The Dual-Antidote For Dan Hurley's UConn: More Liam McNeeley, More Pace
The UConn Huskies’ best overall player might be Alex Karaban, but their most potent offensive weapon is freshman wing Liam McNeeley.
McNeeley is shooting 50.0 percent from the field and 46.4 percent from three this season, but he’s only averaging nine shot attempts per game, a number that must go up if UConn wants to be at its best.
It’s a point that was raised by college basketball analyst Mike LaTulip on The Field of 68: After Dark podcast on Tuesday night during an astute analysis of UConn’s overall problems.
After touching on UConn’s issues at point guard among other things, LaTulip suggested that the Huskies need to feature McNeeley far more in their offense and that the team also needs to play with much more pace.
“I think two things need to happen,” LaTulip said. “However much (Liam) McNeeley feels like he has to shoot, it needs to be more. And they need to play with more pace.”
“You're putting so much strain on your offense (by) constantly getting in the half court (and) running action after action. I know Hurley succeeds with that, but you have to figure out a way to get out in transition, to play with more pace, and that all starts on the defensive end as well.”
UConn’s poor defense is something that has been publicly acknowledged by Dan Hurley over the past 48 hours.
The Huskies will have a chance to work on some of their weaknesses on Wednesday night versus Dayton, UConn’s last matchup in Hawaii before it returns home and prepares for a challenging upcoming slate of games versus Baylor, Texas, and Gonzaga.
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-6cddf44b9a81eadb9d1a4c19c1b3db49.jpeg "Colin Keane")
Colin Keane is a contributing journalist for "UConn Huskies On SI." Born in Illinois, Colin grew up in Massachusetts as the third of four brothers. For his high school education, Colin attended St. Mark's School (Southborough, MA), where he played basketball and soccer and served as student body president. He went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Villanova University. Colin currently resides in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "UConn Huskies On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org