Stanley Robinson only managed to get two rebounds in UConn's fifth loss of its season. (Hartford Courant)
“How I’m personally getting through to them? I guess not very well. … We’ve averaged 25 wins a year for 24 years, I guess I’m not getting through to them very well. That’s the only answer I can probably give you, I don’t know what else to say. I think that’s a nice set-up question, so I’ll give you the set-up answer. We’re 11-5, played the best schedule in the country … and I’m not doing the job. … And I’m not being sarcastic with you; I can really be sarcastic. …. Maybe I’ll invite someone else in who knows how to coach or call somebody up on the phone who knows how to coach.” — Jim Calhoun
HARTFORD, Conn. — I gotta admit, before I launch into this story, I feel both grateful for my circumstance — to be able to write about something I love so much — and silly about it at the same time.
Hundreds of thousands of people are dead in Haiti. So much effort around the world is going into saving lives on the brink and repairing all the damage there … I guess I feel like what I’m about to write is all so trivial. But I know it’s not; it has some value on some level. I can’t deny, though, that there were stretches last night when I was watching a game happening 10 feet in front of me and was thinking about how many people simply ceased to exist the previous 24 hours. Heartbreaking.
OK, basketball. For as impressive as Pittsburgh looked last night in getting its third straight road win, I’m going to have to pay more attention to the train that may be ready to come off the tracks.
The Huskies are now 11-5, lack a Tournament-worthy win (Seton Hall is the best one) and continue to flirt with the prospect of being on the wrong side of the bubble. Right now, there’s an extremely strong case to be had that the Huskies don’t deserve an at-large bid.
It’s probably been awhile since Jim Calhoun has been this frustrated with a team. Video of Calhoun sarcastically saying he should ask other people how he should coach this team is below.
Pittsburgh, the 14-2 team who will probably remain in we-have-to-prove-ourselves mode for the duration of this season, never got rattled. Not even when UConn came back and went on a 10-0 run to get the lead. UConn didn’t look interested for the first 15 minutes of last night’s game, and though they eventually came back to close the gap, the Panthers’ constant hustle and ability to have an easy life around the rim ultimately cost Jim Calhoun’s team.
Pittsburgh was poised. Again, it won on the road. It’s yet to experience the other kind of result this season.
Jerome Dyson often waited to create something when the shot clock was in single digits. (Hartford Courant)
UConn showed again it has forgotten how to win in a big spot. It’s yet to defeat a ranked team this season.
“This has been a season-long problem,” Calhoun said.
Calhoun also said afterward that his team has come up so close in four of the team’s five losses, the Duke loss being the only game where he really felt the Huskes were outclassed.
I don’t know if last night was all that close, though. It probably speaks more to UConn’s fans than the game, but folks were filing out of the XL Center with a minute to go, when it was still a two-possession game. I guess the Huskies gave them no reason to have expectations or hope of a comeback. Said comeback did not happen, of course.
So what’s the reason for this UConn team being so inept at times? Was A.J. Price really that valuable? We all know what Calhoun’s answer would be.
No, the Huskies just lack consistency in the backcourt, and they don’t have the insurance from the frontline they’re used to. Their guards have the ability to really take over games, but they don’t seem to want to put in the work to do that over the course of an entire game. Plus — and this is a familiar foe — the team can’t shoot free throws well. UConn was 6-0f-13 from the stripe last night. Pitt was 17-of-20.
They haven’t gone on a five-game win streak this season, and I suspect they never will. A UConn team that was outrebounded by 13 in the second half? Yep, that’s what happened last night. Stanley Robinson, who had the highlight-worthy windmill dunk and put up 19 points only had two rebounds. Two. Rebounds.
“It’s almost bewildering to me, and the way he was playing, he wasn’t gonna get more than two rebounds,” Calhoun said.
The most gifted player on the floor, and Calhoun admitted as much in the presser, and he couldn’t get in there with a bunch of Pitt players who’ve yet to be a household name in their own houses.
“I have to crash the boards harder,” Robinson said. “We have to outrebound teams. That’s something we used to do.”
Calhoun, who was in filibsuter mode, as he took 15 minutes to answer five questions, rambled on, seemingly trying to find answers about his team that weren’t coming to his mind.
“I have a problem with 40 and 35. Forty full minutes and 35-second shot clocks. We got beat on the backboards miserably in the second half. … I’m not used to coming down to games where the other team grabs control of the game. They weren’t overly big; they just created mismatches for us.”
Those close wins against Harvard, Hofstra, William & Mary? Warning signs.
“Some of the games against Harvard and some of those teams … were early indications that we don’t play 35/40. In the past, those games were 15-, 18-, 20-point [wins] …. but they weren’t. They were six points with two minutes to go.”
Kemba Walker, who took some of the night off on defense, admitted this team hasn’t put together many full games of effort yet.
“We play in spurts and that’s something we have to get out of,” Walker said. “We have to go out there and play 40 minutes. A lot of times we don’t.”
It’s hard to imagine UConn blurring out of focus, but the potential is there. I know Texas is having some issues on defense, but with UConn’s lack of depth — Ater Majok doesn’t have the strongest of sea legs yet — how ugly could it get for this team against the ‘Horns?
Now, as for Calhoun, I must admit I was honored (I’m being serious) when he went after me for a question I asked him about his half-court offense. Calhoun began to approach a boil last night, but he kept his composure. If the Huskies lose at Michigan this weekend, look out.
To hear my terribly-phrased question — which may have deserved Calhoun’s wrath? — skip ahead to the 3:10 mark. I’d like to thank ESPN Radio’s Jason Page for upstaging me and getting a better soundbite out of Calhoun, though. That comes at the 7:20 mark and is what I teased above.
Calhoun looked and sounded like a father who was beaten down. A man without the long-term answer for success this season.
And here’s Gilbert Brown talking afterward to me and a few other reporters about how well Pitt’s been playing. I snagged interviews with Brad Wanamaker and Ashton Gibbs, but the lighting was terrible.
