vs Syracuse at Gampel Pavilion at 7:00 PM. The game is being broadcast nationally on ESPN. The Men’s ‘Huskies of Honor’ will be honored at halftime of the game.

Will the Colorado Rockies rethink trading Todd Helton? According to the Denver Post, Helton has told the Rockies that he will veto any future trades that the Rockies bring to him. So will the Rockies reconsider there demands and trade Helton to the Red Sox? I still think that this deal will be revisited and now with Helton’s demands, I can see the Rockies definitely opening up the channels of negotiation again. Maybe now they will backdown from their demands of a top prospect in order to get a deal done. Either way, I think I would be happy. Without Helton, the 2007 Red Sox are still a great team. Acquiring Helton would only make the team better. Technorati: Todd Helton, Colorado Rockies, Boston Red Sox

In the UCONN Women’s closest win of the season, Tina Charles led the Huskies past the Golden Eagles of Marquette by the final score of 52-48. Charles had her 7th double-double of the season with a career high 20 points and 14 rebounds. Renee Montgomery was the only other Husky in double figures with 12 points. Marquette was led by Christina Quaye’s 20 points and Krystal Ellis’ 10 points.

UCONN got down early but a Mel Thomas 3 pointer tied the game at 11 all. A 20-9 UCONN run ended the half and provided the 31-20 halftime score.

UCONN weathered some runs by Marquette in the second half as they got the lead down to 3 points towards the end of the game but two Montgomery free throws sealed the deal for the Huskies.

Notes and Observations:

• The starters were Montgomery, Thomas, Greene, Charles and McLaren.
• Charde Houston didn’t start for the first time all year as she was in Coach Geno Auriemma’s doghouse. However, in her 15 minutes of play, even though she only scored 4 points, she had 2 blocks and 3 steals on the defensive end. You could see it in her eyes that she was once again playing with that same fire that she had all season.
• Charles was just a monster all over the court. Marquette didn’t have an answer for her. At one point, it looked like her shoulder was giving her trouble again when she was fouled. This is going to be the case all year with her shoulder.
• Charles’ double-double was the 7th of her career and ties former UCONN great, Tamika Williams, for double-doubles as a freshman.
• Brittany Hunter returned to action for the Huskies, playing 8 minutes.
• Odd stat of the game. Montgomery was the only Husky to get to the free throw line. She was 4 of 6.
• Kalil McLaren only played 4 minutes after starting the game. Either she got into Auriemma’s doghouse too, or her troublesome foot was giving her problems.
• Even with Charles’ 14 rebounds, the Huskies were outrebounded by a final margin of 44-34.

Another good road win for the Huskies. They didn’t fold under the pressure at the end of the game and held on for their 20th victory of the season. The Huskies are now 20-2 (10-0 in the Big East). Next up for the Huskies is a date against Big East rival Rutgers on Tuesday, Feb. 6th. Game time is 8:00 PM at Gampel Pavilion. The game will be broadcast nationally on CSTV and locally here in Connecticut on CPTV.

Technorati: UCONN Huskies, Marquette Golden Eagles, Geno Auriemma

University of Connecticut officials have announced that the ‘Huskies of Honor” ceremony on Monday night, February 5th, will be webcast over at uconnhuskies.com. The ceremony will take place at halftime of the game between UCONN and Syracuse.

This is good news for the legions of UCONN fans as the game is being broadcast nationally on ESPN and the ceremony won’t be seen there. Kudos to UCONN for making this available to the fans.

Technorati: Huskies of Honor, UCONN Huskies, ESPN, Syracuse Orangemen

In a very ugly game on Saturday, it took overtime but the UCONN Men halted their 5 game losing skid behind the play of Jeff Adrien and Jerome Dyson. Those two players led UCONN to a 61-50 overtime win over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Adrien led the way with 19 points and 7 rebounds while Jerome Dyson chipped in 13 points. Craig Austrie added 13 points to the cause as well. For Rutgers, they were led by Jaron Griffin, who scored 18 points. Anthony Farmer added 13 points.

The first half was ugly as both teams struggled to make baskets. Between the two teams, they scored 39 points and had 14 baskets between them. UCONN led 23-16 at the half.

The second half really wasn’t played that much better other than the fact that UCONN took good control of the ball. Rutgers got it down to 2 points at 28-26 before UCONN went on a 10-3 run which you would have thought that the game was out of reach. Unfortunately for UCONN, they weren’t able to make their free throws down the stretch and Rutgers forced overtime.

In the overtime, Rutgers took the lead at 50-49 but couldn’t finish off the Huskies, as UCONN went on a 12-0 run to finish off the Scarlet Knights.

Notes and Observations:

• The starters were Austrie, Dyson, Robinson, Thabeet and Adrien.
• Thabeet played well on both ends of the floor during the game. He was 4 of 6 from the floor and finished with 8 points. He also finished with a team high 11 rebounds and blocked 5 shots.
• Stanley Robinson continues to struggle from the floor. He was 0-6 and only had 1 point.
• UCONN actually didn’t score a basket for the final 9:37 of the game including the 5 minute overtime period.
• UCONN was 24 of 36 from the free throw line during the game including 14 of 16 during overtime.
• Coach Jim Calhoun was not happy with the play of Doug Wiggins and Marcus Johnson and was seen yelling at them on the side of court at different times.
• AJ Price was really a non-factor in this game as well. You have to wonder if the two year layoff from basketball is hurting him right now.
• Jim Calhoun now has 499 career wins and is now one win from 500 career wins at UCONN. Overall, he has 747 wins.

While missed free throws hurt UCONN down the stretch, they were very successful making them in overtime behind Dyson, Adrien, and Austrie who made all 14 of their free throw attempts in overtime. It was an ugly win, but it came at the right time for the Huskies as it kept their hopes alive of making the Big East Tournament in March. It would definitely be strange not to the see the Huskies in the tournament.

With the win, UCONN moves to 14-8 (3-6 in the Big East). Next up for the Huskies is a date against the Orangemen of Syracuse on ESPN’s Big Monday at 7 PM at Gampel Pavilion. The Men’s ‘Huskies of Honor’ will be presented during the first half timeouts and the whole team will be introduced to the crowd at halftime.

Technorati: UCONN Huskies, Jim Calhoun, Big East, Rutgers Scarlet Knights