Joint leadership is propelling the Huskies to another postseason run

Maybe UConn doesn't need just one individual leading willing to shoulder the load during crunch time. Sure, it's a luxury to have a player who's willing and able to take a game over at any time, but not many teams are awarded with a player like that.

In the case of the 2012 UConn Huskies, they have bi-partisan leadership, and through two Big East Tournament games, it seems to be working.

(Photo Credit: AP)

A leader needs to be willing and able to take over a game when need be. before this week, Shabazz Napier seemed only willing, and Jeremy Lamb only able.

Shabazz Napier said he wanted to be the leader. "I try to tell the guys, I feel as if I’m their best leader. Sometimes they give me a chance, sometimes they don’t." That's what he said after a disappointing loss to Rutgers on January 9th.

He questioned his team's lack of heart, and voiced his desire to be anointed the leader. “I hate to say it — I gotta question a lot of these guys’ hearts,” he said following a 15-point loss to Marquette on February 15th,“…Simple stuff – just quitting. It doesn’t look like UConn basketball."

Napier might have relayed his message in an uncontroversial manner, but he's starting to get his point across, and he's doing with his actions instead of his words.

Before fouling out in overtime of UConn's 71-67 win over West Virginia in the second round of the Big East Tournament, the polarizing guard scored 26 points, distributed six assists, grabbed four rebounds, and had three steals and three blocks. When the Mountaineers stretched their second half lead to nine points, it was Napier who led the ferocious comeback with steals, 3-pointers and numerous displays of athleticism.

"I thought Shabazz was close to magnificent." Said Jim Calhoun in the post game press conference, "I thought Jeremy stepped up like the big time player that he is."

Jeremy Lamb followed up his 25-point performance in the first round of the Big East Tournament with 22 points and eight rebounds. But after scoring 12 of the Huskies 26 points in the first half, he want silent for much of the second half. Luckily for Lamb, Napier was there to pick up the slack. When Napier fouled fouled out in overtime, Lamb returned the favor by propelling the team to victory with a big 3-pointer.

"I knew we needed a score, and in the game yesterday, Coach told me to shoot, and I didn't take a shot. You know, Coach was just saying, I want you shooting the ball."

Lamb's 3-pointer was the last field goal of the game, and the eventual game-winner, but due to his unselfish nature, he needed to be willed into demanding the attention. "I told Jeremy, you've got to be willing to shoot now, you've got to be looking for hits," said Napier, "and when he came off that curve, there was no doubt in my mind it was going in because that's what he works on in practice, that's what we work on in practice".

So Jeremy is evolving as a scorer who demands the ball and Shabazz is learning to lead by example. The Huskies have two capable leaders, not one.

But despite this, the question will always be asked. "I'm going to tell you and Shabazz is going to tell you and coach is going to tell you, last year and this year, two completely different deals. This is not Kemba Walker. He's a totally different player. In the last week that I've been around Shabazz, he's a different player than he was three weeks ago. He's a different player." Coach Calhoun is right, Lamb and Napier are different players. Not just compared to last year, but also compared to last month.

But if it's not a question about comparison, it's a question about whether or not the Huskies can do it again. "I don't think it can happen again, but then again, I said it could never happen in the first place." Said Calhoun.

"Would we like to give it a shot? Would we like to take a stab at it? Everybody out there would. Everybody out there would. We're just going to try to play tomorrow's basketball game to take it where it may."

With Napier and Lamb leading this team, they seem to be headed in the right direction.

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VIDEO: Shabazz Napier's game-winning three-pointer

Shabazz Napier called out his UConn teammates after a loss to Marquette over the weekend. The sophomore guard almost didn't play tonight due to a foot injury.

Wanna know a great way to shut up all the critics?

Hit a game-winning three-pointer.

And that's just what Shabazz did.



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Shabazz Napier sparks UConn's win

HOUSTON - With less than 30 seconds left in their semifinal matchup against Kentucky, UConn was clinging to a 54-52 lead.

Shabazz Napier had the ball in his hands, dribbling down the shot clock before the Huskies were going to try and put Kemba Walker in a position to score. But Brandon Knight knocked the ball out of Napier's hands and Kentucky dove on it, calling a time out.

In the huddle, the UConn coaching staff was worried about how the freshman point guard was going to react. He had been an integral part of UConn's defense, playing a major role in holding Knight to just 6-23 shooting from the floor, and Kentucky still had one possession left with a chance to tie or win the game.

But during the timeout, Napier looked at UConn head coach Jim Calhoun and said "Coach, I'll make it up next play". And while he didn't exactly make it up the next play -- when DeAndre Liggins missed a 24 foot three that would have won the game -- Napier buried two free throws with 1.7 seconds left that clinched a trip to the national title game for the Huskies, 56-52.


That was the game in a nutshell.

UConn was not very good offensively. Kemba Walker played what was easily his worst game in the month of March, finishing with 18 points, seven assists, and six boards on 6-15 shooting. (It should tell you just how good Kemba has been in March that 18, seven, and six is considered an off night.) The Huskies shot just 1-12 from three. They turned the ball over 15 times. They only managed to get six offensive rebounds.

"I think that offensively we struggled with a lot of open shots. Obviously, they were loading up to find Jeremy and Kemba," Calhoun said after the game.

"I thought Kemba could have had 12, 13 assists. We missed shots we usually should make and will make."

UConn won this game with their defense.

There was Alex Oriakhi and Charles Okwandu in the paint, holding Josh Harrellson to just six points and four rebounds. There was the combined 2-14 that DeAndre Liggins and Darius Miller shot from the floor. In fact, outside of a four minute stretch to start the second half, when the Wildcats managed to score 14 points, Kentucky was downright atrocious on the offensive end.

They finished the game shooting 33.9% from the field. They were just 4-12 from the free throw line. They averaged just 0.89 PPP, a number that drops all the way to 0.84 PPP if you factor out the three that Knight hit at the buzzer.

"I just think we missed a bunch of open shots," Harrellson said. "We had good looks. Me, personally, I couldn't knock anything down in the first half. Missed a bunch of one-footers. We had a bunch of good looks in the first half. We just couldn't make anything."

The best performance of the night, however, was the job that Napier did on Brandon Knight. Knight finished the game with just 17 points on 6-23 shooting from the floor. As poorly as Napier played offensively -- 1-7 shooting, three turnovers -- he was that good defensively.

"He played great, great defense," Calhoun said. "Knight is a very young, good player that's been going crazy. Tonight we call those costly points. I think that Knight is an absolutely magnificent player. But six for 23 is expensive. That's how we look at it. We try to use that term defensively. In other words, if you take a lot of tough shots, that's expensive because your field-goal percentage goes down and we in turn have a much better chance to win."

Perhaps the most telling statistic for the Wildcats is that despite getting 15 offensive rebounds on the night, they were only able to score five second chance points. Combine that with the 4-12 free throw shooting, and Kentucky's inability to capitalize on the opportunities that they had probably cost them.

I am an avid supporter of the use of advance statistics in college hoops. If you aren't looking at Kenpom's website, then you aren't truly informed about college basketball. There is so much to be learned by looking at a team or a game or a matchup through that lens. But one thing that cannot be gleaned from tempo-free stats is the ability to make a big play at a big moment.

Kenpom has yet to invent a stat for "rising to the occasion", if you will.

And that is precisely what made the difference in tonight's outcome.

Take, for example, a play midway through the second half. Doron Lamb looked like he had a wide open fast break layup, but Kemba chased him down and blocked the shot. Kentucky didn't end up scoring on the possession, and the Huskies eventually won the game by one point.

That's a relatively insignificant play. It won't make Sportscenter. It won't make the One Shining Moment cut. But the effect that it had on the game was enormous, and its the kind of play that is difficult to quantify on a stat sheet.

The final eight minutes of this game were filled with moments like that.

There was the steal and layup that Kemba had with just four minutes left in the game when he was clearly exhausted. There was the nifty, up-and-under lay-in that Napier had with just over two minutes left in the game. There was DeAndre Liggins stepping on the three point line when he drew a foul on Jeremy Lamb in the final minute. There was the three that Liggins missed at the end of the game that would have given Kentucky the lead in the final seconds.

And there was Napier, knocking down the two free throws at the end to seal the win.

UConn didn't necessarily win on Saturday night because they played better or because they were the better team.

They won because they played better when it counted. The Huskies made the plays in the clutch. Kentucky didn't.

And that is why UConn advanced.
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