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Monday, January 10
Updated: January 22, 9:03 PM ET
Rebounds, defense enough -- for now
By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
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HARTFORD, Conn. -- Jake Voskuhl had the open jumper all to himself, without Texas center Chris Mihm in his face or bruising forward Gabe Muoneke bumping him in the back.
But he was wide right with his shot, causing a bit more tension in a tight
six-point game with a little more than two minutes remaining. Connecticut eventually held on to the 77-67 victory over Texas on Monday night at the Hartford Civic Center, but the Huskies didn't need much, if anything, offensively from Voskuhl or anyone else in Connecticut's post.
All the Huskies needed was Voskuhl's defense on Mihm and the rest of the frontcourt's rebounding at both ends of the court.
"They play extremely hard and if Khalid (El-Amin) and (Albert) Mouring are hitting their shots, I don't know if they need to score," Mihm said. "They rebound so well and give you so many different looks."
Mihm might be a believer in the Huskies' frontcourt because they forced him to earn his 18 points the hard way, by grinding out each basket in the post. But the Huskies aren't buying that they can coast to the Big East title, get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and defend their national title without a little help offensively inside.
"They need to give us points, not just rebounds and defense," said El-Amin, who scored 14 points but had a momentum swinging 3-pointer to rescue the Huskies from a slim five-point lead to an eight-point bulge with three minutes left after leading by 17 nine minutes earlier.
"They've got to perform for us and score some points," El-Amin said, "and do the job on the backboard."
Connecticut's problems inside were exposed in a loss to Notre Dame last week. The Huskies relied too heavily on El-Amin and Albert Mouring (21 points against Texas) to shoot over the zone, rather than have Voskuhl, Edmund Saunders, Souleymane Wane, Kevin Freeman and/or Ajou Deng flash to the middle and score in the lane. The Irish outrebounded the Huskies 40-33, but the Huskies had only 10 offensive rebounds, proving they weren't getting position against the zone. Voskuhl had only two defensive rebounds in 12 minutes and didn't score. Saunders and Wane had one offensive rebound each, while Freeman had three.
"That was a good example of not getting it done," Voskuhl said. "We do have to hit shots and be aggressive inside."
To Voskuhl's credit against Texas, he prevented Mihm from getting decent position and blocked two shots before finishing with 11 rebounds, including three on the offensive end. He ended up with nine points in the post, of which two were really a gift after Saunders tipped in a second-shot rebound, which was credited to Voskuhl. Saunders finished with four rebounds, one offensive, while Wane had seven (two offensive) and Freeman was limited to six defensive boards. Deng grabbed four defensive boards.
Freeman's rebounding numbers have dropped from a year ago, but he's playing more facing the basket with Deng on the floor, limiting his rebounding ability. Freeman averaged 7.3 rebounds last season, but is down to 6.1 this season.
"I'm not rebounding as well as I did last year because I'm not in the same position," Freeman said. "We can score more in the post but we have to keep rebounding and defending."
The Huskies can't win the national title on El-Amin's drive-and-dish moves or solely ride Mouring's streakiness. They'll ultimately need post
production to get by teams like Cincinnati.
"We can't defend the title right now," Voskuhl said. "But a year ago at
this time we couldn't win the national title. We don't have to until the end
of March. We just have to stay being aggressive."
Swallowing post players like Mihm defensively and rebounding, at least on the defensive end, could be enough to win the Big East (even against
Syracuse), but it won't work over a six-game tournament.
"Defensively, we took them out of their flow," Connecticut assistant coach Dave Leitao said. "Jake was superb doing that. Offensively, they can produce."
Connecticut's frontcourt has the ability to score, but has yet to show it
in a game. Monday night, the Huskies' frontcourt defense and rebounding replaced the need for scoring. In March, they'll need all three.
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