BALANCED UCONN ATTACK DROWNS ORANGE
By Zach Smart
Storrs, Conn.—Considerable balance in the UConn scorebook helped the No.1-ranked Huskies run off their 12th consecutive victory.
Despite losing scoring leader Jerome Dyson—who was helped off the court after knocking knees with Syracuse’s Kristof Ongenaet—everyone got into the act for the Huskies, Wednesday night.
The senior trio of AJ Price, Jeff Adrien and Craig Austrie scored crucial buckets, the towering presence of Hasheem Thabeet kept the rims locked, and freshman guard Kemba Walker operated offense like a senior, as the Huskies came up with a convincing 63-49 victory. The Huskies are now 23-1, 11-1 in the ultra-competitive Big East.
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The storied rivalry was renewed in dramatic fashion, though it didn’t come to a last second shot (remember, Jonny Flynn’s 3-point prayer from the parking lot fell short last year) this time.
A deep 3-pointer from Craig Austrie capped a pivotal 8-0 spurt, breaking the game open with 11:56 remaining in the second half. Austrie’s trey, which nearly blew the roof off a strongly partisan, jam-packed crowd of 10,167 at the Gampel Pavilion, gave UConn a 52-40 cushion they wouldn’t squander.
“Jim’s (Boeheim) team came in here, as we thought they might, very hungry,” said UConn head coach Jim Calhoun.
“They did a terrific job in the zone, in the first half, of matching up to us. He’s seen all this “stuff” – our offense – before. In the second half, we were fortunate to make some adjustments, and run a little bit of man stuff and try to get some movement in our offense.”
Syracuse’s trademark zone threw UConn out of their groove early on. The Huskies failed to identify the 7-foot-3 Thabeet, and the guards forced the tempo. This led to a torrent of turnovers, as the Huskies committed 14 of their 20 total turnovers in the first.
“The defense was fine, we just didn’t convert offensively,” said Boeheim, who’s team shot a below freezing 28.6 percent in the second half, en route to a meager 22 points.
“When you play a team as good as Connecticut is, you have to convert…Thabeet is as good as or better, defensively, than anyone that’s ever been in the league. When we had the opportunities, a couple of shots (led to) great blocks.”
Thabeet, who scored eight points and ripped down 16 boards, finished with a game-high seven blocks.
His presence proved problematic for Syracuse big men Rick Jackson and Arinze Onuaku. The tandem combined for just six points and 10 rebounds. UConn won the battle on the boards by a 42-34 margin.
Onuaku has been nicked up, favoring his knee.
“Arinze is trying to work his way back into playing form,” said Boeheim. “He’s not playing the way he is capable of.”
The Orange (18-7, 6-6) desperately need him to.
Syracuse frittered away a sublime start and have now lost six of their last eight games.
How do the slumping Orange hope to rebound from another tough road loss?
“We can’t hope to, we have to,” said a dejected Andy Rautins, who the Huskies clamped down on. Rautins scored just seven points on 3-for-8 shooting.
“It was a tough battle tonight. Right now, though collectively we know we have to bounce back. We’re 6-6 in the Big East right now, we know that’s not good enough.”
The frustration could be felt inside the Syracuse locker room, where you could hear a pin drop.
“We just gotta approach the next game the same way we approach every game,” said Eric Devendorf, who scored 12 points. “We’ve got to play grind it out defense.”
It was offense that killed them tonight.
Syracuse came out of the gates strong, seizing an 18-13 lead after a Devendorf broke down the defense and converted a scoop layup. The lead became 21-16 after Ongenaet banked an off-balance shot.
At the intermission, the Huskies were clinging to a 30-27 lead.
UConn jump-started a 13-4 run midway through the second on three straight free throws from A.J. Price. Price had drawn a foul in the act of shooting a three.
On the ensuing possession, Walker converted a pick-pocket into a fast break lay-in. Then, Austrie’s trey gave the Huskies a commanding 12-point edge that prompted Boeheim to call for time.
“Everybody is on the same page right now,” said Walker, who had seven points, six boards, and two steals.
“Everybody is hungry to win. Everybody thinks this is our chance.”
UConn spokesmen Kyle Muncy confirmed that Dyson suffered a severe bruise and should be fine. Muncy said there is no concern over an MCL or ACL injury.
"The doctors both checked him out (and) there are no structural issues," explained Muncy.
"Just a severe bruise to his right knee. Dr. (Jeff) Anderson said he was banged into so hard, he could have hyper-extended it or just kind of locked it up a little bit."
Dyson, a junior who averages 13.2 points, is yet to miss a game due to injury.
Price led all scorers with 17 points, on the strength of four 3-pointers. Adrien chipped in with 12.
Flynn paced Syracuse with 16.
Storrs, Conn.—Considerable balance in the UConn scorebook helped the No.1-ranked Huskies run off their 12th consecutive victory.
Despite losing scoring leader Jerome Dyson—who was helped off the court after knocking knees with Syracuse’s Kristof Ongenaet—everyone got into the act for the Huskies, Wednesday night.
The senior trio of AJ Price, Jeff Adrien and Craig Austrie scored crucial buckets, the towering presence of Hasheem Thabeet kept the rims locked, and freshman guard Kemba Walker operated offense like a senior, as the Huskies came up with a convincing 63-49 victory. The Huskies are now 23-1, 11-1 in the ultra-competitive Big East.
Read More...Click Below!
The storied rivalry was renewed in dramatic fashion, though it didn’t come to a last second shot (remember, Jonny Flynn’s 3-point prayer from the parking lot fell short last year) this time.
A deep 3-pointer from Craig Austrie capped a pivotal 8-0 spurt, breaking the game open with 11:56 remaining in the second half. Austrie’s trey, which nearly blew the roof off a strongly partisan, jam-packed crowd of 10,167 at the Gampel Pavilion, gave UConn a 52-40 cushion they wouldn’t squander.
“Jim’s (Boeheim) team came in here, as we thought they might, very hungry,” said UConn head coach Jim Calhoun.
“They did a terrific job in the zone, in the first half, of matching up to us. He’s seen all this “stuff” – our offense – before. In the second half, we were fortunate to make some adjustments, and run a little bit of man stuff and try to get some movement in our offense.”
Syracuse’s trademark zone threw UConn out of their groove early on. The Huskies failed to identify the 7-foot-3 Thabeet, and the guards forced the tempo. This led to a torrent of turnovers, as the Huskies committed 14 of their 20 total turnovers in the first.
“The defense was fine, we just didn’t convert offensively,” said Boeheim, who’s team shot a below freezing 28.6 percent in the second half, en route to a meager 22 points.
“When you play a team as good as Connecticut is, you have to convert…Thabeet is as good as or better, defensively, than anyone that’s ever been in the league. When we had the opportunities, a couple of shots (led to) great blocks.”
Thabeet, who scored eight points and ripped down 16 boards, finished with a game-high seven blocks.
His presence proved problematic for Syracuse big men Rick Jackson and Arinze Onuaku. The tandem combined for just six points and 10 rebounds. UConn won the battle on the boards by a 42-34 margin.
Onuaku has been nicked up, favoring his knee.
“Arinze is trying to work his way back into playing form,” said Boeheim. “He’s not playing the way he is capable of.”
The Orange (18-7, 6-6) desperately need him to.
Syracuse frittered away a sublime start and have now lost six of their last eight games.
How do the slumping Orange hope to rebound from another tough road loss?
“We can’t hope to, we have to,” said a dejected Andy Rautins, who the Huskies clamped down on. Rautins scored just seven points on 3-for-8 shooting.
“It was a tough battle tonight. Right now, though collectively we know we have to bounce back. We’re 6-6 in the Big East right now, we know that’s not good enough.”
The frustration could be felt inside the Syracuse locker room, where you could hear a pin drop.
“We just gotta approach the next game the same way we approach every game,” said Eric Devendorf, who scored 12 points. “We’ve got to play grind it out defense.”
It was offense that killed them tonight.
Syracuse came out of the gates strong, seizing an 18-13 lead after a Devendorf broke down the defense and converted a scoop layup. The lead became 21-16 after Ongenaet banked an off-balance shot.
At the intermission, the Huskies were clinging to a 30-27 lead.
UConn jump-started a 13-4 run midway through the second on three straight free throws from A.J. Price. Price had drawn a foul in the act of shooting a three.
On the ensuing possession, Walker converted a pick-pocket into a fast break lay-in. Then, Austrie’s trey gave the Huskies a commanding 12-point edge that prompted Boeheim to call for time.
“Everybody is on the same page right now,” said Walker, who had seven points, six boards, and two steals.
“Everybody is hungry to win. Everybody thinks this is our chance.”
UConn spokesmen Kyle Muncy confirmed that Dyson suffered a severe bruise and should be fine. Muncy said there is no concern over an MCL or ACL injury.
"The doctors both checked him out (and) there are no structural issues," explained Muncy.
"Just a severe bruise to his right knee. Dr. (Jeff) Anderson said he was banged into so hard, he could have hyper-extended it or just kind of locked it up a little bit."
Dyson, a junior who averages 13.2 points, is yet to miss a game due to injury.
Price led all scorers with 17 points, on the strength of four 3-pointers. Adrien chipped in with 12.
Flynn paced Syracuse with 16.
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