After missing most of the first half with foul trouble, sophomore Jerome Dyson scored 20 of his 27 points in the second half as the Huskies trounced Bryant 100-65 in front of 8,563 at the Hartford Civic Center. Stanley Robinson decided he would help out as he scored 13 points and pulled down 8 rebounds. Jeff Adrien added 9 points and 10 rebounds for the Huskies as well.
Bryant is in their first year of transition from Div. II to Div. I and will start play in the Northeast Conference in 2012. It was evident their smaller size would prove to be a huge factor in this exhibition game as they were outrebounded 50-32. UConn pulled down 13 offensive rebounds leading to 23-0 in second chance points.
Bryant had 33 fouls in the game and they sent UConn to the line 46 times. The Huskies converted 31 of those for a shooting percentage of 67% from the free throw line. As I said last year, that is not going to win ball games in the Big East.
It was a good game for the Huskies as they got to see how they would fare against a smaller team, something they will probably encounter during the season. This allowed the Huskies to run some 3 guard sets in which they executed very well. They were also able to work on their defensive trapping and that led to 17 turnovers for Bryant. Lucky for UConn that the 17 turnovers they committed didn’t hurt them. But again, they will need to work on that as the season approaches.
I know it was just an exhibition game but a crowd of just over 8500 is weak. I wonder if they were thinking of maybe putting the curtains up in the upper levels of the Hartford Civic Center.
UConn will now begin their regular season play on Wednesday night when they take on Morgan State in the first round of the 2K Sports Colleges Hoops Classic at 7 PM on ESPNU. Ohio Valley faces Buffalo in the opener at 4 PM. The two winners will meet on Thursday night at 9 PM on ESPNU for the right to go the semifinals at the Mecca of college basketball, Madison Square Garden.
I will have a look at the 2007-08 Huskies on Wednesday before their opener.
