Yes, another court-storm. Not even worth writing about anymore this season. (AP)
STORRS, Conn. — As the clock wound down to zero in the final seconds before tip-off, it was clear why administrators decided to put the game at Gampel Pavilion, as opposed to the twice-as-big XL Center in Hartford.
The administrators put the game at Gampel because the crowd is right on top of you. When you watch it on television, the gym appears tiny. It’s not, but it’s not that huge, either.
Near-deafening noise encapsulated the concrete bubble that is plopped right in the middle of the University of Connecticut’s campus. The atmosphere came close to the frenzied, Final-Four-type environment at Madison Square Garden for Connecticut’s other big out-of-conference matchup this season.
“We get very anxious to make home run plays.”
And although Texas got out to an early lead, forced UConn into 16 first-half turnovers and appeared in control for the majority of the first 20 minutes, that noise would return in the second half and be a big part, according to associate head coach George Blaney, in getting UConn its first resume-building win of the 2009-10 season. Texas had 11 turnovers in the second half and never put together even three consecutive minutes of competent basketball.
Blaney said focusing on turning Texas over was the only topic of conversation in the Huskies’ locker room at the break.
“That’s pretty much all we talked about,” he said. “And then the first play of the second half we turned it over. So I called timeout just to tell them, ‘What did we just spend 10 minutes on?’ … We get very anxious to make home run plays.”
But Rick Barnes said nearly half of the game’s turnovers weren’t forced.
“I think there were just some bad passes in there,” he said. “And it was just us. I think they (UConn) would say the same thing. There were a lot of dumb plays.”
Texas is known, more than anything, for two things this season: its depth and Damion James.
And because of what James is capable of, it appears Texas is beginning to slip into a mode in which it doesn’t know any other identity than, “OK, Damion, bail us out here!”
James had 23 points in 28 minutes of Texas’ 88-74 loss to Connecticut. As usual, he looked really good in the process. He was 9 for 11 from the field and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. (Gary Johnson also snagged seven boards.)
Stanley Robinson. Athletic. (AP)
But Rick Barnes went with 12 guys. Again. Depth is something that can be very valuable in the college game, but at what cost? The Longhorns only had two players in double figures yesterday. Dexter Pittman, again, found foul trouble. The big man only played 15 minutes and took three shots.
“I’m kinda used to it,” Pittman said. “I just wish, sometimes, I could go out there and be physical. Sometimes you can’t get away with that. Hopefully, one day, the game will change and big men like me will get away with just being physical.”
Physicality aside, just because you have 12 capable players doesn’t mean all said players must get involved. Tournament play can be about fine-tuning your lineup and relying on your strongest guys to play at their best. Seven-man rotations have won many a national title. It’s fair to say Barnes is taking a different approach to Texas’ postseason chase. He’d rather go at opponents in waves and hope he can outlast you.
Just because you have 12 capable players doesn’t mean all said players must get involved.
“We’re not going to panic. We don’t have to panic,” Barnes said. “It’s a long way to go. We know we can be a good team; we’ve been a good team. It is what it is. We’ve lost two basketball games. … We’re going to be fine.”
You look at his roster and you understand why he’s not concerned. Without saying it directly, it appears Barnes believes his team is simply too good and loaded to lose more than three more games before the Big 12 tournament. The last two losses came on the road in vicious environments.
So, yeah, Texas will be fine in the sense that it will win at least another eight games on talent alone. James is on the fringe of Player-of-the-Year discussion, and the team can really match up well with almost any opponent’s guards thanks to the ability of Dogus Balbay, Avery Bradley and Justin Mason.
But this team allowed another foe to score more than 80 points. Are we supposed to believe this group is elite defensively? And for all the talent Texas’ guards have, to let Jerome Dyson go for a career-best 32 points and allow Kemba Walker to swipe the ball from you six times and dish 10 dimes, they were all exposed to a certain degree. A counterpoint to that argument: When at their peak, Dyson and Walker are a top-three-in-the-nation backcourt. Still, it doesn’t mean the Texas guards are excused for not shutting them down to an acceptable extent.
Ultimately, if Texas loses two more games in the Big 12, this is the loss that could cost it a No. 1 seed.
As for UConn, I’ll be brief, as I’ve covered this team rather extensively in the past two weeks. It won the game the way it had to: sloppily and in chaotic fashion. As Blaney alluded to above, this team is so athletic that it gets out of control more often than not. Dyson is just as likely to flame out early in a game and never get it going. Stanley Robinson and Kemba Walker make a lot of highlight reels, but can that big three guide Connecticut to a few tough wins on the road? I still have questions.
This will be the win that gets Connecticut a Tournament berth, regardless, but was it a spirited, emotional win for Calhoun? One that was similar to what Tennessee was able to pull off against Kansas two weeks ago? Of course UConn has the talent to beat Texas, but does it have the discipline to beat other teams without having to hope said teams play as haphazardly as the Longhorns did in the second half?
The gut-check moment was when Connecticut came back from nine down. Blaney said it was because of the fuel the fans provided. I knew it was loud. I didn’t realize it was all-time decibels levels, though.
“It’s as loud as anything I’ve heard here in Gampel since I’ve been here,” Blaney said.
Some video — here is Avery Bradley and Damion James addressing the media after the loss. James is much more willing to talk about Texas’ loss than Bradley, and he doesn’t seem all that worried. A good thing?
