Glen “Big Baby” Davis, an All-American last year, led the LSU Tigers to a 66-49 victory over the UCONN Huskies on Saturday Night in Baton Rouge. Davis had 16 points and 8 rebounds. Tasmin Mitchell added 16 points and 10 rebounds and Garrett Temple chipped in with 14 points and 7 rebounds. UCONN was led by Jerome Dyson with 12 points. No other Husky was in double figures.

It was an ugly game for UCONN as they had only 4 assists to 19 turnovers. A very non UCONN-like performance. They didn’t shoot the ball any better. They shot only 31.6% percent from the floor. The 49 points was their lowest scoring performance of the season. Their previous low was 53 points which they scored in the opening game victory vs Quinnipiac.

UCONN’s foul shooting was abysmal. They were 11 of 24 (45.8%). I am sorry but this is just not going to do it. If they keep up this great free throw shooting it is going to be a long season Husky fans. They played sloppy the whole game. They had a decent first half as they didn’t look like fish out of water on the road this time. Unfortunately for them, they played like crap in the second half. It seemed like they were stuck on 36 points for the longest time. Of course, LSU wasn’t playing much better at the half time. To me, the turning point was the 30 foot 3 point shot that LSU hit at the buzzer to take the lead at the half.

With the loss, UCONN falls to 12-2 on the season. They are now 0-2 on the road. Next up for the Huskies is Marquette University on Wednesday night at Gampel Pavilion.

Technorati: LSU Tigers, Glen Davis, “Big Baby”, UCONN Huskies, Jim Calhoun

In front of a sellout crowd at the Hartford Civic Center today, Candace Parker was just to much for UCONN today as she led the Lady Vols to a 70-64 victory. CP had 30 pts, 12 rebounds and 6 blocked shots for the Lady Vols. Sidney Spencer added 14 points and 9 rebounds to the cause as well.

For UCONN, they were led by Charde Houston’s 23 points and 7 rebounds. Charde had 16 of her points in the second half. No other Husky was in double figures. The Lady Huskies have now lost 3 in a row to Tennessee and actually have not beaten them since Diana Taurasi’s senior year back in 2004.

The game was game of runs. UCONN started out the run early well Tennessee took over the game in the first half. The lead by Tennessee at the half was the first time that UCONN had trailed in a game all season at the half. Candace Parker’s dunk in the second half took the life out of the crowd but surprisingly not the Huskies. This team today showed HEART. They were down by 18 points but battled back to tie the game. Unfortunately towards the end of the game, they just couldn’t get it done.

My observations of the game are this. UCONN needs to settle into a half court set and feel comfortable in it against pressure. Tennessee’s pressure defense disrupted the flow of UCONN’s offense. Mel Thomas needs to get more touches on the offensive end. She only took 5 shots in the game today. 5 shots. That is not going to win games for UCONN. They need to get her involved more offensively. If she’s on with her 3 pt shooting, it can change the flow of the game. Tennessee did do a good job of keeping her covered. But Geno is the master of getting people open with his schemes. It’s time for him to do it again. Candace Parker could be the best college basketball player since Diana Taurasi. She totally dominated the game today on both ends of the court. Personally, I don’t think Tennessee could have won the game without her. Her supporting cast did step up and help her out tonight. Shannon Bobbitt hit 3 three point shots which at the time were daggers in the first half. Sidney Spencer also stepped up her game tonight. No one on UCONN other than Charde Houston did this.

With the loss, UCONN falls to 12-1 and probably will only drop a spot or two in the rankings. Next up for UCONN is Seton Hall on Tuesday night at Gampel Pavilion. Game time is 7:30 PM and the game will be televised locally in CT on CPTV.

After the jump, you will see the notes I made as the game went on.

Technorati: Candace Parker, Pat Summitt, Tennessee Volunteers, UCONN Huskies, Geno Auriemma, Hartford Civic Center

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UCONN Hockey captain Matt Scherer will be featured on Who Wants to Be A Millionaire on an upcoming episode this Tuesday at 1 on Fox 61 here locally. No word on how he did.

Courtesy of the Sons of Sam Horn Message Board, Curt Schilling, who goes by the handle of Gehrig38 there, gives his thoughts on the signing of Joel Piñeiro:

The only thing I know is that two years ago I thought this guy had as lively stuff as anyone I had seen in a long time.

He certainly did seem to tail off last year but during some of his games he showed the mid 90s electric stuff he had all the time a few years back.

I thought, from the first day I saw him, that he was built to be a reliever with an incredible arm on a Gordon sized body.

He’ll gain a decent amount of velocity heading to the pen, if he can make the mental transition this guys a serious power arm on the back end.

His curveball, when he’s fresh, is a strikeout pitch, his fastball certainly is as well, but it was his changeup that wow’d everyone. Tremendous arm action, ball died without looking like it was slowing down.

This, to me anyway, is a no lose signing. This kid gets in the right mix and environment and he ends up being that kid a few years from now people say “How the hell did we let him go?”

I know he tailed off the last two years but I see no downside to adding someone with this good of an arm and some experience under his belt.

I’m still pissed we didn’t sign Rollie Fingers….Oh wait, he’s not available. Market was sickeningly think for the top shelf stopper this winter, I think we’ll find someone to save 42 out of 52 chances this year. We do that and I like our chances.

Well Red Sox fans, it looks like we have a closer candidate or at least that’s what I am sensing from what Schilling wrote. Take this into consideration, a lot of guys were failed starters before becoming closers. Joe Nathan, Eric Gagne, heck even Mariano Rivera was a starter for 10 games in 1995 and most of his minor league career.

Do I like the move? Yes, I do like it. $4 million dollars in these times for baseball isn’t a lot of money to give someone a chance to close out ball games. I say we give him the chance. Papelbon wasn’t a closer until last season and we all saw how that worked out before his shoulder injury (dead arm).

Technorati: Boston Red Sox, Curt Schilling, Joel Piñeiro, Sons of Sam Horn