UCONN -4

[tower912]

Sean's new wrist is on back order.

[Scoop Snoop]

Both/and.   I realize what this team has accomplished and think it is very good and worthy of its ranking.  I think MU loses tonight.  The two are not mutually exclusive, contradictory concepts.

Well said.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Sean's new wrist is on back order.

To add to this, the Bioengineering School is growing him a new one. In line behind the dodo and the Velociraptor, though.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

To add to this, the Bioengineering School is growing him a new one. In line behind the dodo and the Velociraptor, though.

Guess we shouldn't have priorities the wooly mammoth. Our players need limbs stat.

[GoldenEagles03]

Wonder who is using Sean's wrist?

Sean is still using his wrist for floor slaps on the bench.

[Skip Intro]

MU has played wonderfully.    Enjoying it immensely.    Having said that, a road game against a ranked conference opponent on our second trip through the league.    MU could play really well and still lose.   No shame.    Life among the big boys.

Case in point:  Purdue loses a road game to a good in-state rival and remains #1. 

No need for overreactions based on the outcome of this game.  Honestly, the fact that we feel confident that they CAN win these types of games should tell us all we need to know about the trajectory of this program. 

[Scoop Snoop]

Guess we shouldn't have priorities the wooly mammoth. Our players need limbs stat.

Damn! You beat me by only one minute. I had to abandon my original post.

[Tha Hound]

Bunch of scared babies in this thread shaking in their boots over this UCONN team. Couldn't be me. We win tonight.

[Uncle Rico]

Sean's new wrist is on back order.

Billy Packer was right

[wisblue]

Bunch of scared babies in this thread shaking in their boots over this UCONN team. Couldn't be me. We win tonight.

Someone apparently doesn't accept the "not mutually exclusive, contradictory concepts" point of view.

Either you say that MU absolutely, positively, will win tonight or you're a "scared baby" who is "shaking in your boots" over UConn and this game.

[MU82]

Someone apparently doesn't accept the "not mutually exclusive, contradictory concepts" point of view.

Either you say that MU absolutely, positively, will win tonight or you're a "scared baby" who is "shaking in your boots" over UConn and this game.

I can't speak for others, but that's not what I'm saying.

There's a difference between saying we're tired (but opponents aren't), the opponent desperately wants it (but we don't), they are due (but we aren't), we haven't played great lately (but they have), fear the February Fade because it's happened in the past, etc etc etc ... and simply saying of course there's a chance we lose this game on the road to a good team.

I mean, face it, we have some here who have been working OT to find reasons to fear every game lately -- Butler, Nova, DePaul, upcoming games against GT and Butler, and on and on. As if this is the 2017-18 team or the 2013-14 team or the 2005-06 team.

It's well known that for some athletes (and most coaches), fear of failure is a more prevalent emotion than joy of success. For them, wins bring relief, not elation, and losses bring depression. The same seems true for lots of fans. Personally, I'm trying hard to enjoy the great journey that this season has been without fearing every boogeyman lurking around the corner. Obviously, others are free to do the opposite and start worrying about Georgetown on Saturday before we even play UConn tonight.

We Are Marquette!

[The Sultan]

Yeah I mean sometimes you just lose basketball games because its a bunch of fallible human beings playing a game. It happens.

[JakeBarnes]

Both/and.   I realize what this team has accomplished and think it is very good and worthy of its ranking.  I think MU loses tonight.  The two are not mutually exclusive, contradictory concepts.

I agree on the not being contradictory comments. My comment above was based more on chicken little things I saw on twitter about how the offense is stagnant and we are slumping. As someone pointed out (brew?) the defense has been really picking up lately. I also think we are due for a good 3 pt shooting game. Hopefully we are a bit better on closing out 3 pt shooters tonight than we have in the past few.

[Uncle Rico]

Yeah I mean sometimes you just lose basketball games because its a bunch of fallible human beings playing a game. It happens.

Al McGuire never lost

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

https://www.nhregister.com/sports/uconn-mens-basketball/article/uconn-men-ready-top-25-showdown-vs-marquette-17767403.php?utm_campaign=nhregister_breakingnews_20230207&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email

UConn men's basketball team ready for Top 25 showdown vs. Marquette: 'Can't come soon enough'
by David Borges
Feb. 6, 2023
Updated: Feb. 7, 2023 8:37 a.m.

HARTFORD — Don't blame Donovan Clingan if he's staring at the clock or at his Apple watch over the next several hours.

"6:30 (p.m.) can't come soon enough," the 7-foot-2 UConn men's basketball team's freshman center said after practice on Monday.

That's when the No. 21 Huskies host 10th-ranked Marquette in a Top 25 battle at XL Center (FS1). It is one of two Top 25 battles this week for UConn (18-6, 7-6 Big East), which travels to No. 23 Creighton on Saturday.

UConn lost at Marquette 82-76 on Jan. 11. The Huskies beat Creighton at home on Jan. 7, but also have lost at No. 20 Providence and at Seton Hall.

After Creighton, UConn plays Seton Hall and Providence at home on Feb. 18 and 22, respectively.

"It's a good get-back week," freshman Alex Karaban said. "We've lost so much, with some bad losses, and some close losses on the road, as well. It's definitely a big week for us in trying to get a little bit of it back."

But first things first. Marquette (19-5, 11-2 Big East) has won five straight and is the highest-ranked team in the league. In the Jan. 11 loss, Karaban and Clingan, the two freshmen, were the Huskies' best players. That's not exactly a winning formula against an excellent team like the Golden Eagles.

"We weren't at our best," Clingan said. "We were going through a little bit of a tough stretch. But we're ready to go. We want revenge on these teams. I know everyone in that locker room is ready to play (Tuesday)."

Perhaps no one more so than Jordan Hawkins and Adama Sanogo, who each played subpar games in the first meeting at Marquette.

"They're excited about this one," Karaban said. "They love playing against teams they didn't play well against. I know they had this one circled right after that game immediately. I think good things will happen for them (Tuesday)."

Karaban added that the Huskies are running on "a little bit of a revenge factor, payback in a sense. They beat us at their homecourt, now we've got to beat them at our homecourt. Protect homecourt, which we've been doing a pretty good job of so far."

UConn is 11-2 at home this season, 5-1 at XL Center. The Huskies got a rare chance to practice at the building on Monday afternoon.

"Class schedules sometimes get in the way," Hurley said. "For the most part, though, it's just not having access to the building, because of the hockey or whatever different shows go on here. Weekends, we would come here all the time, if we could, if it was permitting. Either you just can't do it because of class schedules, or we just can't get in here or don't have a lot of access."

UConn doesn't always play its best inside the cavernous XL Center, but the Huskies are embracing the setting for Tuesday.

"We're real excited to play this one in Hartford," Hurley continued. "We're going to get a great crowd. It's going to be a high-level game. Those are much more exciting than those games where you're a huge, huge favorite, and losing the game could really wreck you. These are not the ones that you're anxious about or nervous about, even though the quality of the opponent is high. You're just excited to be playing a big game."

Rim rattlings
• Karaban, a Massachusetts product, is tight with Marquette point guard Tyler Kolek, a Rhode Island native who is second in the nation in assists per game and one of the frontrunners for Big East Player of the YEar.

The two played against each other in AAU ball, and when Karaban was at New Hampton School and Kolek at St. George's. They played a lot of pick-up against each other this past summer, and Kolek helped Karaban prepare for the rigors of Big East play.

"He's been helping me out with the Big East a little bit, letting me know in the summer about it," Karaban reported. "He's just a great kid."

• Karaban is growing a beard, but it's not the same as assistant coach Tom Moore, who doesn't appear to be in a hurry to shave until the Huskies lose a game.

"He's not the same as Tom," Hurley said. "Those are two separate things. I just think it makes him look like an even better player. It's just a great look for Alex. I like the beard. Tom's a different deal."

david.borges@hearstmediact.com @DaveBorges

Written By David Borges
UConn men's basketball beat writer

[Daniel]

Tonight will be a tough game.   UConn is still good, and it will be a battle.   We could lose.  We could win.   But we are in the game at this part of the season, worrying and wondering about what seed we will be in the NCAA tourney, not if we will get a slot.   All that is good.

Hoping we win tonight, because we can.  I think if we hit threes we will win, because they won't be able to pack the paint on us.   And I see shots by Stevie early so that we can get him going, because if we for, then UConn has one more worr6.   So watch for a Stevie to take very early threes. 
Goo Marquette. . . . We can win this one

[Dr. Blackheart]

MOPES!!!

[Scoop Snoop]

M HOPES!!!

FIFY

[MU82]

OMax and Oso each called out multiple times and OMax could hardly make it up and down the court at one point in the 2nd half. That was very noticeable in the arena.

A win is a win is a win, but they were absolutely gassed.

Respectfully disagree.

[GoFastAndWin]

The article refers to the "cavernous" XL Center.
Dodds says our shooters are doomed.

[The Sultan]

Respectfully disagree.

Yeah, I didn't see what GE is talking about either.

[JakeBarnes]

The article refers to the "cavernous" XL Center.
Dodds says our shooters are doomed.

Just gives Kam room to bomb moon shots.

[Scoop Snoop]

The article refers to the "cavernous" XL Center.
Dodds says our shooters are doomed.

Also, terrible shooting background. Kam is screwed.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Honestly, probably a good thing the game is at XL instead of Gample.

That's a 30 mile drive from Storrs.

[Jay Bee]

Just hope we lose by a lot. #NoMoreCloseLosses

Win the turnover battle, hit a couple more treys than we should, no problem.

#pray