Big East Sports Blog

The Connecticut Huskies used four players in double figures and held Rutgers to just 34 percent shooting from the field to cruise to an 81-65 victory on Tuesday night.  Guard A.J. Price was a one-man show for the Huskies (11-3, 2-1) with 25 points, seven assists and four boards.  Price was perfect from beyond the arc, going 4-of-4 on 3-point attempts.  Jeff Adrien had 20 points and 14 rebounds.  Stanley Robinson added 15 points and Jerome Dyson had 12 points to go along with nine steals. 

For the Red Storm (7-7, 1-2), Justin Burrell led the way with 17 points and Anthony Mason Jr. added 14, including scoring the first seven points of the game for St. John’s.  The Red Storm have lost three of their last four, and dropped two of their first three conference games.

UConn used an early 14-2 run in the first half to build a 10-point lead, 22-12.  Burrell did his best to keep it honest, scoring seven straight points for the Red Storm towards the end of the first half, but the Huskies held a strong lead at halftime, 45-32.

The second half didn’t fare well for St. John’s, as UConn went on a 13-6 run to go up 20, 58-38, essentially putting an end to this one.  UConn beat St. John’s for the seventh consecutive time, and improved their home record in Big East opening games to a perfect 9-0.

Connecticut will face their biggest challenge in conference play when they lock horns with No.7 Georgetown on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.  Rutgers will also return to action Saturday at noon when they host DePaul.

It’s 30 and counting for the Fighting Irish at the Joyce Center.  Another game, another visiting team unable to derail the home success of the Irish.  The UConn Huskies came calling on Saturday night in a prime time match up early on in the Big East.  They came, they tried, but the Irish conquered. 

Notre Dame defeated Connecticut 73-67 on Saturday night to win their 11th straight and 30th consecutive at home.  The Irish (12-2, 2-0) handed Connecticut (10-3, 1-1) their first loss in conference play behind a career night from Kyle McAlarney.  McAlarney scored a career-high 32 points, and Luke Harangody and Rob Kurz each posted 14 points and 10 rebounds, despite going a combined 10-of-35 from the field.

The Fighting Irish had Jim Calhoun’s squad chasing them all evening from start to finish.  Notre Dame led by as much as 21 in the first half, and led by 15 at intermission, 47-32.  The Huskies finally erased the deficit and surpassed the Irish for their only lead of the ballgame, 58-57 with about six and half minutes to play.  The lead was short-lived, however, and lasted for all of 22 seconds.  Zach Hillesland gathered a rebound off of an Irish miss and Notre Dame went back up 59-58 and never trailed the rest of the way.

It wasn’t a particularly stellar night for either team from the field, with UConn shooting 39 percent and Notre Dame shooting 37 percent.  The Huskies had their struggles from the line, missing six free throws on 11-of-17 attempts, whereas the Irish went 10-of-11 from the line.

The difference maker was clearly McAlarney.  He was 13-of-19 from the field and connected on six three-pointers.  As hard as they tried, Calhoun’s Huskies simply couldn’t get McAlarney off his game.  Jeff Adrien led UConn with 16 points and 11 rebounds.  Jerome Dyson, who was coming off a career high 27 points against Seton Hall, added 13 points, and A.J. Price had 13 also.

The loss snaps Connecticut’s five-game win streak.  UConn will return home after their recent three-game road trip on Tuesday night when they face St. John’s.  Notre Dame will have a week off, and they’ll put their 11-game winning streak to the test next Saturday, Jan. 12th when they travel to Marquette to face the Golden Eagles at 2 p.m.

Connecticut notched their seventh win in a row over Seton Hall behind 27 points from Jerome Dyson, as the Huskies beat the Pirates 98-86 on Thursday night in the Big East opener for both teams.  UConn picks up their 10th win (10-2, 1-0), while the loss puts Seton Hall at 9-4.

UConn had five players in double figures, helping them to their fifth straight win.  The Pirates couldn’t find an answer inside for Hasheem Thabeet, who scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Huskies. 

Despite allowing Seton Hall to score 48 points in the first half and take a one-point advantage at halftime (48-47), UConn woke up defensively in the second half and limited Seton Hall to 38 points in the second frame.  The Huskies used a 14-2 run in the first five minutes of play in the second half to lead 67-56 and the Pirates couldn’t find their groove offensively they had in the first 20 minutes.  Dyson led the 14-2 charge, scoring eight of 27 points during the run.

Freshman Jeremy Hazell led the way for the Pirates with 28 points and Larry Davis had 13 off the bench, but Seton Hall’s two leading scorers didn’t have it going tonight.  Brian Laing came into the contest averaging almost 21 points per game, but struggled from the field shooting 3-of-14 and only had eight points.  Eugene Harvey struggled with foul trouble early and never got into a good rhythm against UConn.  Harvey had 11 points, six below his average. 

Seton Hall will conclude their five-game home-stand on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.  They are 2-2 during their five-game home stretch and they’ll play their last out-of-conference game of they year against Morgan State.  UConn will face off against Notre Dame in an early marquee game in the Big East.  Tip-off is at 9 p.m. from the Joyce Center in South Bend.

Wake Forest proved the old saying to true; it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.  Unfortunately, they proved this theory correct at the expense of the Connecticut Huskies.

Trailing 10-0 at halftime, Wake Forest scored 24 unanswered points in the second half for the come-from-behind win over No. 25 UConn 24-10 in the Meineke Car Care Bowl on Saturday.  With the win, Wake Forest notched the second most wins in school history (9-4), only behind last year’s win total of 11.

UConn, playing in only its second ever bowl game, got off on the right track by scoring the game’s first 10 points and going into the locker room up 10-0.  Larry Taylor scored UConn’s only touchdown on a 68-yard punt return and Tony Ciaravino booted a 29-yard field goal to complete the scoring in the first half. And the game for UConn.

The second half belonged to Wake Forest.  The Demon Deacons took advantage of UConn’s struggling offense.  The Huskies managed only nine first downs in the game and didn’t score an offensive touchdown.  UConn had an extremely difficult time keeping up with Kenneth Moore, as Moore caught 11 passes for 112 yards and was named the game’s MVP.

Wake Forest got a 38-yard touchdown run from Josh Adams to cut the lead to 10-7.  A 20-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Riley Skinner to John Tereshinski put the Demon Deacons ahead 14-10, a lead they would not relinquish.

Riley Skinner completed 29 of 38 passes for one touchdown and two interceptions, and Josh Adams rushed for 81 yards and one score for Wake Forest.  Micah Andrews closed the deal for Wake with a 9-yard touchdown run with under 30 seconds to play to put things out of reach for UConn.

Tyler Lorenzen was just 13-for-26 for 98 yards against the Demon Deacons defense, which harassed and disrupted Lorenzen constantly.  UConn was unable to convert on two different fourth-down attempts during the fourth quarter.

Despite the loss, it was an exceptional year for Connecticut.  The Huskies boasted nine wins in 2007.  They were co-Big East champions and were ranked for the first time in school history.  For the year UConn had, the building blocks are in place to turn in an even better year in 2008.

Wipe the sweat from your brows Huskies fans.  This one certainly put an unexpected scare into UConn.  A much needed lesson for the Huskies as they head into a harder stretch of scheduling in 2008: don’t take anyone for granted.

Connecticut had five players score in double figures, led by Jerome Dyson who had 23, and the Huskies escaped Orlando with a win over Central Florida 85-82 on Friday night.

Only taking a two point lead into halftime, 43-41, the Huskies used an 8-2 run in the early moments to give themselves some breathing room over the Knights, 56-46.  UCF refused to go away quietly into the night, relying on their perimeter shooting to keep them within striking distance.  The Knights canned 10 three pointers, tying their season high from beyond the arc on the year.

A.J. Price scored 13 points and dished out five assists for UConn, while Jeff Adrien added 16 points and nine rebounds.  The Huskies improve to 9-2 and have won four straight games.  Their three point margin of victory is the slimmest margin of victory for Connecticut on the season.  The previous smallest margin of victory was a four point win to open the season against Morgan State 69-65.

For Central Florida, the loss drops them under the .500 mark at 5-6 and they are 1-4 in their past five games.  Jermaine Taylor led the way for UCF with 30 points and Mike O’Donnell added 20.  Central Florida got to within three points with 10 seconds left, but two free throws from Craig Austrie allowed UConn to hang on for the victory.

For UConn, head coach Jim Calhoun has done a pretty good job softening the schedule in the early part of the season,  the Huskies have feasted on their share of cupcakes early this season (Quinnipiac, Maine, Buffalo, Florida A & M).  Take away Memphis and Gonzaga, and UConn hasn’t been tested, but that will change in ‘08.  Road tilts at Georgetown, Indiana, and Villanova (all of which are ranked) will present the Huskies with stiffer competition down the road.

We’ll find out what UConn is made of in the month of January when they’ll clash with Georgetown, Marquette, Louisville and Indiana. Connecticut will take the plunge into Big East Conference play next on Jan. 3rd when they travel to Seton Hall to take on the Pirates.