Coach Kevin Ollie didn't mince words after UConn's loss to Tulsa on Tuesday.
“There’s got to be some changes, because we come out and keep seeing the same thing," he said. "I don’t know who the changes are gonna be. I’ve got to sit down and assess the tape. There might not be any changes. I’m gonna figure that out with my coaching staff, and we’re gonna go forward.”
So there could be changes ... unless there aren't. And those changes don't necessarily mean to personnel, but perhaps in tactics and strategy. Whatever happens, this much is clear: the Huskies have to play more consistently from one game to the next, one time down the floor to the next.
"We need some consistency, man," senior guard Ryan Boatright said, via the Hartford Courant. You work all year to get to a point where you're consistent, and know what you need to do to win every game. Those are things you go through as a young team. We're better than we were before, but we still got some growing to do."
And freshman Daniel Hamilton added: "We've got to stop starting off slow and get off to a better start. We've got to just be motivated like that from the beginning. If we played at the beginning like we played at the end, we definitely win that game. It's something we've been doing for a long time, since the beginning of the season, we just got to put our mind to it and be motivated and have that leadership and play tough right from the beginning. We picked it up, but we picked it up too late. By the time we got going, it was too late."
So what's the answer?
"There's no explanation," the coach said. "Guys got to get up and make free throws, I can't make 'em for you. Lack of concentration? I don't know. We're not making 'em. One game we make 'em, one game we don't make 'em. Can't go 8-for-18, so all our losses generate from the free throws, or missed three-pointers."
The Huskies looked to have found their form earlier this month with big wins over Florida, USF and Cincinnati. But the Tulsa loss is a setback. The good news is that UConn doesn't have long to smart; they travel to Palo Alto to face Stanford on Saturday night.
