Earlier in the season, No. 3/3 UConn Huskies head coach Jim Calhoun said that he expected 18 wars during the Big East portion of the schedule. Tonight, his team got in to a war of all wars with the No.20/21 Villanova Wildcats and at the end stood victorious.

Led by a career-high of 29 points from A.J. Price, the Huskies were able to hold off the Wildcats 89-83 to earn a hard fought Big East win in front of 15,385 at the XL Center in Hartford, CT.

It’s the 6th straight win for the Huskies who improve to 17-1 (6-1 Big East). Jay Wright’s Wildcats fall to 14-4 (2-3).

With UConn leading 81-76, Villanova’s Shane Clark drove the lane only to have Hasheem Thabeet swat his shot away. Scottie Reynold’s got the rebound but missed a layup. Craig Austrie got the rebound and was fouled. Austrie hit both free throws. Reggie Redding then drove down the lane and had his shot rejected by Thabeet. After a timeout, Austrie was fouled again and this time hit 1-of-2. Dwayne Anderson drove the lane and was fouled by Jeff Adrien. Anderson hit both free throws to cut the UConn lead to 84-78.

Jerome Dyson then turned the ball over on the ensuing possession and Scottie Reynolds drained a 3 to cut UConn’s lead to 3 points. Kemba Walker got the inbounds pass and was fouled. He hit 1-of-2 to give UConn a 4-point lead. Reynolds drove the lane only to turn the ball over. Dyson and Walker hit 4 free throws to seal the deal for the Huskies.

Dyson added 19 points and 4 rebounds  with 3 steals while Adrien had the 41st double-double of his career with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Thabeet spent a lot of the game in foul trouble but finished with 10 points, 3 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.

Dwayne Anderson led the Wildcats with 15 points and 8 rebounds while Reynolds had 14 points and 5 assists. Corey Stokes, Antonio Pena and Redding all had 12 points each with Pena adding 8 rebounds to the cause.

Both defenses bore down in the second half after a first half that saw 96 (48 by each) points scored by both teams.

The Huskies now head to South Bend, IN where they will try to take down the 45-game home winning streak of the Notre Dame Fightin’ Irish on Saturday night at 7 PM. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN and will have Dan Shulman, Dick Vitale and Erin Andrews on the call.

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The day we all look forward to during the winter up here in New England is quickly coming upon as the Boston Red Sox have announced that Truck Day is going to be February 6th.

The truck is scheduled to arrive in Ft. Myers on February 9th in anticipation of the the pitchers and catchers reporting on February 12th.

So now the countdown to truck begins. 16 days and counting….

Red Sox single-game tickets to go on sale Saturday, January 24 at 10 a.m.

Five hundred pre-sale ticket vouchers to be distributed to fans throughout Greater Boston on Thursday, January 22

BOSTON — Single-game tickets for most 2009 Boston Red Sox home games will go on sale this Saturday, January 24. Beginning 10:00 a.m., fans will be able to purchase tickets to all games at Fenway Park, with the exception of Opening Day and all games with the Yankees. To purchase tickets, fans can log on to www.redsox.com or call our automated ticket line at 1-888-327-0100. Fans who require accessible seating can call 1-877-REDSOX9. Hearing impaired fans may call the Red Sox TTY line at (617) 226-6644.

This Thursday, January 22, Red Sox front office members and Ambassadors will be at various locations throughout Greater Boston distributing approximately 500 pre-sale ticket vouchers valid for the guaranteed purchase of two Red Sox 2009 Regular Season tickets. This will be the final stop on the six-state 2009 Red Sox Road Trip presented by Coca-Cola, which launched last weekend and included visits to all six New England states and the distribution of approximately 6,000 vouchers to fans. All distributed vouchers, which will be valid for two 2009 Red Sox Regular Season Pre-Sale tickets, must be redeemed online at www.redsox.com by noon on Friday, January 23. Fans holding vouchers who do not have internet access or who require ADA accessible seating may also call 1-877-REDSOX9. Hearing impaired fans may call the Red Sox TTY line at (617) 226-6644.

Keeping with the record-setting pace set in 2008, over 2 million tickets have already been sold for the 2009 season. The Red Sox want fans to know that hundreds of thousands of tickets throughout the ballpark still remain for games at Fenway Park in 2009. Until now, the only tickets available were season tickets, group tickets, Sox Pax, and selected April, May and September single games that went on sale at Christmas at Fenway in December. Tickets for the 2009 regular season remain at 2008 prices, part of Red Sox ownership’s price freeze for all 2009 tickets.

To ensure that as many fans as possible have the opportunity to experience Red Sox baseball at America’s Most Beloved Ballpark in as fair a distribution as possible, the club will allow fans to purchase a maximum of 8 tickets per person.

The Fenway Park Box Office will continue to be open for individual game ticket sales on Mondays through Fridays from 10am to 5pm.

After a weekend meeting with owner John Henry, things between the Boston Red Sox and Jason Varitek remain quiet, at least in the media. During a conference call with the media last night announcing the Jonathan Papelbon and Javier Lopez deals, assistant general manager Jed Hoyer offered a simple “no comment” when asked about the Tek situation.

Hopefully there’s some negotiations going on in the background and they are keeping the media out of it.

Obviously the big news yesterday was announcing the record deal signed by closer Jonathan Papelbon yesterday. It was a record for a reliever in his first year of being arbitration eligible. And as Rob Bradford of WEEI.com pointed out, Papelbon told us he would get that type of deal.

Rob Bradford of WEEI.com also points out how John Smoltz convinced the Red Sox he was worth a shot.

And Cam Martin of Wicked Good Sports tells us that Smoltz may be more egotistical than Curt Schilling.

Amalie Brown Benjamin of the Boston Globe spends her time on her mailbag answering questions about the Red Sox minor leaguers.

Dustin Pedroia was on ESPN’s “First Take” this morning and talked about how his football career ended.

The Red Sox shortstop of the future, Argenis Diaz, is waiting in the wings.

David Pauley will always be grateful to the Red Sox.

David Ortiz is wondering is what’s next for the Red Sox.

Rocco Baldelli took out a half page ad to thank the fans of Tampa Bay.

Dan over at Red Sox Monster points out that Roger Clemens didn’t receive a Presidential pardon.

And last but not least, Surviving Grady has Josh Beckett going back in the time machine again.