This one was a classic tale of two halves. UConn played with good energy in the first half, but couldn’t stop turning the ball over. 16 first half turnovers later, the Huskies found themselves down 42-34 at the break. The second half looked like it was going to be a continuation, when the Huskies turned over the opening inbounds pass. Texas quickly pushed the lead to 10, but then George Blaney called a magic timeout 7 seconds into the half. I say it was a magic timeout because 1:13 later, the lead was only 4, in fact, after the timeout, the Huskies finished the game on a 54-30 run. I’d like to know what George said during the timeout…I want my alarm clock to say the same thing at 6:45 am every morning.
Kemba Walker deserves a lot of credit. He’s drawn the brunt of the Husky fan’s ire this season, perhaps not undeservedly, but to his credit he is turning his season around. Walker, coming off perhaps his best game of the season, started this one on the wrong foot. He looked like old Kemba…driving too deep, trying to hit the home run when it wasn’t there, and turning the ball over repeatedly. He had 6 turnovers in the first half alone, but looked like a new player in the 2nd half, when he scored 17 of his 19 points. His three pointer with a 9 point lead and just under 7 minutes to play seemed to be the knock out punch, and he finished with 10 assists…
Jerome Dyson is good at basketball…but you knew that. A career high 32 points on 12-23 shooting…simply put he was money. He was 4-8 from deep, ultra-encouraging considering this was on the heels of a 3-6 performance vs St. John’s. We all know how much the lack of threes was hurting this team…but we look to have turned the corner. 6-15 as a team in this one. Word.
The other bugaboo for this team has been the free throw shooting, but for the second consecutive game it was solid. 26-37 (70.3%). When Alex Oriakhi is making free throws, you know you are having a good night…Alex was just 2-2 from the stripe, but you get the picture.
Stanley Robinson was Stanley Robinson. Electric, high-rising, omnipresent. 17 points, 12 boards, and at least two of his patented “AAAHHHHHHH’s”. No one ignites the Gampel crown like Mr. Robinson…
Gavin Edwards was solid offensively, 11 points on 3-4 shooting and 5-6 on free throws…strangely enough he only grabbed 1 board.
One thing that isn’t going to show up in the box score is the play of Ater Majok. Majok was as active as we’ve seen him. He was diving for loose balls, fighting for rebounds (6) and blocking shots (4). He scored 5 points on 1-5 shooting and was 3-6 from the stripe. His energy level was something to see…if he can bring it like that, the rest of the way out, we could be in business. He played a career high 32 minutes, George obviously liked what he was seeing as well…
Donnell Beverly needs a mention here too. He only played 7 minutes, but he made an impact when he was in. He had a couple of silly turnovers early, but calmed down. He had 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 points…but the 2 points were an electrifying breakaway two-handed jam. Beverly stuck his tongue out and celebrated with his teammates after the play. The crowd was already frenzied, but they went really bonkers after that. It was really great to see…the boys were having again.
Well, this one certainly feels good Husky fans. We’re back…we can all take a deep breath, and get ready to enjoy the rest of the ride. We’ll still win some and lose some, but the ship is not only pointed in the right direction…it’s full steam ahead.
Next up, a visit to the Dunk to face the Providence Friars, Wednesday night at 7.
Commence adult beverages…it is after all, Saturday night.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Big props to the student section. I have not been in Gampel for years and was fortunate to be court side for this one. Tremendous crowd led by the students.
When they all went filing past me after the game I had not choice but to join them and storm the court!
Hahaha, Nice. Big win, must have been great to be there.
UConn leads the nation in blocks shots again…so many years in a row…. Then how does the official scorer (at UConn no less) credit them with only 6 blocks today. I swear there were quite a few times that UConn had several blocks in one sequence defensively. Anyways … Nice win today. Lets try to get some momentum going.
Agreed Ken. Do they take applications every year for the official scorer?
Momentum is the key…. keep it going dogs.
Great win for the huskies and I can’t wait to get into Providence on Wed. night and see if the energy is still there. 3-3 in the Bigeast we need to keep it going. It was great to see that building rocking again and see the intensity on the defensive ends and Majok all over the ground getting to every ball. Those plays are sometimes the differences in games. The half court Offense looked a bit better and seeing Beverly running the point and making a couple of nice assists will give him more confidence and hopefully more playing time. Keep it going