-boards.

In fact, UConn did not hurt SMU in transition but did burn SMU with critical offensive rebounds at key points of the game. I don't think there was any reason for SMU to worry so much about UConn's transition because in recent games they have been getting breaks and missing layup and not finishing. Maybe Larry Brown was concerned that this was the game that UConn starts making those bunnies and layups. But to me that strategy did not work and next time they play SMU look for them to crash the boards a bit more aggressively than this game.