In an electric atmosphere at the Hartford Civic the UCONN Huskies led by Kemba Walker in early season form and a second straight sensational effort by Jamaal Combs-McDaniel( who shall heretofore be known as JCM) ended an eight game win streak by the ninth ranked Georgetown Hoyas, 78-70. The intensity level in this game felt like a post-season contest and both teams played at a high level throughout. Kemba Walker put together his best game in a while and shot well, dished off crisp passes and drove the hoop with his old verve and energy. Early in the second half he made one of the most heads up hoops I have ever seen;he drove the lane in traffic then passed to himself by shooting the ball too hard above the rim and took the clean rebound for a lay-up-unreal. Combs-Mcdaniel followed Sunday's career high with 23 points on 7-10 shooting from the field. He also ran the floor well and added some nice defensive boards. Oriakhi had one of his good games with 10 points and 8 rebounds.
Well this reporter must concede that just last week I felt the Huskies had come as far as they could with this group, but if JCM continues to play with the confidence he has shown in the last two games the stakes are raised for this crew. JCM has great size, 6'7" and agility for a man this big. His release is quick and he just might be the highly touted "lights out" shooter Calhoun thought he had recruited last year. My hat is off to blog follower Pete Eliot who felt JCM's 25 against Providence represented a break out game and the Huskies had found another scorer for the late season push. I thought it is interesting that Walker seems to be making the adjustment to the smothering defenses stacked against him in the Big East. In the half-court he has stopped forcing shots and is making uncanny passes but in the open court it looks like he has regained his early season aggressiveness and tonight used his blinding speed to go coast to coast or hit his step-back jumper.
Friday night the Huskies go on the road to try to avenge a double overtime loss to Louisville. Two observations from tonight. My advice to Alex Oriakhi- stop complaining to the refs about every careless foul you commit- make less careless fouls and just play harder. Second, I suspect that Jon Walker has a job moonlighting under the alias Randy Katz the savvy SNY interview man. If Katz is not really Walker than he is his dopelganger.
"You Heard it here first"
Steve
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Doing it against G-town in a big game like this probably means that JCM's break out is for real. He needed that confidence boost, that assertiveness, and he's got it now.
Walker was sensational last night. The self-pass off the backboard was rediculous. How many players in the league could do that? How many in the NBA?
The SNY interviewer asked Kemba after the game: what it would be like if he, JCM, Oriakhi, and Lamb all got hot at the same time? Walker just smiled and said the Huskies would be hard to beat.
The potential is there. Calhoun is still searching for another player. Is it Okwandu? Smith? Olander? Giffey? I really don't think it is Giffey, he makes a crazy turnover almost every game. But I think things are building really nicely.
And there is a lot of basketball left to play. By the time the Huskies face the crucible of the Big East Tourney, my hope is that all of the big four are firing (Kemba, Oriaki, JCM, and Lamb) and that one of Olander, Okwandu, or Smith breaks out. If we do that, UCONN can go all the way.
good point that there is a lot of basketball left in the season. I think of the four Smith has most unused potential. We could be in for a wild ride in march
Post a Comment