Facing the Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs for the second time in six nights, one could have thought the UConn Huskies might have a letdown after their loss to Memphis. Tonight was exactly the opposite as Jeff Adrien and Hasheem Thabeet dominated inside with double-doubles as the Huskies beat the Runnin’ Bulldogs 89-72 at the Hartford Civic Center on Tuesday night.
Adrien had 24 points and 14 rebounds while Thabeet had 22 points and 14 rebounds. The scoring totals for both were career-highs while Thabeet’s 14 boards were also a career high. Jerome Dyson rounded out the Huskies in double figures with 10 points. Stanley Robinson just missed a double-double himself with 9 points and 10 rebounds.
Gardner-Webb (4-3) was led by Nate Blank’s game-high 25 points, which included 6 three-pointers. Thomas Sanders had a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Runnin’ Bulldogs. Gardner-Webb star Grayson Flittner only had 4 points.
The Huskies trailed 3-2 but would never trail again. With the score at 9-7, UConn (4-1)went on a 10-0 run to go up 19-7 while the Runnin’ Bulldogs decided that the 3-point shots were the way to go. In the first 12 minutes, Gardner-Webb was 3 of 16 from 3-point land.
UConn started off the second half on a 16-7 run and the Runnin’ Bulldogs would never recover.
UConn is now off until Monday when they will face Florida A&M at the Hartford Civic Center at 7 PM.
Notes and Observations:
The starters were Price, Dyson, Thabeet, Robinson and Adrien.
Thabeet had a double-double in the first half with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
A.J. Price was named to the Big East honor roll for his performance last week.
UConn outscored Gardner-Webb 52-26 in the paint.
The Runnin’ Bulldogs forced 17 turnovers by UConn while the Huskies forced only 15.
As a team, UConn shot only 45.9% (34-74) while holding Gardner-Webb to 36.2% (25-69). 34 of those shots by the Runnin’ Bulldogs were of the 3-point variety. They made 11 3-pointers to UConn’s 2.
UConn continues to shoot poorly from the free throw line as tonight they were 19 of 30 (63.3%).
