The Boston Red Sox ownership group of John Henry, Tom Warner and Larry Lucchino held court this morning with the assembled media and then all 3 were on NESN later in the morning.

First up is Henry and Warner:

[dailymotion]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8f05h_john-henry-and-tom-warner_sport[/dailymotion] video courtesy of NESN

Larry Lucchino:

[dailymotion]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8f0wr_larry-lucchino_sport[/dailymotion] video courtesy of NESN

Owners provide State of Nation Address [Extra Bases]

Red Sox ownership group not against salary cap [ProJo Sox Blog]

Lucchino: There are three things money can’t buy … [Clubhouse Insider]

Henry, Lucchino speak on a salary cap [Full Count]

Owning up… [Full Count]

Red Sox owners discuss offseason player movement [Full Count]

Baseball Hall of Famer and ESPN analyst Peter Gammons stopped by the NESN desk at spring training in Ft. Myers to talk about his Alex Rodriguez interview and Boston Red Sox baseball.

[dailymotion]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8f0o9_peter-gammons_sport[/dailymotion]

With the Boston Red Sox holding their first full workout right now, I just wanted to pass along a few videos of Mike Lowell, Jason Bay and Jon Lester from yesterday. By the way if you’re home, you can catch NESN’s coverage of the workout right now as they are broadcasting from Ft. Myers.

It’s game day for the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team as they make the short bus ride over to Providence to take on the Friars at 7 PM.

UConn women’s basketball links

Jim Fuller is trying to find out why the entire UConn game on Sunday wasn’t shown in parts of  Connecticut [Elm City to Eagleville]

Jim Fuller also lets us know how the Huskies in Europe fared in the quarterfinals of the Euroleague Playoffs [Elm City to Eagleville]

Perfect Huskies trying to improve [New Haven Register]

Auriemma tries to keep Huskies focused [Connecticut Post]

Here’s a preview of tonight’s game against Providence [Norwich Bulletin]

Pitt coach Berenato a UConn fan [Hartford Courant]

Here’s another preview of tonight’s game [Hartford Courant]

Goal of perfection motivates UConn women [Waterbury Republican-American]

UConn women just keep going about the business of winning [New London Day]

Hayes fitting in [Journal Inquirer]

UConn men’s basketball links

Matt Stout of the Norwich Bulletin and Neill Ostrout of the Connecticut Post have some notes on the UConn men’s team.

No room to breathe atop the Big East [New Haven Register]

Huskies’ offensive problems the half of it [Norwich Bulletin]

Calhoun expects better from Huskies [Hartford Courant]

UConn men still searching for answers [Journal Inquirer]

UConn football links

Here’s a look at all of the state players at the NFL Combine that starts today [Hartford Courant]

UConn hockey links

The UConn men’s hockey team beat AIC 6-2 last night [UConnHuskies.com]

Other UConn-related links

The UConn women’s lacrosse team will start their season on Saturday in Storrs [UConnHuskies.com]

The FWG discusses his future, hilarity ensues [Thoughts From a Fat White Guy]

Tough loss last night for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team as their 13-game winning streak was stopped by the DeJuan Blair and the Pittsburgh Panthers. Blair had a plan to attack Hasheem Thabeet in the middle last night and he did just that with 22 points and 23 rebounds. There was really no one who could stop him last night.

It was probably the most physical game I’ve seen in a long time for the Huskies. Of course the refs weren’t much help as they would let some physical stuff go but then call some touch fouls. Needless to say that’s not an excuse at all because while the Huskies had their moments, they were thoroughly outplayed at both ends of the court.

I can’t wait until March 7th when these two teams meet up again in Pittsburgh to close out the Big East regular season.

UConn men’s basketball links

Neill Ostrout of the Connecticut Post and David Borges of the New Haven Register have some postgame notes from last night’s loss.

Stopped By Pitt: Panthers muscle their way past No. 1 Huskies [New Haven Register]

Burly Pittsburgh rocks and socks UConn, Thabeet [New Haven Register]

Pitt triumphs in the board game [New Haven Register]

Pitt knocks down UConn [Connecticut Post]

The big fella torches Thabeet, UConn [Connecticut Post]

Huskies the next No. 1 to fall [Norwich Bulletin]

Blair’s physicality the difference [Norwich Bulletin]

Pitt hands UConn second loss [Hartford Courant]

Take a look at the flip side [Hartford Courant]

Pitt gets upper hand against Thabeet [Hartford Courant]

UConn men’s extras [Hartford Courant]

No. 4 Pitt overpowers  No. 1 UConn [Waterbury Republican-American]

‘Other’ big man was incredible [Waterbury Republican-American]

Pitt sophomore handles Huskies’ big man [Waterbury Republican-American]

No. 1 Huskies meet their match [New London Day]

Pittsburgh wins battle of the boards [New London Day]

Physical Panthers were toughest on this night [New London Day]

Pitt shows UConn who’s really tough [NBCSports.com]

Blair flips script on Thabeet, UConn [ESPN.com]

Blair, Panthers handle No. 1 Connecticut [Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]

Pitt’s Blair Gives Up Inches, but Nothing Else, in Win Over No. 1 UConn [New York Times]

Panthers topple top-ranked UConn [Pittsburgh Post Gazette]

Blair’s effort an all-timer [Pittsburgh Post Gazette]

Pitt is Final-Four Ready [Pittsburgh Post Gazette]

View from the couch [John Silver’s UConn blog]

Clash of the titans [UConn Huskies basketball]

UConn women’s basketball links

Jim Fuller of the New Haven Register has some notes on the UConn women’s team.

Greene’s improved play paying off big [Norwich Bulletin]

Ketia Swanier on television [UConn ¦ Women’s Basketball]

Renee deserved her time [Connecticut Post]

UConn football links

Cody Brown training for NFL Combine [Hartford Courant]

Other UConn related links

This Week’s Sign Of The Apocalypse [Thoughts From a Fat White Guy]

You will watch this video [Thoughts From a Fat White Guy]

Pittsburgh came in with a game plan to shut down Hasheem Thabeet and executed it as close to perfection as they could.

Levance Fields hit two key three-pointers down the stretch and the No. 4 Panthers hit most of their free throws down the stretch to knock off the No. 1 UConn Huskies 76-68 before a national audience on ESPN and a sold-out XL Center in Hartford, CT.

With 3:12 in the game and the score tied at 61, Fields, who had been held scoreless to this point, hit a 3-pointer to put the Panthers ahead. After A.J. Price missed a 3-pointer, Fields was feeling and launched another three to put Pitt up 6 forcing Jim Calhoun to call a timeout.

After missed shots by UConn and Pittsburgh, Kemba Walker stole the ball from Field and made an uncontested layup to make it 67-63. But that was as close as the Huskies would get as they went cold and Pittsburgh made 4-of-6 free throws down the stretch to ice the game.

The loss for the Huskies drops their record to 24-2 (12-2 Big East) and ends a 13-game winning streak while the Panthers improve to 24-2 (11-2). UConn still is on top in the Big East though by a 1/2 game over the Pitt.

Price led the Huskies with 18 points and 8 assists. Jeff Adrien had 13 points and 9 rebounds and Walker, who did a great job on Fields, had 13 points off the bench. Stanley Robinson chipped in with 8 points and 10 rebounds. Thabeet finished with just 5 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks before fouling out late in the game.

DeJuan Blair was an absolute beast tonight and backed up his word about attacking Thabeet and the Huskies down low. He finished with 22 points and a career-high 23 rebounds. Sam Young led all scorers in the game with 25 points. Jermaine Dixon added 11 points and Fields finished with 10.

UConn struggled early on from the floor and Pittsburgh got out to a 15-8 lead behind 10 points by Young. With Pitt up 23-15,  Price led a 9-2 run that got the Huskies back in the game.  Blair ended up scoring the final 13 points of the half for the Panthers, including a 7-0 run that gave the Panthers a 36-28 lead. Price nailed a three before the buzzer to cut Pitt’s lead to 36-33.

Craig Austrie got the Huskies going in the second half with a three pointer to tie the game at 36. That was a close as the Huskies would get until a Walker layup with 9:50 to go in the game gave the Huskies only their second lead of the game 50-49.  UConn would push that lead to 56-51 before two free throws by Dixon tied the game at 61.

The Huskies are back in action on Saturday afternoon when the host the South Florida Bulls at 2 PM at the XL Center. The game will be covered locally on MyTV9.

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