BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: LOUISVILLE @ CONNECTICUT
January 28, 2008
The XL Center in Hartford is the site of this week's Big Monday contest as Louisville travels to Connecticut to take on the Huskies in a pivotal Big East Conference Showdown. Both teams were in action on Saturday afternoon as Louisville eased past St. John's and a short-handed UConn squad pulled off a big win on the road against Indiana.
Here are the local medial previews and stories on tonight's game:
No Rest for the Weary (New London Day)
Huskies Game Carries Weight for Cards (Louiville Courier-Journal)
Thabeet Blossoming on the Block (Courier-Journal)
U of L Faces Surging UConn (Kentucky.com)
Dyson, Wiggins Wont Play Against Cards (Courier-Journal)
Little Time to Savor Win (Hartfod Courant)
Calhoun Proud of 'Special' Win (Rep-Am)
Underage Huskies Found With Alcohol (Connecticut Post)
Connecticut has been on a roll since they lost at the XL Center to Providence College 11 days ago. Since that game they rolled past Marquette and picked up road wins over Cincinnati and now Indiana. The win over Indiana was particularly impressive as it handed Kelvin Sampson his first loss at home since becomming the Hoosiers head coach. The win also came without Jerome Dyson and Doug Wiggins, suspended prior to the game by UConn coach Jim Calhoun. Late Thursday night the pair was cited by UConn police for possession of alcohol by minors. They remain suspended indefinitely and will not be with the team for tonight's game.
Louisville sits at 5-2 in conference play and has won six of their last seven games overall. The lone loss was on the road to Seton Hall on January 19th. Louisville saw a 14-pt 2nd half lead evaporate in that one. Since then, they have cruised past both South Florida and St. John's and now look to make a statement in the conference that they want to be the challenger of Georgetown's lead in the Big East. So far, anyone who looks like they are positioning themselves to join the Hoyas as separating from the conference pack have been pulled back to the pack, sometimes (see Pitt) in the unlikeliest of ways.
Without Dyson and Wiggins, the Huskies become quite thin in the backcourt. AJ Price remains the starting point guard and is joined in the backcourt by Craig Austrie. Their only backcourt reserve is freshman Donnell Beverly, who was not seeing much time prior to the suspensions.
Louisville does not have much depth in the backcourt either and relies on three guards to play most of their minutes with Edgar Sosa, Jerry Smith and Andre McGee. coach Rick Pitino does have a couple options with freshman Preston Knowles and walk-on Will Scott to go deeper, but often times they are used when Pitino seems exasperated with his other guards.
UConn's depth has been hit throughout the season with the transfer of Marcus Johnson earlier and now the indefinite suspenions of Dyson, their leading scorer, and Wiggins. Stanley Robinson now becomes an even more vital player and must find consistent production from the wing with a ton of potential. The inside combination of strongman Jeff Adrien and 7'3 Hasheem Thabeet is usually enough to intimidate anyone, but the Cardinals bring a talented frontline themselves with seniors David Padgett and Juan Palacios along with sophomores Derrick Caracter and Earl Clark. On the wing, Terrence Williams is the one that makes the Cards go with his all-around play.
We have seen teams band together short-handed and get a short-term lift to overcome the adversity. However, it is often tough to maintain that level. With such a quick turnaround from their trip to Indiana for a tough win and coming home to face a Louisville team that is slowly putting things together, it looks to be a tall order for the Huskies. They still have talent and they still have decent numbers on the roster, but Louisville will be coming with something to prove.
Connecticut is a slight home favorite in the early lines, but look for Louisville to be just a little too deep and to continue their defensive improvement to get a tight win on the road.
NBE Blogger Prediction: Louisville 67 Connecticut 64
The XL Center in Hartford is the site of this week's Big Monday contest as Louisville travels to Connecticut to take on the Huskies in a pivotal Big East Conference Showdown. Both teams were in action on Saturday afternoon as Louisville eased past St. John's and a short-handed UConn squad pulled off a big win on the road against Indiana.
Here are the local medial previews and stories on tonight's game:
No Rest for the Weary (New London Day)
Huskies Game Carries Weight for Cards (Louiville Courier-Journal)
Thabeet Blossoming on the Block (Courier-Journal)
U of L Faces Surging UConn (Kentucky.com)
Dyson, Wiggins Wont Play Against Cards (Courier-Journal)
Little Time to Savor Win (Hartfod Courant)
Calhoun Proud of 'Special' Win (Rep-Am)
Underage Huskies Found With Alcohol (Connecticut Post)
Connecticut has been on a roll since they lost at the XL Center to Providence College 11 days ago. Since that game they rolled past Marquette and picked up road wins over Cincinnati and now Indiana. The win over Indiana was particularly impressive as it handed Kelvin Sampson his first loss at home since becomming the Hoosiers head coach. The win also came without Jerome Dyson and Doug Wiggins, suspended prior to the game by UConn coach Jim Calhoun. Late Thursday night the pair was cited by UConn police for possession of alcohol by minors. They remain suspended indefinitely and will not be with the team for tonight's game.
Louisville sits at 5-2 in conference play and has won six of their last seven games overall. The lone loss was on the road to Seton Hall on January 19th. Louisville saw a 14-pt 2nd half lead evaporate in that one. Since then, they have cruised past both South Florida and St. John's and now look to make a statement in the conference that they want to be the challenger of Georgetown's lead in the Big East. So far, anyone who looks like they are positioning themselves to join the Hoyas as separating from the conference pack have been pulled back to the pack, sometimes (see Pitt) in the unlikeliest of ways.
Without Dyson and Wiggins, the Huskies become quite thin in the backcourt. AJ Price remains the starting point guard and is joined in the backcourt by Craig Austrie. Their only backcourt reserve is freshman Donnell Beverly, who was not seeing much time prior to the suspensions.
Louisville does not have much depth in the backcourt either and relies on three guards to play most of their minutes with Edgar Sosa, Jerry Smith and Andre McGee. coach Rick Pitino does have a couple options with freshman Preston Knowles and walk-on Will Scott to go deeper, but often times they are used when Pitino seems exasperated with his other guards.
UConn's depth has been hit throughout the season with the transfer of Marcus Johnson earlier and now the indefinite suspenions of Dyson, their leading scorer, and Wiggins. Stanley Robinson now becomes an even more vital player and must find consistent production from the wing with a ton of potential. The inside combination of strongman Jeff Adrien and 7'3 Hasheem Thabeet is usually enough to intimidate anyone, but the Cardinals bring a talented frontline themselves with seniors David Padgett and Juan Palacios along with sophomores Derrick Caracter and Earl Clark. On the wing, Terrence Williams is the one that makes the Cards go with his all-around play.
We have seen teams band together short-handed and get a short-term lift to overcome the adversity. However, it is often tough to maintain that level. With such a quick turnaround from their trip to Indiana for a tough win and coming home to face a Louisville team that is slowly putting things together, it looks to be a tall order for the Huskies. They still have talent and they still have decent numbers on the roster, but Louisville will be coming with something to prove.
Connecticut is a slight home favorite in the early lines, but look for Louisville to be just a little too deep and to continue their defensive improvement to get a tight win on the road.
NBE Blogger Prediction: Louisville 67 Connecticut 64
Labels: 2007-2008 Game Previews
posted by NBE Blogger @ 8:22 AM
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