In their last game,  Tiffany Hayes went down with a mild concussion after a collision with Maya Moore 46 seconds into the game. And then the Huskies had to play the last five minutes of the first half with Moore in foul trouble. They were able to overcome being shorthanded, something which they were again on Monday night with Samarie Walker back in Storrs for personal reasons.

The good thing though for the Huskies was that Hayes was able to return and boy was it a good thing she did.

Hayes led the way with 29 points as the Huskies rolled to an easy 83-57 win over the North Carolina Tar Heels in front of 6,201 and a nationally-televised audience on ESPN2 at Carmichael Arena in Chapel Hill, NC on MLK Day.

No. 2/2 UConn improves to 17-1 while the No. 11/11 Tar Heels drop to 16-2. It’s the third blowout win in as many seasons for the Huskies over North Carolina.

Hayes also had eight rebounds and four assists. Moore added a double-double with 26 points and 10 rebounds. She also had two assists, a steal and a blocked shot. Despite spraining her ankle in the second half, Bria Hartley finished with 11 points, five rebounds, eight assists and four steals. Stefanie Dolson rounded out the Huskies in double-digits with 10 points and chipped in with six rebounds and four assists.

The only member of the Tar Heels in double figures was Italee Lucas who had 13 points. Chay Shegog added nine points while Waltiea Rolle had eight points. Laura Broomfield led UNC with seven rebounds.

The Huskies got going quickly in this one as they opened the scoring with the first eight points that were part of a 10-2 run. The Tar Heels didn’t go away though as they wittled down the UConn lead to four at 14-10. With the Huskies up 17-12, they went on a 7-0 run to open up a 12 point lead.

A 9-3 run by the Huskies would open the lead to 16 points at 33-17 on a Hayes jumper. The Tar Heels would get no closer than 10 points the rest of the half or the game for that matter as UConn had to settle for a 12 point lead at 49-37 at the half.

If the Tar Heels had any thoughts of a comeback, the Huskies quickly put those to rest like they’ve done almost all season long.  They opened up the second half with a 12-0 run and they never looked back from there.

It was nice to see Hayes shake off the effects of the concussion and help Moore out on the offensive end. And while they were shorthanded without Walker, everyone stepped up to pick up the slack.

The players are back in class tomorrow and will play their next game on Saturday night when the Pittsburgh Panthers come to Gampel Pavilion. Game time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be televised locally here in Connecticut on CPTV.

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Notes and musings:

UConn Huskies @ North Carolina Tar Heels 1.17.11 box score

The starters for the Huskies were Bria Hartley, Tiffany Hayes, Kelly Faris, Maya Moore and Stefanie Dolson.

UConn has won their last three games over UNC by a combined 97 points. They beat the Tar Heels last year 88-47 and 88-58 two years ago in a No. 1 vs No. 2 matchup.

Samarie Walker missed the game for personal reasons.

North Carolina’s Jessica Breland returned to the Tar Heels this season after missing last season with cancer.

With her 29 points, Tiffany Hayes now has scored 1,007 points in her UConn career.

The Huskies shot 48.5% (32-66) from the floor for the game. UNC shot 30.7% (23-75).

UConn had 23 assists on their 32 made baskets.

The Huskies were just 4-of-14 (28.6%) on three-pointers. The Tar Heels weren’t any better as they were 3-of-18 (16.7%).

UConn was 15-of-18 (83.3%) from the charity stripe.

The Huskies won the battle of the boards 48-40.

UConn outscored UNC 34-26 in the paint and 10-6 on the fast break.

The Tar Heels held an 11-6 advantage on second chance points.

The Huskies had 20 points off of 14 UNC turnovers. The Tar Heels had 12 points off of  16 UConn turnovers.

Photo credit: Michael McAndrews – Hartford Courant (No. 9)

Not every Big East game is going to be pretty. In fact, there’s going to be a lot of ugly games played. But if the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team can continue to pull out wins like they did on Monday afternoon, whether it’s pretty or ugly probably won’t matter.

Kemba Walker was once again the hero as his shot with 2.5 seconds left gave the No. 8/8 Huskies a 61-59 win over the No. 7/7 Villanova Wildcats in front of a sold-out crowd and nationally-televised audience at Gampel Pavilion on ESPN’s Big Monday MLK Day coverage.

With the score tied at 54, Walker hit a three-pointer to put the Huskies up with 1:09 remaining.  After Villanova’s Maalik Wyans missed a three-pointer, Walker was fouled and hit two free throws to put the Huskies up by five points with 45 seconds to go.

‘Nova answered back though with a three-pointer by Corey Fisher to cut the UConn lead to two at 59-57. After a timeout, the Wildcats fouled Walker who uncharacteristically missed both free throws giving them a chance to tie it up. And ‘Nova did that as Walker fouled Fisher, who hit both free throws with 22 seconds left.

After Jim Calhoun called a 30 second timeout, Shabazz Napier held the ball at the top of the key until Walker came to get the ball with about 10 seconds left to go. Walker got the pass and worked his way into the lane and hit the floater with 2.5 seconds. Fisher’s last ditch three was off the mark and the Gampel crowd celebrated a big win by the Huskies.

UConn moves to 15-2 (4-2 Big East) while the Wildcats suffer their second loss of the season and first Big East loss (16-2, 4-1). Only Pittsburgh and Syracuse remain undefeated in Big East play and after Monday night, one of them will have one loss as they are currently playing each other.

Despite a poor shooting night (6-18), Walker led the Huskies with 24 points and added six rebounds and five assists. Alex Oriakhi had another double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Jeremy Lamb had another good game on both ends of the floor with 14 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Fisher lead all scorers in the game with 28 points and added three rebounds and six assists. There were no other Wildcats in double figures. Wayns had nine points while Antonio Pena and Mouphtaou Yarou chipping with eight points. Yarou led the Wildcats with 10 rebounds.

The Huskies got out of the gates quickly in this one as they took an early 10-0 lead as the Wildcats started 0-for-10 from the floor. Villanova finally got on the board at the 15:47 mark on a Wyans jumper. Including Wyans’ basket, the Wildcats scored the next six points before a Walker layup ended that run.

UConn went cold again as another 6-0 run by ‘Nova tied the game at 12-12 before Lamb ended that with a three-pointer. With the Huskies up 17-14, yet another 6-0 run by Villanova put them out front 20-17 before two free throws by Walker cut the lead to one.  Wyans and Lamb would exchange baskets as Villanova took a 22-21 lead into the break.

The offenses for both teams were much better early on in the second half as the teams traded baskets before a mini 4-0 run put the Wildcats up five at 36-31 with 14:51 remaining. The Huskies scored the next four points to get it back to one point but Villanova eventually opened up a seven point lead at 43-36.

Over the next four minutes or so, the Huskies tied the game up on two Walker free throws. UConn would eventually take a four-point lead with 3:56 to go on a Lamb layup before Nova would tie it up again.

It was nice to see the Huskies stay composed during a tight, physical Big East game. Last year’s team probably would have collapsed but as we’ve seen all season long, this is a much different team. They are a lot closer and you can tell that they genuinely like each other.

The players will start classes on Tuesday and will take the court again on Saturday when the Tennessee Volunteers come to the XL Center in Hartford, CT. Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m. and the game will be nationally-televised on CBS.

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Notes and musings:

Villanova Wildcats @ UConn Huskies 1.17.11 box score

Here are quotes from UConn Huskies head coach Jim Calhoun, Kemba Walker, Jeremy Lamb, Alex Oriakhi, Shabazz Napier and Villanova head coach Jay Wright.

The starters for UConn were Kemba Walker, Jeremy Lamb, Roscoe Smith, Tyler Olander and Alex Oriakhi.

Villanova has now lost 23 of their last 25 on the road against ranked opponents.

After a first half where the Huskies shot 24.1% (7-29), they finished the game shooting 35.7% (20-56) from the floor. Villanova shot 24.2% (8-33) in the first half and finished the game shooting 36.7% (22-60).

UConn had 11 assists on their 20 made baskets.

The Huskies were 5-of-16 (31.3%) on three-pointers while Villanova was just 3-of-14 (21.4%).

UConn was 16-of-22 (72.7%) from the charity stripe.

The Huskies won the battle of the boards 42-37.

Both teams had 24 points in the paint.

UConn outscored Villanova 14-4 on the fast break and 11-8 on second chance points.

The Huskies had 10 points off of eight Villanova turnovers. The Wildcats had eight points of off 11 UConn turnovers.

Photo credits: John Woike – Hartford Courant (No. 8, No. 12)

Not a good to start to the Paul Pasqualoni era as the head coach of the UConn Huskies football team.

STORRS, Conn. (January 17, 2011) – University of Connecticut freshman running back Lyle McCombs (Staten Island, N.Y.) has been suspended indefinitely from the football team for a violation of team policies . The University will have no further comment on this matter.

Update 8:45 p.m.: According to The Daily Campus, McCombs was arrested for pot possession. He was charged with possession of a controlled substance or less than four ounces of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. His bail was set at $1,000 and he’ll have to appear in court on January 25th.

For the second time this season, UConn Huskies senior All-American Maya Moore and freshman point guard Bria Hartley have taken home the Big East Women’s Player of the Week and Big East Freshman of the Week honors respectively.

It’s the fifth time this season that Moore has been honored as the Player of the Week and fourth time that Hartley has been honored as the Freshman of the Week.

In a 2-0 week for the Huskies, Moore averaged 23.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 3.5 steals per game.

In UConn’s 84-52 win over St. John’s, Moore had 21 points, six rebounds, eight assists and three steals. In the 78-55 win over Louisville on Saturday, Moore had 26 points, six rebounds, three assists and four steals. She leads the nation in scoring and is 35th on the all-time NCAA Women’s scoring list. She has scored at least 20 points 12 times this season for the Huskies.

In those two wins, Hartley averaged 16 points and 6.5 rebounds while shooting 57.1% from the floor. She had eight points and five rebounds in the win over St. John’s playing only 19 minutes. In the win over Louisville, she had 24 points and eight rebounds which were both career-highs. She has scored in double-digits in all but three games this season.

The UConn women will be back in action tonight at 7 p.m. when they’ll take on the North Carolina Tar Heels in Chapel Hill, NC. The game will be nationally-televised on ESPN2 and will also be available on ESPN3.com.

Photo credit: AP Photo (No. 7)

Storrs, Conn. – After leading Connecticut to back-to-back victories against Rutgers and DePaul in BIG EAST action, UConn junior guard Kemba Walker (Bronx, N.Y.) has been named BIG EAST Player of the Week. Walker averaged 24.5 points in two victories to put No. 10/9 UConn at 3-2 in conference play and 14-2 overall. This is the second time Walker has earned the award this season.

On Saturday, January 15, Walker scored 22 of his 31 points in the first half while adding five assists and three steals to lead UConn to an 82-62 victory at DePaul. It was his sixth 30-point performance of the season. On Tuesday, January 11, Walker put home a game-high 18 points with six rebounds and three assists in a 67-53 victory over Rutgers in Hartford, Conn.

Walker leads the BIG EAST and ranks second in the nation at 25.6 points per game. He also leads the BIG EAST with 2.3 steals per contest.

Walker will look to lead UConn over No. 7/7 Villanova in Gampel Pavilion today at 3:30 p.m. That game will be televised live on ESPN as part of ESPN’s Big Monday.

On Friday night after the Hot Stove Cool Music roundtable, Boston Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein was asked about who will be the Red Sox shortstop in 2011, Marco Scutaro or Jed Lowrie.

Here’s what Epstein had to say:

“I think we have two really talented shortstops on the roster at different phases of their career and they’ll both end up helping this club win. How it shakes out in terms of playing time will be up to (manager Terry Francona) and ultimately the players will determine their own roles.”

“No, I’m not saying that,” Epstein said. “Scutaro signed here to be a shortstop and he should be healthy when he comes to camp and he’s going to play a lot of shortstop. We’re not good enough where we can’t use every available resource that we have.

“Jed Lowrie is someone who can play a good shortstop and can play a number of positions to help this team win. I’m sure he’s going to see some time at shortstop. Marco was our shortstop last year and until something changes, that’s how it’s going to be. I’m just making the point that we believe in both guys.”

As we saw last year, Scutaro battled shoulder problems all season long while Lowrie missed a good portion of the season after a bout of mono during spring training in 2010. Scutaro ended up moving to second base to help his shoulder issues but as Epstein said, he should be healthy. Lowrie will also be healthy this year for the first time in a while as his wrist issues plus the mono are a thing of the past.

In 150 games last year, Scutaro hit .275 with 11 home runs, 56 RBIs and five stolen bases. He had an OBP of .333 and a slugging percentage of .388.  Lowrie saw action in 55 games and hit .287 with nine home runs, 24 RBIs and a stolen base. He had an OBP of .381 and a slugging percentage of .526.

We all know Jose Iglesias is the shortstop of the future but he’s at least a year away. So for 2011, it will either be Scutaro or Lowrie at shortstop. A good spring training for the Jedi could possibly cut into Scutaro’s time. But the good thing for Lowrie is that he can play multiple positions so he’s probably a lock to make the 25-man roster out of spring training barring something unforeseen.

So my question to you is who would you rather have your shortstop in 2011?  Lowrie or Scutaro?

Photo credits: Getty Images (Scutaro, Lowrie)

STORRS, Conn. – University of Connecticut junior running back Jordan Todman (North Dartmouth, Mass.) has been named the 2010 ECAC Football Bowl Subdivision Player of the Year.

Todman, who has already declared he will enter the NFL Draft this spring, was previously named a first team All-American by the Sporting News and an AP Second Team All-American and a Walter Camp Second Team All-American.

Todman was also named the 2010 BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year and UConn’s Most Valuable Player after leading the Huskies to an 8-5 overall record and a 5-2 mark in the BIG EAST, claiming a share of the BIG EAST Championship. UConn made its first appearance in the Bowl Championship Series as it played Oklahoma in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day.

Todman finished the season ranked second in the country and first in the BIG EAST in rushing and was 15th nationally and first in the league in all-purpose running. He is the first UConn running back to rush for 1,000 yards or more in two seasons and has two of the top seven single-season rushing marks in school history.

Todman is third in career rushing at UConn with 3,179 yards and tied for third in rushing touchdowns with 31. His 1,695 yards this past season is second in school history while his 334 carries is second and his 14 TDs is tied for fifth. Todman had a career-high 222 yards of rushing vs. Pittsburgh (Nov. 11), which is the tenth-highest in school history.

Also honored as ECAC All-Stars were senior offensive lineman Zach Hurd (Waterford, Conn.) and junior kicker Dave Teggart (Northboro, Mass.). Hurd was a first team All-BIG EAST performer for the past two seasons and blocked for four 1,000-yard individual rushing seasons during his career. Teggart was also a first team All-BIG EAST pick and had two game-winning field goals in 2010 – including a 52-yarder vs. USF (Dec. 4) that clinched the BCS spot for the Huskies.