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. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

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UConn Women's Basketball links

Prepping For UConn-Stanford, Volume 1 [rich elliott – ct post]

At This Point Stewart Living Up To The Hype [rich elliott – ct post]

Prepping For UConn-Stanford, Volume 2 [rich elliott – ct post]

UConn Men's Basketball links

UConn at the break… [kevin duffy – ct post]

UConn Football links

Handing out a few holiday gifts [andrea adelson – espn.com]

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

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. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

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 Women's Basketball links

Faris responds to Auriemma’s ‘tweaking’ [carl adamec – hartford courant]

On Breanna Stewart And Stanford [john altavilla – hartford courant]

This Is Women’s Basketball: 710 Watch Delle Donne Score 30 [john altavilla – hartford courant]

10 Christmas Gifts From The UConn Women [john altavilla – hartford courant]

Interesting scheduling talk from Geno [jim fuller – new haven register]

Stewart makes it look routine [jim fuller – new haven register]

Auriemma Continues To Speak Out, And Not Just About Basketball [hartford courant]

Three points from Saturday's win over Hartford [new haven register]

UConn Football links

SNY Has "Huskies Power Hour Marathon" On Tuesday [uconnhuskies.com]

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Omar Calhoun had a good week of basketball for the UConn Huskies men's team. So good in fact, he was honored by the Big East for his efforts.

The Big East named Calhoun as the Big East Freshman of the Week on Sunday. They also named Ryan Boatright to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll.

Calhoun averaged 19.5 points in UConn's two wins this week.

He had a career-high 22 points in the 84-50 win over the Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks last Monday. In Friday night's 88-73 win over the Fordham Rams, Calhoun had 17 points.

In the two games, he was 14-of-21 from the floor and 6-of-9 from three-point land.

Boatright averaged 23.5 points in the two wins in being named to weekly honor roll.

The UConn men return to action on Saturday, December 29 when they'll host the Washington Huskies at the XL Center in Hartford, CT.

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photo credit: david butler ii – special to hartford courant

For the second time this season, UConn Huskies freshman Breanna Stewart has been named the Big East Freshman of the Week.

Here's the release from UConn:

STORRS, Conn. – University of Connecticut women's basketball standout Breanna Stewart has been honored as the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week as announced by the league on Sunday. Stewart, the 2012-13 Preseason BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, earns the award for the second time this season.

Stewart averaged 24.0 points and 10.0 rebounds in a 2-0 week for the No. 2/2 Huskies, which included wins over Oakland and at Hartford. Stewart had 21 points and 13 rebounds against Oakland. She was 10-of-17 from the floor, recorded two blocks and two steals while eight of her 13 boards came on the offensive glass.

She followed that up with a 27-point, seven-rebound effort at Hartford. Her career-high 27 came on 9-of-13 shooting in only 25 minutes of action. She shot 63 percent for the week.

The Syracuse, N.Y. native leads the team at 16.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per game and has scored the most points of any Husky in her first 10 games. Stewart's 169 points surpassed Maya Moore's previous record of 165, set in 2008.

Stewart and the Huskies will return to action on Saturday, December 29 when the team heads west to square-off against top-ranked Stanford. Game time is set for 4 p.m. EST and the contest will be televised nationally by ESPNU.

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

photo credit: david butler ii – special to hartford courant (no. 14 in gallery)

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. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

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 Women's Basketball links

UConn wallops Hartford; No. 1 Stanford next [carl adamec – sny.com]

Emotions run high after Sandy Hook tribute [carl adamec – sny.com]

Morgan Tuck Almost Played Saturday [john altavilla – hartford courant]

Auriemma’s Words Tend To Reverberate Across The Nation [john altavilla – hartford courant]

Tuck Making Progress For Huskies; Stokes Still Has A Way To Go [rich elliott – ct post]

Jefferson Under The Weather; Elliott Paces Hawks [rich elliott – ct post]

Emotional Pregame Ceremony Honors Sandy Hook Victims [rich elliott – ct post]

Auriemma Discusses Gun Control [rich elliott – ct post]

Morgan Tuck was close to playing today [jim fuller – new haven register]

Emotional tribute to Newtown victims [jim fuller – new haven register]

UConn recruiting targets win Nike TOC titles [jim fuller – new haven register]

UConn crushes Hartford 102-45 [ct post]

Silence 'deafening' in pregame moment to honor Newtown victims [ct post]

UConn Women Beat Hartford, But A Boost For Hawks Program [hartford courant]

Auriemma To Attend Rizzotti's Induction Into The Hall Of Fame [hartford courant]

Jen Rizzotti Keeps Her Options Open, Shuts Doors When She Wants To [hartford courant]

Newtown Youth Basketball Players Welcomed At UConn/Hartford Game [hartford courant]

Huskies dominate Hartford in rare in-state road game [new haven register]

Almost 100 Newtown children attend Hartford game [new haven register]

UConn Men's Basketball links

Recruiting Update: Jared Terrell, Abdul Malik Abu [kevin duffy – ct post]

Guards From Rival Big Cities Work Together For UConn Men [hartford courant]

Three Points from Friday's win over Fordham [new haven register]

UConn Football links

Don Brown's defection another blow to UConn [new haven register]

Other UConn related links

UConn nothing more than a relic of fading Big East [ct post]

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

Apparently the Boston Red Sox are not happy with Andrew Bailey as their closer. It's the only logical explanation out there right now for trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates that appears to be nearing completion.

According to multiple media reports, the Red Sox and Pirates are working on a deal that will send Joel Hanrahan to Boston for minor leaguers Stolmy Pimentel and Jerry Sands Jr. Gordon Edes of ESPN Boston is reporting that Mark Melancon could be included in the deal as well.

Hanrahan is set to be a free agent after the 2013 season and was 5-2 with a 2.72 ERA and 36 saves for the Pirates in 2012. He had 40 saves in 2011 for Pittsburgh.

Bailey struggled in his return from a thumb injury suffered during spring training. He was 1-1 with a 7.04 ERA and six saves in 19 games.

Pimentel played the 2012 season with the Portland Sea Dogs where he went 6-7 with a 4.59 ERA in 22 starts. Sands was part of the deal that sent Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto the Dodgers.

Obviously the Red Sox are doing everything they can to improve their bullpen which had to do yeoman's work last year with the crappy starting pitching they got.

If Bailey isn't traded, he'd likely set up for Hanrahan. I don't see the Red Sox giving up players so Hanrahan can set up. And if Bailey isn't traded, the Red Sox bullpen looks pretty solid for 2013.

I still think the Red Sox need to go out and get some starting pitching depth.

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photo credit: getty images

It's been a long time since the UConn Huskies women's basketball team played a road game in the state of Connecticut (1991). But when it's one of your former star players (Jen Rizzotti) at an in-state school (Hartford), you do what you can to help her build her program.

After a very emotional pre-game tribute to the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting attended by students of the school who survived, the Huskies and Hartford Hawks took to the court to provide a distraction for those young students on Saturday afternoon.

It wasn't much of a game though as the Huskies dominated throughout on their way to a 102-45 win over the Hawks in front of a sold-out crowd at Chase Family Arena in West Hartford, CT.

The No. 2 Huskies improve to 10-0. Rizzotti's Hawks squad falls to 8-3.

UConn was paced by freshman Breanna Stewart's career-high 27 points and seven rebounds along with two blocked shots. Stewart passed former Husky All-American Maya Moore with 169 points in her first 10 career games (Moore had 165).

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis added 21 points while Kelly Faris had 18 points. Brianna Hartley's resurgence continued as she had 15 points, six assists and five steals. Stefanie Dolson rounded out the Huskies in double-digits with 10 points.

The Hawks, who played without their leading scorer Amber Bepko, were led by Daphne Elliott's 10 points. Nikkia Smith added eight points and a team-high four rebounds while Ruthanne Doherty and Katie Roth both had six points.

I'll be honest. I'm not sure how they played on Saturday. That pre-game ceremony was so moving that you could see the players and staff holding back tears. But as I said above, I'm sure it was a nice distraction for the students from Newton.

Everything UConn has done up to this point has been in preparation for the big games on their schedule. The first of those comes up in one week when they'll take on the No. 1 Stanford Cardinal in Palo Alto, CA. Tip is scheduled for 4 p.m.

UConn Huskies @ Hartford Hawks 12.22.12 box score

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photo credit: david butler ii – special to hartford courant (no. 4 in gallery)

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. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

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

It's game day for the UConn Huskies women's basketball team as they'll take on the Hartford Hawks at 1 p.m. at Chase Family Arena in West Hartford, CT. The game will be broadcast locally in Connecticut on SNY. You can also watch online for a free at SNYUConn.com. You can also listen on the IMG/UConn Radio Network.

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

UConn Women's Basketball links

UConn goes on road to face Hartford [carl adamec – sny.com]

Sellout crowd welcomes UConn-Hartford [carl adamec – sny.com]

Rizzotti Talks Fondly Of Former Players; Hawks To Pay Tribute [rich elliott – ct post]

New twist on UConn/Hartford series [jim fuller – new haven register]

Huskies looking foward to reunion with former coach [jim fuller – new haven register]

Why Geno is playing in Jen’s house [lee lewis – republican-american]

Rizzotti, young UConn players have reunion Saturday [ct post]

This Time, Geno Takes UConn Women To Rizzotti's House [hartford courant]

Auriemma, Huskies playing in Jen Rizzotti's house now [new haven register]

Video: Geno Auriemma on Breanna Stewart [sny.com]

UConn Men's Basketball links

Kevin Ollie’s Take [dom amore – hartford courant]

Wrapping Things Up from XL [dom amore – hartford courant]

It Wasn't A Very Merry Christmas for Kevin Ollie 15 Years Ago [david borges – new haven register]

After 'Beautiful' First Half vs. Fordham, UConn Plays to Scoreboard in Second [david borges – new haven register]

Notes/Quotes from Fordham: “We can’t go out and get Patrick Ewing. He’s not around.” [kevin duffy – ct post]

Post-game breakdown, video: Fordham [gavin keefe – the day]

Second verse, same as the first.. [neill ostrout – journal inquirer]

Boatright leads the way [john silver – sny.com]

Work in Progress [uconn huskies basketball]

UConn men roll past Fordham [ct post]

Backcourt play 'beautiful' thing [ct post]

Huskies Take Advantage Of Points Off Turnovers To Beat Fordham, 88-73 [hartford courant]

Guard Play Continues To Improve [hartford courant]

Kevin Ollie's New Year Might Very Well Start With A New Deal [hartford courant]

Ryan Boatright, Huskies finish Fordham [new haven register]

UConn gets the job done [the day]

UConn Football links

Former UConn commit signs with FAU [jim fuller – new haven register]

Clayton White Leaves UConn For N.C. State [hartford courant]

Other UConn related links

Baseball. Mazzilli Named a Pre-Season All-America First Team Selection [uconnhuskies.com]

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

Given the way the UConn Huskies men's basketball team dominated the first half action, you would have thought the final outcome would have been much greater than it was.

Instead the Huskies sat back in the second half and saw the Fordham Rams claw their way back into things.

But in the end, it was the Huskies who ended up prevailing 88-73 over Fordham in front of 10,265 at the XL Center in Hartford, CT on Friday.

UConn improves to 9-2 in Kevin Ollie's first season as head coach. The visiting Rams fall to 2-9.

Ryan Boatright led the way for the Huskies with a career-high 26 points and nine assists. He did however have six turnovers. Shabazz Napier added 19 points, six assists and a team-high seven rebounds to go along with four steals.

Omar Calhoun chipped in with 17 points while DeAndre Daniels added 10 points. R.J. Evans returned to action with nine points.

Branden Frazier was the high scorer for the Rams with 26 points and had four rebounds and five assists. And like Boatright did for UConn, he also had six turnovers. Chris Gaston was the only other Fordham player in double figures with 11 points and he added six rebounds.

Ryan Rhoomes led the Rams with seven rebounds to go along with just one point.

This was a game where the Huskies should have absolutely blown away the Rams. They had 29 point halftime lead. Instead with the UConn enjoying a 63-31 lead, they watched Fordham get back into the game with a 19-0 run.

While the Huskies never let the Rams get closer than 13 points the rest of the way, it was something that shouldn't have happened.

They played the scoreboard and that ended up almost costing them. Given the way Ollie has coached them this season, you wouldn't have expected this to happen. But it did. And you he'll make them work even harder in practice.

I've said this all along. If the Huskies can play a complete game, they'll surprise some people in the Big East this season. After all, that's what these early season games are for, the grueling Big East season.

They'll get a chance to show they can play a full 40 minutes next Saturday when they host the Washington Huskies at the XL Center in Hartford, CT. Tip is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.

To continue reading, please click on the continue reading button below if you're on the home page.

Fordham Rams @ UConn Huskies 12.21.12 box score

Here are the postgame quotes from UConn head coach Kevin Ollie.

Here are UConn's postgame notes.

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photo credit: richard messina – hartford courant (no. 4 in gallery)

It's looks the USS UConn Huskies football program is taking on water rather quickly with the latest news of another coach leaving.

Just a few days after losing defensive coordinator Don Brown to Boston College, head coach Paul Pasqualoni is losing his running backs and special teams to coach to another ACC school.

According to Desmond Conner of the Hartford Courant, Clayton White is heading to Raleigh, NC to join Dave Doeren's staff with the North Carolina State Wolfpack. White is a former Wolfpack football player as he was linebacker there from 1999-2001.

While this loss may not sting as bad as Brown leaving, it still leaves a gapping hole with two major parts gone.

The Huskies have been pretty good on special teams the past few years with Nick Williams and Cole Wagner (punter) along with Dave Teggart and Chad Christen (kickers). And at running back, Lyle McCombs burst on to the scene last season but struggled this season behind a mediocre offensive line.

Pasqualoni has some major holes to fill and you don't know how the loss of these coaches could affect the recruiting efforts.

Remember, just because a recruit has given a verbal commitment, it doesn't mean he has to come to UConn. Only once he signs his national-letter-of-intent is he bound to the school.

So it'll be interesting to see what happens with this as well as who Coach P will choose as new assistant coaches.

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photo credit: john woike – hartford courant