We can officially call the UConn non-Kemba's a supporting cast

Paging Big East coaches.

Come in Big East coaches.

Here is a Public Service Announcement courtesy of the fine folks here at BIAH: focusing your defense on stopping Kemba Walker and forcing him to become a facilitator is no longer working. All you've succeeded in doing is turning Jeremy Lamb, Roscoe Smith, and the rest of the UConn supporting cast from wide-eyed freshmen and sophomores into competent, capable, and pretty damn good role players.

On Tuesday night, the Huskies picked up arguably their most impressive win on the season against Marquette. It wasn't their most impressive win just because the Huskies were twice able to come back on a tough and scrappy Marquette team desperately needing a win on the road. It wasn't just because they didn't collapse after blowing a nine point first half lead. It wasn't just because they were able to put on a 13-0 run in the final seven minutes that turned a 60-55 deficit into an insurmountable 68-60 lead with 2:26 left.


It was because they were able to do all of that in spite of Walker's 14 point performance that saw him shoot 5-16 from the floor and 0-5 from three.

In fact, Walker has been less than impressive the past few weeks. In UConn's last three wins, Walker has shot 17-51 from the field. He's averaged just 18.0 ppg, well below his season average of 25.0 ppg. At the same time, however, Walker has averaged 7.0 apg, easily the most he's had over any three game stretch this season. Last night he had nine dimes and just two turnovers.

Those assists are a huge part of the reason why guys like Smith and Lamb are currently shining.

Lamb has easily his best game as a Husky on Tuesday. He finished with 24 points on 9-14 shooting to go along with four assists. He carried the Huskies in the first half and made some big plays in the second half to help keep Marquette from pulling away. Lamb is currently playing with more confidence than he has all season. Over the last four games (all UConn wins) Lamb is averaging 16.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 3.8 apg, while shooting 60% from the floor and 7-15 from three. He had nine threes in his first 15 games combined.

Lamb now appears ready to take over the role of UConn's secondary scorer.

That's a role we previously assumed that Alex Oriakhi, Shabazz Napier, and Smith were preparing to take over after a couple of big scoring performances.

All of a sudden, it looks like the Huskies have some talent on the floor with Walker. Its why they haven't fallen off the way that most (including myself, I can admit when I whiff) predicted they would.

And you have all the coaches that decided Kemba must be stopped at all costs to blame.