Spring Break
Poor Play Continues
Dan Olender
Issue date: 1/29/07 Section: Sports
HARTFORD - Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, but three times is a trend.
For the third consecutive game, the Huskies either had a lead or were tied at halftime, and for the third consecutive game, they would go on to lose.
Against Indiana, the teams were locked-up at 39 points a piece. Monday at Louisville, UConn had a 21-18 lead after the first 20 minutes and Saturday against Providence, the Huskies were up 45-34 at the break.
"All year, for whatever reason, we've come out flat in the second half," said A.J. Price who scored 8 points Saturday. "It's been a streak of games all year that we've done that and [Saturday] was no different.
"We were up 11 and we gave that up real quick and then got behind and couldn't do anything."
"I guess we kind of got content," said Doug Wiggins. "We were up 11 and we stopped playing as hard as we were playing in the first half."
The other trend the Huskies have seen has been a lack of offensive production in the early parts of the second half. In the LSU game it took the Huskies 11:50 to score 10 points in the second half. It took nine minutes against Louisville and it was 11 minutes into the second half against Providence Saturday before UConn scored 10.
"This has been happening all season," Wiggins said. "The first five, six minutes of the second half is our breakdown point.
"We just start breaking down mentally, losing focus, and that's when the other team will go on the run."
Saturday, it was a 16-0 run for the Friars to open the second half, and a 30-10 ruHuskies.
"In the second half, I thought we just got real lackadaisical and started swinging the ball around thinking everything was going to come easy," Price said.
Things had been coming easily for the Huskies in the first half. With solid ball movement and their ability to make shots, the Huskies had no trouble handling the Friars' 2-3 zone.
"The kids gave themselves a blueprint in the first half [on] exactly how to attack a zone," said head coach Jim Calhoun, "and the moment [Providence] scored a few hoops, we went completely away from what we were doing."
For the third consecutive game, the Huskies either had a lead or were tied at halftime, and for the third consecutive game, they would go on to lose.
Against Indiana, the teams were locked-up at 39 points a piece. Monday at Louisville, UConn had a 21-18 lead after the first 20 minutes and Saturday against Providence, the Huskies were up 45-34 at the break.
"All year, for whatever reason, we've come out flat in the second half," said A.J. Price who scored 8 points Saturday. "It's been a streak of games all year that we've done that and [Saturday] was no different.
"We were up 11 and we gave that up real quick and then got behind and couldn't do anything."
"I guess we kind of got content," said Doug Wiggins. "We were up 11 and we stopped playing as hard as we were playing in the first half."
The other trend the Huskies have seen has been a lack of offensive production in the early parts of the second half. In the LSU game it took the Huskies 11:50 to score 10 points in the second half. It took nine minutes against Louisville and it was 11 minutes into the second half against Providence Saturday before UConn scored 10.
"This has been happening all season," Wiggins said. "The first five, six minutes of the second half is our breakdown point.
"We just start breaking down mentally, losing focus, and that's when the other team will go on the run."
Saturday, it was a 16-0 run for the Friars to open the second half, and a 30-10 ruHuskies.
"In the second half, I thought we just got real lackadaisical and started swinging the ball around thinking everything was going to come easy," Price said.
Things had been coming easily for the Huskies in the first half. With solid ball movement and their ability to make shots, the Huskies had no trouble handling the Friars' 2-3 zone.
"The kids gave themselves a blueprint in the first half [on] exactly how to attack a zone," said head coach Jim Calhoun, "and the moment [Providence] scored a few hoops, we went completely away from what we were doing."
Be the first to comment on this story