UConn Huskies men’s basketball head coach Jim Calhoun made some lineup changes to his team hoping to snap them out of their funk. For about three and a half minutes, the new look team made him look like a genius.
Then the old UConn team returned and went cold while the Georgetown Hoyas slowly took control of the game on their way to a 58-44 win in front of 15,174 at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday night.
It’s the fourth straight loss for the Huskies who fall to 14-7 (4-5 Big East). The Hoyas improve to 17-4 (7-3).
Andre Drummond led the way for the Huskies with 18 points and seven rebounds. Jeremy Lamb had an awful shooting night (4-18) but finished with 14 points and six rebounds. Ryan Boatright made his first start of the season and had four assists while not scoring a single point.
Hollis Thompson paced the Hoyas with 18 points and nine rebounds while Henry Sims added 13 points. Jason Clark chipped in with 11 points.
UConn looked like the team they were before the slump happened early on. They quickly jumped out to a 9-3 lead and it looked as though the offensive woes were gone. They would push their lead to 13-7 with 16:36 to go in the half. Then the wheels fell off the proverbial bus for the Huskies.
Fortunately while they were missing 10 straight shots, the Hoyas could only get four points over the next six minutes. UConn’s scoreless streak would come to an end when Lamb hit two free throws but unfortunately, the missed field goal streak would not.
Over the next three minutes, the Huskies would miss three more shots making it 13 in a row while the Hoyas went on a 7-0 run to take a three point lead at 18-15. Tyler Olander finally ended the almost 11 minute drought without a field goal when he made a layup with 5:59 to go in the half.
But the Hoyas closed out the half on a 13-4 run to take control of the game with a 31-21 lead.
UConn’s offensive woes carried over into the second half as they were never really able to challenge the Hoyas. They did get the lead down to six points at 45-39 on a DeAndre Daniels layup with just under eight minutes to go. That would be as close as the Huskies would get though the rest of the way as they went cold again.
Yes we know the Huskies are in a slump offensively right now. Honestly, other than Drummond, it doesn’t really look like any of them care out there. He looked to me to be the only giving a 100% out there on every play.
There really is no offensive leader and Kemba Walker isn’t going to be walking on that court to bail them out like he did last year.
Calhoun thought the lineup change would get them playing better and they did early. Then slowly the funk returned. They looked out of sync again running their half court set and at times it looked as though the guys didn’t know the plays. That is simply inexcusable at this point.
What can Calhoun do now?
He tried a lineup change and that didn’t work. Maybe he should start the walkons in the next game. Maybe that will wake this team up. This 2011-12 team is slowly reminding me of the team from Kemba’s sophomore year where it was a bunch of individuals (Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson).
The Huskies will look to end their four-game skid at home on Saturday afternoon when they’ll host the Seton Hall Pirates at the XL Center in Hartford, CT. Tip is scheduled for 12 p.m. and the game will be broadcast locally on SNY in Connecticut.
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Notes and musings:
UConn Huskies @ Georgetown Hoyas 2.1.12 box score
The 21 points at halftime was the lowest first half output for UConn since the 2011 NCAA Championship Game against Butler.
The starting five for the Huskies was Ryan Boatright, Jeremy Lamb, Niels Giffey, Roscoe Smith and Andre Drummond.
UConn shot 30% (18-60) from the floor in the game while the Hoyas shot 43.8% (21-48).
The Huskies had 11 assists on their 18 made baskets.
UConn was 2-of-20 (10%) from beyond the arc. Lamb was 2-of-11. Georgetown was 5-of-13 (38.5%).
The Huskies were 6-of-13 (46.2%) from the free throw line. Not that it mattered tonight but that can’t happen in Big East games.
The Hoyas won the battle of the boards, outrebounding UConn 38-35.
The Huskies outscored Georgetown 28-24 in the paint and 4-2 on the fast break.
UConn had 13 second chance points while the Hoyas had 10.
The Huskies had eight points off of 15 Hoyas turnovers. Georgetown had nine points off of 11 UConn turnovers.
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Photo credit: AP Photo
