UConn vs St. John’s – Tuesday March 9th, 2PM ET. ESPN2
Last chance. Last chance to miss the iceberg. Alright, we’ve already hit the iceberg…last chance to bail the water. It’s all hand on deck time as the Huskies enter the Big East Conference Tournament needing at minimum a three game winning streak to get back in the discussion of this year’s big dance. The key here is not to overlook a scrappy St. John’s team which is more than capable of knocking off the most inconsistent team in the Big East, if not the country…your UConn Huskies. The Johnnies come into this one at 16-14 overall and 6-12 in the Big East. They’ve got a slew of decent wins under their belt, having knocked off Sienna, Temple, Georgia, Cincinnati, Louisville, Notre Dame and South Florida.
In what was one of the Huskies’ best and most complete performances of the season, UConn downed the Red Storm back on January 20th, 75-59. Jerome Dyson, Kemba Walker and Stanley Robinson all had big games, combining to score 56 points on 22-35 shooting. UConn shot .569 from the floor as a team, .429 (6-14) from three and .917 (11-12) from the stripe. The defense also did their job holding the Johnnies to just .343 from the field and .118 from beyond the arc. The game served as a huge confidence builder for the Huskies, who sprung the upset on then #1 Texas just three days later. The Huskies need the same confidence building performance on Tuesday.
Jerome Dyson has clearly lost his swagger, and the Huskies need him to be at his best if they are going to mount a serious run at this thing. Following Saturday’s Benchgate Jim Calhoun has not made it public whether or not he intends to play Dyson, or if so, how much. The fact of the matter is the Huskies need Dyson. He’s a streaky player but when he’s scoring and distributing the Huskies are tough to beat. When Dyson notches 5 assists or more, the Huskies are a telling 10-2. The two losses both controversial in nature due to some “interesting” officiating…a 71-69 loss at Cincinnati and a 72-67 loss at Syracuse. Pass the rock Jerome…
Just like last season, Stanley Robinson has stumbled through the team’s final two regular season games. He closed the 2008-2009 regular season with a 3 point performance vs Notre Dame and a 6 point performance vs Pitt. Similar results this season…he scored 6 points vs Notre Dame and 6 points vs South Florida. Last season the bright lights of the Big East Tourney seemed to get ignite Robinson, who scored 28 points in the 6 overtime thriller vs Syracuse, which turned out to be the beginning of a 35 consecutive games in double figure streak. Hopefully the bright lights and big city once again light Stanley’s fire…
Kemba Walker is coming home. Walker relishes playing in the Garden, a place he played at frequently in High School, and a place he’s played at five times already as a Husky. Kemba has truly been the bright spot during this difficult 2009-2010 campaign. It took him a while to understand his role but over the past 15 games he’s averaging 17.5 points and over the past 6 games he’s averaging 21.2. It’s his house, it’s his team, it’s his time to shine.
Perhaps Jim Calhoun’s recent stunt will light the fire. Perhaps sitting and watching a bunch of kids come from 16 down to cut it to 2 vs South Florida has sent a message, and hopefully that message was received. Lackadaisical effort will no longer be tolerated. Taking plays, halves and even games off will no longer be tolerated. The alumni are watching; Husky Nation is watching. If we are to go down, we are to go down swinging. The season starts Tuesday…Ding, Ding.
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I’m an alumn and a fan since the 80′s so of course I will be pulling hard for the Huskies but I have NO expectations. I just hope it is not another offensive performance that makes me want to gouge my eyes out.
Big question is obviously who starts. I’d love to see Kemba, Coombs-McD, Oriakhi, Edwards, Majok.
I hear you about needing Dyson but it’s a crap shoot on which one shows up so bring him in off the bench.
Give Stanley a shot early in the game and try to get him into the offense quick. More easily done if Dyson is still on the bench.
The only expectation we should as fans is for the Huskies to put forth maximum effort. I can’t wait to see what Calhoun does with Dyson tonight. I like the 5 assists stat…telling. He may start on the bench, but the team needs his 17+ points per game. Maybe JCM plays some two and goes off? Heck of time to be fiddling with the line-up…