Aaron Gray’s double-double, 22 points and 19 rebounds, led Pittsburgh to a 63-54 victory over the UCONN Huskies in a nationally televised game on espn2. Ronald Ramon had 17 points, 4 for 4 from 3 point land, to help the Panthers. No other Panther was in double figures. For the Huskies, they were once again led by Jeff Adrien, who had 13 points and 7 rebounds. Jerome Dyson chipped in with 11 points.

This game was a typical Big East battle. Low scoring, very aggressive play. To give you an idea of how low scoring the game was, at the first media timeout, the score was Pittsburgh 2 UCONN 0. UCONN couldn’t buy a bucket in the first half as they were 4 for 17 before going on a 5-0 run to get within 1 point. The score at the half was 24-22 Pittsburgh. They took the lead at the half on Ronald Ramon 3 point shot at the buzzer.

The second half was much of the same. Pittsburgh came out strong and was on fire from the floor. But UCONN withstood the run and stayed within 4 points for part of the second half. Another mini run by the Panthers put them up 9 and UCONN never got closer than 7 points the rest of the way.

Notes and Observations:

• The starters were Price, Dyson, Robinson, Thabeet, and Adrien.
• Hasheem Thabeet missed part of the first half after taking an inadvertent elbow to the head. The big fella had to be helped to the dressing room.
• Jerome Dyson had another poor shooting game. He was 5 for 16 from the floor.
• Pittsburgh forced UCONN into a half court game and AJ Price, Doug Wiggins, and Craig Austrie all struggled with it. UCONN seems to have trouble when they are forced to run their offense. They were best tonight when they were able to run.
• Aaron Gray rendered Hasheem Thabeet useless tonight. Thabeet is just not big enough to compete with the big men of the Big East right now.
• After a stellar performance on Saturday night, Stanley Robinson also struggled with his shot. He was 1 for 8 from the floor.

Free throws, free throws, free throws. UCONN cannot shoot them. I don’t know if this is a disease with both teams but we are just downright awful. UCONN was 10 for 23 (43.5%). They can’t expect to win close ball games when they miss 13 free throws. I really hope Coach Jim Calhoun finds a way to work on these a lot more in practice. This is the Big East. Most games come down to the free throws at the end of the game. If UCONN continues to shoot like this, it is going to be a long season.

With the loss, UCONN falls to 13-4 (2-3) in the Big East. Next up for the young UCONN Huskies is a game on Saturday afternoon against the Indiana Hoosiers. The game is at 3:45 at the Hartford Civic Center and will be televised nationally on CBS

Technorati: UCONN Huskies, Pitt Panthers, Oakland Zoo, Jim Calhoun

@ Pittsburgh at 7 PM. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2

The UNC Lady Tarheels overcame a late 18-4 run by the UCONN Huskies to win by the final score 82-76. Leading the way for the Lady Heels was LaToya Pringle with 18 points and 6 rebounds. Erlana Harkins had a double-double with 15 points and 16 rebounds. UNC’s star point guard, Ivory Latta, overcame a rough first half to score 12 second half points for a total of 14 in the game. Kalana Greene once again led the Huskies in scoring with 23 points and team high 5 steals. Three other Huskies were in double figures as Brittany Hunter, Charde Houston and Ketia Swanier all added 10 points.

North Carolina got out to a lead early but 20 first half turnovers by the Lady Heels allowed UCONN to keep the game close and only trail by 5, 41-36 at the half. UNC got out to a double digit lead in the second half but when Erlana Larkins picked up her fourth foul, UCONN went on an 18-4 run to take a two point lead. Ivory Latta hit a big three point shot with the game tied at 76 and the Lady Heels added 3 free throws down the stretch for the final margin.

Notes and Observations:

• The starters were Montgomery, Thomas, Greene, Charles, and Houston.
• Mel Thomas and Charde Houston got into foul trouble in the first half. Each picked up 3 fouls and Mel sat out the last 6 or so minutes.
• Renee Montgomery and Mel Thomas struggled from the floor in the first half. They were a combined 2 for 14 for 4 points. They finished the game shooting 5 for 24. They each ended up scoring 6 points.
• UNC had a 28-14 rebounding edge in the first half and 46-32 edge overall.
• Coach Geno Auriemma killed Mel Thomas in his comments to Rebecca Lobo on espn2 at the half:

“we got mel wide open shots, we gotta see what we can open up thats more open than wide open”

• Tina Charles struggled again in a big game showing her inexperience. However she was a key part of the 18-4 run scoring 9 points before fouling out with 2 minutes left.
• Brittany Hunter was impressive again tonight. She still is battling the knee injury which she tweaked in the first half. Along with her 10 points, she added a team high 9 rebounds.
• Charde Houston had 7 of UCONN’s 18 turnovers. UCONN did force 26 turnovers by UNC but yet was unable to put them away.
• Mel Thomas fouled out of the game with 7 seconds left. This was her first time ever fouling out of a game in her 2 plus seasons at UCONN.
• UCONN’s free throwing shooting killed them in the first half. They were 4 for 9. Overall in the game, they were 11 for 18 (61%).
• UCONN shot 1 for 12 from 3 point land during the game. Mel Thomas had the only one.

For UCONN to win the big games, they need to show the heart they have when they have trailed big against Tennessee and now UNC. A complete performance will help them win these type of games. I am not saying that they played bad but they just didn’t execute when needed. I was having a conversation with a friend during the game and he brought up an excellent point. UCONN doesn’t get the ball to Mel Thomas or any of the shooting guards in transition like the men used to. The men last year would always find a way to get Rashad Anderson or Denham Brown the ball for a 3 point shot. Many times, those 3 pt shots were daggers. If the women can find a way to do this, the outcome in these big games might be different.

Free throw shooting is another area I’d like to address. Geno even said this at half time, they need to find a way to make free throws. The missed opportunities at the line are killing them. UCONN could have been closer than 5 at the half and even down the stretch of the game if they had make their free throws. In watching different pieces on television about the UCONN women, Coach Auriemma says that they work on them a lot. Other than Mel Thomas, everyone on the Huskies needs to work on their free throws.

With the loss, the Huskies drop to 14-2 on the season. UCONN will have two days to recover from the loss as they have a date at Providence on Wednesday night. The game is at 7:00 PM and will be broadcast locally in CT on CPTV.

Technorati: UCONN Huskies, Geno Auriemma, UNC Tarheels, Women’s Basketball

@ North Carolina at 7:00 PM. The game is being broadcast nationally on ESPN2.

Well the original headline of this story was “UCONN Weathers The Red Storm” but I browsed on over to uconnhuskies.com and saw their headline. So I had to change mine. Anyways on to the game story.

Using stellar play from freshman Hasheem Thabeet and Stanley Robinson, the UCONN Huskies defeated the St. John’s Red Storm 68-59 on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. Thabeet had 12 points, 10 rebounds and 7 blocked shots. Robinson was absolutely amazing tonight in scoring 13 points and adding 12 rebounds. AJ Price rounded out the scoring with a game high 15 points.

UCONN got going early in the game getting out to a 12-0 lead before the Red Storm scored their first basket after the first media timeout. Their lead stayed at double digits for most of the game and St John’s never got closer then six points the rest of the way. UCONN made almost all their free throws down the stretch for the final margin.

Notes and Observations:

• The starters were Price, Dyson, Robinson, Thabeet and Adrien.
• The start was the first of his career for Robinson and he didn’t disappoint Coach Calhoun at all. Stanley looked invincible tonight. He was absolute money from 3 pt land hitting 3 of his 4 three point shots. The 13 points and 12 rebounds were both career highs. He had 6 points and 9 rebounds in the first half.
• Coach Jim Calhoun was not seen on the bench in the last 10 minutes of the second half until 55 seconds were left in the game. He was forced to leave the bench with a stomach illness.
• Even though AJ Price led the Huskies in scoring, he struggled from the field only making 2 of 8 shots. He was 10 for 12 from the charity stripe. I had seen an interview on MSG yesterday with him and he stated he’s about 95% of the way to be totally conditioned.
• Jerome Dyson led the Huskies with 5 assists.
• This was probably Thabeet’s most complete game tonight. He definitely made a difference down low in the post. Besides the 7 blocked shots, he altered or changed the direction of many more.
• The only starter under 30 minutes tonight was Stanley Robinson, who played 29.
• Calhoun only played 9 men in the rotation tonight. Besides the 5 starters, only 4 others played (Wiggins, Austrie, Johnson and Kelley).
• UCONN is now 13-0 when leading at the half and 0-3 when trailing.
• UCONN’s 69 straight weeks of being ranked is in jeopardy even with the win. UCONN was ranked #22 coming into the week but with a loss to an unranked Marquette, who knocked off West F’in Virginia today, and an 11 point win over the Red Storm might not be enough to keep the Huskies ranked.
• Coach Jim Calhoun is now 2 wins away from 500 at UCONN. Overall in his career, he now has 746 wins.

With the win, the Huskies improve to 13-3 (2-2 in the Big East). Next up for the Huskies is a trip to Pittsburgh against the 7th ranked Panthers on Tuesday night. The game is at 7 PM and can be seen nationally on ESPN2.

Technorati: UCONN Huskies, St. John’s Red Storm, Jim Calhoun, Madison Square Garden