Author Archives: ianbethune

Paw Prints: The Daily UConn Huskies Roundup – 12/2/14

Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams as well as the other sports the student-athletes engage in. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a DAILY basis.

Thank you for stopping by and making SOX & Dawgs your home for UConn Huskies news.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

UConn Football links

Penalties Killed UConn Football In Loss To Memphis [sox & dawgs]

Report Card For UConn-Memphis Game [hartford courant]

Winless SMU Heads To UConn Game For Coach Mason’s Finale [hartford courant]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Kia Nurse Named American Freshman of The Week [sox & dawgs]

Nurse An MVP In Southwest Florida [rich elliott – ct post]

UConn women leave Florida with a feeling of improvement [ct post]

Auriemma Pleased Huskies Were Able To Deliver Knockout Punch [hartford courant]

Huskies have rebuilt confidence since loss to Stanford [new haven register]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

Video: Shooting Woes a Concern For UConn Men [sox & dawgs]

Ryan Boatright Named To American Weekly Honor Roll [sox and dawgs]

Former Men’s Basketball Coach Dee Rowe To Be Honored At MSG Holiday Festival [uconn huskies]

It’s all about making shots for UConn men [ct post]

UConn’s Problems Deep, But Ollie Says They Can Be Fixed [hartford courant]

Ailing Huskies await word on Boatright [the day]

Other UConn related links

W. Ice Hockey. Women’s Hockey Inks Four To NLIs In Early Signing Period [uconn huskies]

Field Hockey. Three Field Hockey Standouts Earn All-America Honors [uconn huskies]

W. Ice Hockey. Elaine Chuli Named WHEA Defensive Player Of The Week [uconn huskies]

Baseball. UConn Baseball Tabs Cross, Melley and Tabakman As 2015 Captains [uconn huskies]

W. Swimming. Chinyere Pigot To Compete In 2014 Short Course World Championships [uconn huskies]

Penalties Killed UConn Football In Loss To Memphis

When Bob Diaco took over the UConn Huskies football team, he talked about wanting to eliminate the things that cause losing. His message hasn’t changed from Day 1.

In their loss to the Memphis Tigers on Saturday, UConn committed eight penalties for 115 yards. Most of these weren’t of the five-yard variety. They were mostly 10-15 yarders. Basically, they weren’t the pre-snap penalties that he’s wanted to eliminate and has for the most part.

The first one came when Omaine Stephens didn’t give the Memphis kick returner enough room to make the fair catch and was called for a 15-yard kick interference penalty. That gave the ball to the Tigers at the UConn 48. They would end up driving down and getting a field goal to make it 3-0.

Next up was a holding penalty on tight TE Tommy Myers after Ron Johnson had busted a big run that got the ball onto the Memphis side of the field. Instead of being on the other side of the 50, UConn found themselves back on their own 19.

“Tommy is blocking that guy and really giving him the business and finishes him into the ground,” Diaco said on his Sunday conference call. “And it was that finish that they flagged the hold on. That was a game-changing play.”

Then in the second quarter as they were trailing 6-0, the offense was driving the ball down a short field when FB Jazzmar Clax was called for a personal foul when he ripped the helmet off of a Memphis player while finishing the play.

“We’re mashing them down and we’re mashing the ball down,” said Diaco. “We get the ball inside the 10-yard line and we get a personal foul.”

“They were all basically aggressive penalties. It’s young players trying to finish.”

Plus it doesn’t help that Bobby Puyol missed the 31 yard field goal attempt on that same drive which just made it all worse and like the penalties, changed the course of the game.

Pass interference and defensive holding penalties by Jhavon Williams and John Green would hurt them later on.

“More of it was mental,” Diaco said. “Not mental errors, we tell them you don’t need to grab, you’re on body. You’re good. Just execute your fundamentals. You don’t need to get handsy. That’s something young guys do.”

UConn is a young team this season and we’ve seen the growing pains. But we’ve seen the improvements as well.

You can bet your last dollar that Diaco and the staff will be using these penalties as teaching moments. And as everyone gets more experience, these penalties will slowly disappear.

And when they do, the Huskies will be a better team.

Video: Shooting Woes a Concern For UConn Men

When you look at the box score for the UConn Huskies 55-54 loss to the Texas Longhorns, you would think because they shot 30.4% they would have been getting blown out. But when your opponent shoots 37% including 27.3% in the second half, you’ve got a chance.

Now imagine if the Huskies had shot 40%, they most likely wouldn’t have had to worry about hitting their foul shots down the stretch. But they didn’t shot 40% and we know what happened.

UConn can’t shoot 3-of-16 (18.8%) from three or 17-of-56 (30.4%) and expect to win games. It doesn’t matter who the opponent it is, that will not get it done.

So what can the Huskies do to get better?

They all need to put up an extra 100 shots or so after practice. Then after getting their academics done, they are after all, student-athletes, they need to go back to the gym and shoot more. The more they shoot, the better they will become.

That reasoning seemed to be what head coach Kevin Ollie, Daniel Hamilton and Ryan Boatright are thinking.

They’re going to need to get better quickly too.

There’s no telling how much time Boatright will miss with his injured ankle. Plus Rodney Purvis has an injured ankle and Omar Calhoun is out as well.

If none of those three are available against Yale on Friday night, the backcourt will be very thin with just Terrence Samuel and Sam Cassell Jr. After that, they only other guard left on the roster is Pat Lenehan. Hamilton could also play guard if need be.

The Huskies definitely need this final exams break to get healthy for the long stretch run of the 2014-15 season.

Watch and/or listen below as Ollie, Kentan Facey, Hamilton and Boatright talk about the shooting woes and how to fix them.

2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Rankings – Week 4 (Dec. 1)

The NCAA men’s basketball polls are out for the week and the Kentucky Wildcats remain as the No. 1 team in both polls.

They are followed by the Wisconsin Badgers, Arizona Wildcats, Duke Blue Devils and Louisville Cardinals in the AP Poll. In the USA Today Coaches Poll, they are followed by Duke, Arizona, Wisconsin and Louisville.

The UConn Huskies have dropped out of the AP Poll this week after their loss to the Texas Longhorns on Sunday but remain in the Coaches Poll at No. 23.

Besides UConn, there are no teams from the American Athletic Conference among the others receiving votes in the AP Poll. In the Coaches Poll, there are no teams there as well.

AP Top 25				USA Today Coaches Poll
RK	TEAM	REC	PTS	RK	TEAM	REC	PTS
1	Kentucky (62)	7-0	1,622	1	Kentucky (29)	7-0	796
2	Wisconsin (3)	7-0	1,511	2	Duke	7-0	738
3	Arizona	6-0	1,488	3	Arizona (1)	6-0	735
4	Duke	7-0	1,475	4	Wisconsin (2)	7-0	732
5	Louisville	5-0	1,260	5	Louisville	5-0	636
6	Texas	6-0	1,254	6	Virginia	7-0	611
7	Virginia	7-0	1,196	7	Texas	6-0	592
8	Wichita St	4-0	1,165	8	Gonzaga	6-0	586
9	Gonzaga	6-0	1,133	9	Villanova	6-0	540
10	Villanova	6-0	1,075	10	Wichita St	4-0	523
11	Kansas	5-1	1,063	11	Kansas	5-1	493
12	North Carolina	5-1	864	12	North Carolina	5-1	417
13	San Diego St	5-1	784	13	Ohio State	5-0	384
14	Ohio State	5-0	759	14	San Diego St	5-1	380
15	Miami (FL)	7-0	697	15	Miami (FL)	7-0	324
16	West Virginia	7-0	601	16	Michigan	5-1	269
17	Michigan	5-1	454	17	West Virginia	7-0	247
18	Arkansas	6-0	438	18	Michigan St	5-2	201
19	Michigan St	5-2	423	19	Iowa State	3-1	189
20	Iowa State	3-1	330	20	Oklahoma	4-2	152
21	Maryland	7-0	306	21	Arkansas	6-0	138
22	Oklahoma	4-2	254	22	Maryland	7-0	109
23	Butler	5-1	222	23	Connecticut	3-2	62
24	Illinois	6-0	104	24	Florida	3-3	60
25	Utah	5-1	88	25	Illinois	6-0	57
Dropped from rankings:				Dropped from rankings:
Virginia Commonwealth 14, Florida 18, UCLA 22, Creighton 23, Connecticut 24				Virginia Commonwealth 14, UCLA 23, Providence 25
Others receiving votes:				Others receiving votes:
Northern Iowa 83, Connecticut 76, Oklahoma St 69, Providence 56, Virginia Commonwealth 52, Syracuse 49, Florida 40, Georgetown 30, Creighton 29, Washington 17, NC State 12, Wyoming 10, California 8, Seton Hall 5, St. John’s 5, Nebraska 4, Baylor 3, UCLA 3, Ole Miss 2, Old Dominion 2, TCU 2, Notre Dame 1, Saint Mary’s 1				Virginia Commonwealth 51, Providence 50, Utah 50, Butler 44, Northern Iowa 33, Oklahoma St 32, Washington 30, Syracuse 29, Creighton 17, Nebraska 17, Georgetown 15, NC State 14, California 11, Stanford 5, Wyoming 5, UTEP 5, Notre Dame 4, Baylor 4, Memphis 3, St. John’s 3, Saint Mary’s 3, TCU 3, UCLA 1

Ryan Boatright Named To American Weekly Honor Roll

UConn G Ryan Boatright (11) shoots a jumpshot in the front of the UConn student section and his Fathead during the first half against Texas at Gampel Pavilion.

UConn G Ryan Boatright (11) shoots a jumper in the front of the UConn student section and his Fathead during the first half against Texas at Gampel Pavilion.

There was some good news for UConn Huskies men’s basketball point guard Ryan Boatright on Monday. No, it’s not about his ankle.

Boatright was named to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll after his performance against the Texas Longhorns on Sunday at Gampel Pavilion.

He had 24 points with seven rebounds, two assists and a steal in the 55-54 loss.

The UConn men are back in action on Friday night when they’ll host the Yale Bulldogs at Gampel Pavilion. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m.

American Athletic Conference Weekly Men’s Basketball Honors – Dec. 1

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The American Athletic Conference has announced the winners of the league’s weekly men’s basketball honors for the week ending Nov. 30.

AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Corey Allen Jr. • Sr. • G • USF

Allen averaged 23.5 points and shot 18-of-28 from the field (.643) and 7-of-10 (.700) from 3-point range in a 2-0 week for the Bulls. He scored a team-high 18 points with four rebounds in a 71-70 come-from-behind win against Hofstra, while he poured in a career-high 29 points with four assists, three rebounds and two steals in a 79-65 win against Jacksonville. Allen ranks third in the American Athletic Conference in scoring this season (15.8 ppg) and has helped USF to its best start through six games since the 2009-10 season.

AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

B.J. Tyson • Fr. • G • East Carolina

Tyson averaged 16.0 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists in four games in which he shot .514 from the field (19-of-37) and .793 from the free throw line (23-of-29). He scored 22 points, going 11-of-11 from the line, in a 58-52 win against Fresno State and had 24 in a 75-73 loss to Hawaii. Tyson is second in The American in scoring, averaging 16.0 points per game.

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL

Justin McBride • So. • C • UCF

Scored a career-high 31 points with eight rebounds in a win against Bethune-Cookman.

Ryan Boatright • Sr. • G • UConn

Scored 24 points with seven rebounds, two assists and a steal in a 55-54 loss to No. 7/9 Texas.

Shaq Goodwin • Jr. • F • Memphis

Averaged 12.3 points and 6.0 rebounds in a 2-1 week. Scored 16 points on 6-of-6 shooting in win against Prairie View A&M.

Nic Moore • Jr. • G • SMU

Averaged 16.7 points and 5.7 assists in a 2-1 week.

Will Cummings • Sr. • G • Temple

Averaged 12.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game in a 2-0 week.

Kia Nurse Named American Freshman of The Week

From UConn and the American:

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – For the second-straight week, University of Connecticut guard Kia Nurse (Hamilton, Ontario) was honored by the American Athletic Conference, earning the conference Freshman of the Week accolade, as announced by the league on Monday. In addition, senior forward Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis was named to the conference’s weekly honor roll.

Nurse, who was an honor roll member last week, was tabbed as the 2014 Gulf Coast Showcase MVP after leading the Huskies to wins over College of Charleston, Vanderbilt, and Green Bay this weekend. The freshman guard scored 43 points (14.3 avg) in the Huskies’ three games, including a .600 shooting percentage from the floor. She also pulled down 16 total rebounds and dished out a team-best 14 assists during the week.

Nurse has earned four starts in six games for Connecticut, averaging 13.7 points and 3.6 assists per contest. She has connected on 30 of her first 50 collegiate shots and also boasts a stellar 3:1 assist to turnover ratio.

Mosqueda-Lewis, one of three Huskies tabbed to the Gulf Coast Showcase All-Tournament team, is one of the nation’s most dangerous threats from beyond the arc, converting 61.5 (24-of-39) percent of her attempts from long range this season. She scored 13 points with four boards and three assists in UConn’s 89-53 win over the Phoenix in Sunday’s championship game and also boasts Connecticut’s highest scoring average at 18.0 ppg.

The pair of standouts have helped the Huskies to a 5-1 record in 2014-15, including an average margin of victory of 38.5.

The Huskies return to action on Saturday, Dec. 6 when they No. 2 Notre Dame in South Bend on ESPN. Tip-off is set for 3:15 p.m.

photo credit: ©2014 ian bethune

American Athletic Conference Weekly Women’s Basketball Honors – Dec. 1

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The American Athletic Conference has announced winners of the league’s first weekly women’s basketball honors for games ending Nov. 30.

AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Courtney Williams * G * 5-8 * Jr. * USF

Williams averaged 22.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game last week for RV/RV USF during action at the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Williams had a game-high 27 points in the Bulls’ win over RV/RV Oklahoma on Thursday and pulled down a double-double (18 points, 12 rebounds) in Friday’s win over Illinois. The junior shot 86-percent (12-for-14) from the charity stripe during the three-day tournament and added a game-high 23 points vs. No. 9/10 Kentucky on Saturday.

AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK

Kia Nurse * G * 6-0 * UConn

Nurse, the Gulf Coast Showcase MVP, scored 43 points in the tournament’s three games, including a .600 (18-for-30) shooting percentage from the floor. The guard also pulled down 16 total rebounds and dished out a team-best 14 assists. She averaged 14.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game in a 3-0 week for No. 3/3 UConn.

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis * F * 5-11 * Sr. * UConn

Averaged 16.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.0 steals per game in UConn’s three-win week; shot 56-percent from beyond the arc

Tanaya Atkinson * G * 5-9 * Fr. * Temple

Had 20 points and seven rebounds in Temple’s win over Harvard in the Hall of Fame Challenge; named tournament MVP

Kolby Morgan * G * 5-8 * Fr. * Tulane

Scored a career-high 25 points vs. RV/RV Western Kentucky during action at the Hofstra Thanksgiving Classic

I’Tiana Taylor * F * 6-1 * Jr. * East Carolina

Averaged 17.5 points and 12.5 rebounds per game in the Junkanoo Jam; scored a career-high 22 points vs. No. 22/22 Syracuse

Destynee Hives-McCray * F * 6-0 * R-Jr. * SMU

Averaged a double-double (13.0 points, 12.0 rebounds per game) during action at the SMU Thanksgiving Classic

American Athletic Conference Weekly Football Honors – Dec. 1

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The American Athletic Conference has announced the winners of the league’s weekly football honors for the 14th week of the college football season.

AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Paxton Lynch • So. • QB • Memphis • Deltona, Fla.

Lynch threw four touchdown passes against UConn as the Tigers clinched a share of their first conference championship in 41 years with a 41-10 win against the Huskies. Lynch completed 22 of 41 passes for 194 yards and threw three second-half touchdown passes to help the Tigers pull away. He also had 40 rushing yards on nine carries to finish with 234 yards of total offense. Lynch set a school record for touchdowns responsible for in a season (28), while his 2,725 passing yards rank fifth on Memphis’ single-season chart. Memphis finished the regular season with a six-game winning streak — the Tigers’ longest winning streak since 1969.

AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Nick Temple • Sr. • LB • Cincinnati • Indianapolis, Ind.

Temple led a Cincinnati defense that kept Temple out of the end zone in a 14-6 victory in Philadelphia that kept the Bearcats even in the loss column atop the American Athletic Conference standings. Temple finished with game highs of 13 tackles, two sacks and three tackles for loss against the Owls as the Bearcats limited the hosts to just two field goals and 267 yards of total offense. Temple, who enters Cincinnati’s final game of the regular season with 96 tackles, ranks seventh in The American with 8.7 tackles per game.

AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Jake Elliott • So. • K • Memphis • Western Spring, Ill.

Elliott scored 11 points in windy conditions at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, giving him an American Athletic Conference-leading 107 points for the season, to help Memphis to a 41-10 win against UConn as the Tigers clinched a share of the American Athletic Conference title. Lynch made field goals of 21 and 22 yards and went 5-for-5 on PATs, giving him 49 PATs on the season and breaking Stephen Gostkowski’s school record of 48, set in 2004.

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL

Rannell Hall • Sr. • WR • UCF • Miami, Fla.

Rushed for a a game-high 65 yards, including a 21-yard touchdown, and had five receptions for 19 yards in a 16-0 win against USF.

Zeek Bigger • Jr. • LB • East Carolina • Gastonia, N.C.

Had 14 tackles an interception and a pass breakup in a 49-32 win against Tulsa.

Shane Carden • Sr. • QB • East Carolina • Houston, Texas

Completed 28 of 41 passes for 338 yards and four touchdowns with one interception in a 49-32 win against Tulsa.

Kenneth Farrow • Jr. • RB • Houston • Hurst, Texas

Rushed for 110 yards and two second-half touchdowns in a 35-9 win against SMU.

Tank Jakes • Sr. • LB • Memphis • Phenix City, Ala.

Had a team-high nine tackles and 0.5 sacks in a 41-10 win against UConn to clinch a share of the American Athletic Conference title.