A Roy Hibbert 3-pointer, just the 2nd of his career, with 4.2 seconds left in the game gave the #8 Georgetown Hoyas the 72-69 victory over the UConn Huskies in front of a packed house at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. UConn had a chance to tie the game but Jerome Dyson lost the handle on the inbounds pass from Jeff Adrien to end the game.
UConn had been up 67-61 before two Georgetown 3-pointers tied the game up. The Huskies went back up by 2 points before the Hoyas tied it up again, setting the stage for Hibbert’s 3-pointer.
UConn (11-4, 2-2 Big East) was coached today by associate head coach George Blaney as head coach Jim Calhoun was too ill to join the team on the bench. It was the first time since 2003, he had missed a game.
Georgetown (13-1, 3-0) was led by Hibbert with 20 points and 8 rebounds. DaJuan Summers added 14 points, Austin Freeman had 13 points and Patrick Ewing, Jr. chipped in 12 points for the victorious Hoyas.
Adrien led the way for the Huskies with 18 points. A.J. Price added 16 points despite being 3-of-11 from the floor. Doug Wiggins came of the bench to score 15 points and pull down 7 rebounds.
UConn had fallen behind by as many as 9 points in the first half before closing out the half on an 7-2 run to go in the locker room trailing 42-38.
The Huskies are off until Thursday night when the Providence Friars come to the XL Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 PM and the game will be televised locally on MyTV9.
Notes and musings:
The starters were A.J. Price, Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson, Jeff Adrien and Hasheem Thabeet.
UConn was 23-of-47 (48.9%) while holding the Hoyas to 42.1% (24-57).
No complaints from me today about the UConn’s free throw shooting. They were 18-of-21 (85.7%).
UConn assistant coach Andre LaFleur is heading to Australia to watch a recruit play.
The Hoyas won the battle of the boards 29-27. Robinson led the Huskies with 8 boards.
Thabeet blocked 5 shots in the game but lost the battle of the big men to Hibbert (20 points – 7 points).
UConn committed only 11 turnovers while Georgetown only had 8.
