Stanley Robinson’s huge first half in which he scored 25 of his career-high 32 points led the UConn Huskies to a 105-60 win over the Maine Black Bears at the XL Center on Saturday afternoon.
Robinson was actually one of three Huskies who recorded double-doubles on the afternoon as he also pulled down 11 rebounds. Jeff Adrien had 19 points and 13 rebounds while Hasheem Thabeet rounded out the double-doubles for the Huskies with 16 points and 10 rebounds. A.J. Price just missed a double-double with 17 points and 9 assists. Gavin Edwards chipped in 10 points as well for UConn.
Junior Barnel led the Black Bears with 16 points. Jason Hight added 7 points while Sean McNally scored 6 points.
The Black Bears (4-7) started out the game with the first four points and held the Huskies scoreless for just over 3 minutes before UConn went on a 7-0 run. After that it was the Mr. Robinson show as he seemed to be inspired by a technical foul he received for taunting. He responded with 3 nasty dunks and some 3-point shots to propel the Huskies to a huge halftime lead at 53-28.
UConn (8-2) started out the second half on a 7-0 run and never looked back as their speed and athleticism clearly outclassed the Black Bears.
The Huskies will now scatter about the country for Christmas and return after the break to face the University of Central Florida in Orlando on Friday, December 28th at 8:00 PM. The game will be televised on CSTV.
Notes and Observations:
The starters were A.J. Price, Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson, Jeff Adrien and Hasheem Thabeet.
UConn sported their alternate uni’s today, which were gray instead of white.
Craig Austrie is still out suffering from the effects of a bout of pneumonia. He should be back for the game @ UCF on the 28th.
Dyson played sparingly during the game as he irritated his knee which he injured in the game against Quinnipiac. He only scored 2 points.
Randy Edsall was a guest at halftime on the TV broadcast. He talked about the success this season, Tyler Lorenzen adding stability to the QB position, the practices leading up to the bowl game and also talked about Wake Forest. He said UConn leaves for Charlotte on Monday and will practice Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday leading up to next Saturday’s game.
Bobby Valentine was in the crowd at the XL Center.
Maine coach Ted Woodward was an assistant under Jim Calhoun. He is one of 7 former assistants to hold head coaching jobs in Division I. Howie Dickenmann (Central Connecticut), Dave Leitao (Virginia), Steve Pikiell (Stony Brook), Karl Hobbs (George Washington), Tom Moore (Quinnipiac) and Glenn Miller (Penn). Calhoun is now 10-0 against his former assistants.
Jeff Adrien is one of 50 candidates for the John R. Wooden National Player of the Year Award while A.J. Price is among 40 players chosen for consideration for the Bob Cousy Award, given to the top point in Division I, II and III.
Robinson had 10 field goals in the first half while Maine only had 10 themselves.
The Huskies shot 50% (35-70) in the game while holding the Black Bears to 34.3% (23-67).
UConn had 25 assists on those 35 baskets and actually had assists on their first 10 field goals.
Thabeet’s free throw shooting has definitely improved as he was 10-of-13 from the line. UConn as a team was 27-38 (71.1%). They do need to improve on that as they approach the rigorous Big East schedule.
UConn dominated the boards by the tune of 59-29.
The Huskies forced 14 turnovers and turned them into 20 points while committing only 11 themselves.
UConn blocked 12 shots in the game, including 8 by Thabeet.
UConn last scored at least 100 points in a game last year when they beat Texas Southern 106-55.
