Nobody ever expected the No. 2 UConn Huskies to go through this season undefeated. Nobody also expected the Huskies to play like absolute crap in their Big East opener tonight. And one day, they will learn how to beat a team that plays primarily zone against them.
The No 8. Georgetown Hoyas got off to a big lead at the start of the game and were able to wear down the Huskies as they won 74-63 in front of 16,294 at the XL Center in Hartford, CT in the Big East opener for both teams.
The Huskies fall to 11-1 (0-1 Big East) while the Hoyas improve to 10-1 (1-0 Big East).
The Hoyas got out to a 15-1 lead and then 18-3 as UConn had turned the ball over 5 times and missed their first four shots. It was not pretty as Jim Calhoun had to call two timeouts in the first 5 minutes. UConn was able to start to come back a little when the Hoyas switched from a zone defense to man-to-man. The Huskies got as close as 4 points twice during the first half but went into the locker room trailing 36-27.
Georgetown got a three pointer to start the second and then went without a field goal for the next 4:54 during which UConn went on a 12-3 run to cut the lead to 3 points. With the score 49-45, the Hoyas put together a 7-0 run and never looked back from there. Every time it looked like UConn had a chance to come back, the Hoyas would make a shot and then forced some turnovers and just like that the lead swelled to 17 and the XL Center faithful started heading to the exits.
DaJuan Summers led the Hoyas with a game-high 18 points. Talented freshman Greg Monroe had 16 points as did Chris Wright. Austin Freeman chipped in with 13 points and added 6 rebounds.
Jim Calhoun had this to say after the game:
I want to congratulate Coach Thompson for coming in here and giving us a lesson on how to play basketball with enthusiasm, execution and energy. We got beat by a solid 20 points. I really want to thank our fans for trying to help bring it back into a game – they seemed to want it more than we did.
The Huskies were led by A.J. Price’s 16 points. Jeff Adrien added 15 points and freshman Kemba Walker’s first taste of Big East basketball saw him net 14 points. Hasheem Thabeet was a non-factor on the offensive end as he had just 4 points but he pulled down 7 boards and had 7 blocked shots.
It was a brutal performance by the Huskies tonight as they just never really got things going tonight. They lacked heart as the crowd seemed more into the game than they did.
The Huskies will need to regroup now as they will take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Saturday night at Gampel Pavilion at 7 PM. I’ll tell you one thing, I wouldn’t want to be at practice for the rest of the week.
Notes and musings:
Georgetown Hoyas @ UConn Huskies 12.29.08 box score
The starters were A.J. Price, Jerome Dyson, Craig Austrie, Jeff Adrien and Hasheem Thabeet.
There were 31 NBA scouts on hand for the game tonight.
Former Husky Kevin Freeman and former UConn football player Tyvon Branch were in the house tonight.
This was the Hoyas’ eighth straight victory in their Big East opener and the earliest Georgetown has played UConn since the first meeting between the schools on Dec. 22, 1958.
The Huskies had won 14 consecutive home games and five straight conference home games played in December.
The Huskies shot 44.9% (22-49) from the floor while the Hoyas shot 47.2% (25-53).
Georgetown made 18-of-21 (85.7%) free throws while UConn was 16-of-22 (72.7%).
UConn had just 6 assists and turned the ball over 17 times which the Hoyas turned into 26 points. Georgetown had 14 turnoverrs which the Huskies turned into just 13 points.
The Huskies did win the battle of the boards 33-28.
Despite being smaller, Georgetown outscored UConn 34-30 in the paint.
UConn had just 6 fastbreak points.
