Hasheem Thabeet lead 5 players in double figures for the No. 1 UConn Huskies as they went on to easily dispatch of the Bryant Bulldogs 88-58 in front of 12,558 at the XL Center in Hartford, CT.
Thabeet had a double-double, his 3rd of the season, with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocked shots to lead the Huskies (6-0). Craig Austrie had 15 points, a season-high 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Jeff Adrien just missed a double-double with 14 points and 9 rebounds while A.J. Price also added 14 points and 4 assists. Rounding out the Huskies in double digits with 11 points was their leading scorer Jerome Dyson who also added 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
The Bulldogs (1-3) were led by Cecil Gresham’s 19 points. All of his field goals came on 3-pointers (6-of-9). Ryan McLean was the only other Bryant player in double figures with 10 points. Andrew Lyell chipped in with 5 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists for the first-year Division I program.
Bryant came out strong in the game as the Huskies struggled from the floor early on. The teams exchanged baskets early on with the Bulldogs biggest lead coming at 11-9. With 12:22 to go in the half, Nick Pontes gave the Bulldogs a 15-14 lead but two consecutive baskets by Austrie put the Huskies in front for good. UConn would use a 23-8 run to close out the first half to take a 45-28 lead at the half.
It was more of the same in the second half for the Huskies as the Bulldogs could not stop the Huskies who used their size advantage and defensive pressure to make sure there was no comeback.
Just one day of rest for the Huskies as they will be back on Gampel Pavilion court Monday night at 7:30 against the Delaware State Hornets. The game will be televised locally on My-TV9 and will also be shown on SNY.
Notes and musings:
Bryant Bulldogs @ UConn Huskies 11.29.08 box score
The starters were A.J. Price, Craig Austrie, Jerome Dyson, Jeff Adrien and Hasheem Thabeet.
This was the first time UConn and Bryant have met during the regular season. The Huskies had beaten them 4 times during the exhibition season.
Bryant is in it’s first of a 4-year transition to Division I. They will play in the Northeast Conference.
Jim Calhoun picked up his 780th career win and is now tied for 8th place all-time with Lou Henson and Lute Olson. 532 of those wins have come at UConn.
After scoring 21 points against Wisconsin, Jerome Dyson has now reached the 20-point plateau in his career on 13 different occasions, now the most of any current Husky. A.J. Price has reached 20+ points 12 times in his career.
Kemba Walker has reached 20 points in two of his first five games as a Husky, joining Ray Allen, Caron Butler and Khalid El-Amin as the only Huskies under Jim Calhoun to reach 20 pts. twice in their first five career games.
UConn committed just 9 fouls in the game.
The Huskies shot 50% (32-of-64) from the floor while the Bulldogs shot 39% (23-54).
UConn won the battle of the boards 48-27.
The Huskies had 24 second chance points and committed just 9 turnovers.
They scored 16 points of 15 Bryant turnovers.
UConn was 16-of-26 (62%) from the charity stripe. You already know what I’m going to say here. This NEEDS to improve.
