UConn sports

Pretty uneventful night for the UConn basketball team, huh?

That’s sarcasm for those of you who don’t speak Neill-ease.

Let’s hit the ground running:

– Remember that UConn-Villanova game back in February 2002? The one where Villanova scored 11 points in the first half and it ended up Huskies 46, Wildcats 40?

We passed those marks in the first half. It was 48-48 at the break.

“The first half was wild,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “There was no inside game. It was just shooting three’s and driving to the basket. You don’t usually see that in a UConn-Villanova game.”

Despite the outside play through most of the first half, it wasn’t a soft game.

“Tonight was hand-to-hand combat,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said.

UConn was the beneficiary of most of the whistles (it had a lot to do with style of play, of course…and Nova trying to catch up at the end…and being at home). The Huskies made 31-of-39 free throws. Jeff Adrien, one game after stinking up the line, made all six of his.

– Ater Majok is in. Sort of.

The 6-foot-10, 233-pound Sudanese/Australian forward will begin taking classes in Storrs Thursday. He’ll also practice with his teammates Thursday. He won’t, however, be eligible until next season.

Majok was cleared by the NCAA about a half-hour before Wednesday’s game. As a partial-qualifier, however, he’ll have to wait until the end of the fall semester at UConn (December) to play with the Huskies.

“By the way, our first game next year is December 15th,” Calhoun joked.

It’ll be more like Nov. 12, of course. Expect Majok to miss 7-10 games.

Until then, Majok will be the best practice player in America. He plans on helping the current Huskies any way he can.

“Don’t worry. Ain’t nobody going to get a shot off that easy,” Majok said. “It’s going to be a fight every practice. I’m going to make them a better team. I have to contribute somehow.”

– C Charles Okwandu missed Wednesday’s game for academic reasons. Team officials said he was on campus “working” though it’s not clear if the sophomore is in serious academic hot water.

– By the way, who was the jackass who wrote in Wednesday’s Connecticut Post about two of the best defensive teams in the Big East?

Oh. Right.

Sorry about that.

– Villanova had been 10-1 this season when scoring over 70 points. Make that 10-2 now.

– A.J. Price has scored 971 points in his UConn career. Jerome Dyson now has 970.

– Price, in case you missed it, was on fire.

He shot from deep, pulled up in the lane and actually took it hard to the hoop a few times.

“That’s the first time he’s done it in 18 games,” Calhoun said of the drives. “He trusted his leg.”

– Villanova’s Corey Stokes was called for an intentional foul on Dyson during a breakaway in the second half. Dyson shook it off and dunked anyway.

“I don’t think the kid was trying to hurt him or anything,” Calhoun said. “He did touch him, though.”

For my take, a bit of an overreaction by referee Jim Burr. On plays where the offensive player is that vulnerable, though, refs tend to err on the side of caution and call things tight.

- Neill

Ater Majok will begin taking classes at UConn Thursday and will practice with the Huskies.

The 6-foot-10 forward will not be eligible to play with the Huskies right away, however. He is a partial qualifier and will have to wait until the end of the fall semester at UConn to play.

More info later.

- Neill

Before it even gets started Notre Dame coach Mike Brey is trying to diffuse the Luke Harangody-Hasheem Thabeet spat.

Thabeet, as you may recall, was quoted in ESPN The Magazine this summer as saying “I played Luke Harangody and he was not tough. Tyler Hansbrough? I don’t see nothing.”

Brey, in discussing Saturday’s showdown between the Huskies and Irish at the Joyce Center on a conference call Wednesday, said Thabeet aplogized for the comments.

“I actually got a letter from Thabeet apologizing and I e-mailed him back,” Brey said. “I understand how guys can maybe be led astray with questioning. I don’t know if he really meant to say it. He’s kind of a playful kid.”

Soon after the comments were first published Thabeet explained that his words were taken out of context. He was asked who the toughest player (not the best or most talented) he faced last season was. Although Harangody played well against Thabeet, the UConn center didn’t see Harangody as particularly “tough.”

As for the Hansbrough thing, that’s just a reporter not understanding Thabeet’s manner of speech. All he meant was he hadn’t “seen” or played against the Carolina center.

With Haranbody, Brey was at first worried that Thabeet’s words would weigh on him. He tried to quash the whole thing before the season.

“Luke remembers things too much, quite frankly,” Brey said. “I difussed that in the weight room the week after it came out.”

- Neill

Greetings from Gampel Pavilion where the Huskies (men’s basketball) just finished watching the inauguration like the rest of us.

They were moved more than most, it seems.

“It’s a historic day, something you never forget and something you’ll be able to tell your children and your grandchildren about,” guard A.J. Price said. “It’s a day I’ll never forget. And as much as it means to me I’m sure it means so much more for my parents and my grandparents.”

UConn coach Jim Calhoun was in Washington to watch things in person. Associate head coach George Blaney watched with the players on TV.

“All during the speech I kept thinking he would have made a great coach,” Blaney said. “Because that’s what he’s trying to do. He’s trying to put together a team.”

Blaney also was trying to get some time on the new prez’ home court.

“He’s building a court in the White House,” Blaney said. “We’re trying to get a game there.”

As far as basketball, it was a pretty boring day.

Obviously the Huskies are concerned about stopping Scottie Reynolds. Reynolds put 40 on the board (a Gampel Pavilion record) the last time he was in Connecticut.

“When he’s making threes he becomes virtually impossible to play,” Blaney said.

Blaney says it’s not Reynolds’ physical skills that are dangerous.

“He’s not all that fast. He has very average speed, he’s not a great jumper,” Blaney said. “He’s just very clever and very smart.

“The biggest thing you have to do is stay in front of him,” Blaney said. “And that’s very hard to do without fouling him.”

- Neill

Busy day for us two-timers (UConn footballl coverage and UConn basketball coverage) so I can’t stay here on the blog long.

I just got of the phone with Joe Moorhead, UConn’s new offensive coordinator.

The biggest news? It looks like the Huskies are going no-huddle.

Quite a change.

Moorhead starts work Thursday, FYI.

Anyway, I’ll have more in Wednesday’s paper and perhaps more here on the blog tonight.

- Neill

Just a note on the football team as we take a break from basketball.

– Joe Moorhead, Akron’s offensive coordinator for the last three years, will take the same position at UConn. He replaces Rob Ambrose, who left to take over as Towson’s head coach.

The official annoucement will be Tuesday.

Moorhead has been an assistant at Akron for five years, the last three as the Zips’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Moorhead, who also coordinated the Zips’ recruiting efforts, helped put together the top-rated recruiting classes in the MAC in 2005 and 2006 according to rivals.com.

At Akron Moorhead actually tried to lure a quarterback from Washington, Pa., named Cody Endres to his school before the player ultimately chose UConn. Now the two will be reunited with the rising sophomore potentially the team’s starting quarterback.

Moorhead is a former quarterback at Fordham, earning second-team All-Patriot League honors as a senior in 1995.

- Neill

UConn men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun will be in Washington Tuesday for the inauguration of Barack Obama.

His players, however, will have to settle for watching the events on television. The Huskies will gather in the locker room at noon for a viewing.

Calhoun should be back in Storrs for practice Tuesday evening.

UConn, which moved up to No. 3 in both national polls today, hosts Villanova Wednesday night. Nova is No. 20 in the AP poll.

- Neill

Spent a few moments on a call with Villanova coach Jay Wright this morning as he and his team prepare for Wednesday’s game against UConn.

Villanova is in search of its first three-game winning streak in the series since it won 14 straight from 1982-88.

So how have the Wildcats, who are usually much smaller than the Huskies, managed to beat the Huskies regularly lately?

“I think one of the most important things is we’ve been playing at home,” Wright said. “We’ve played well at home and made shots. We haven’t had great success playing them up there except for that one explosion by Scottie Reynolds.”

Reynolds did scorch the Gampel Pavilion nets two years ago, but obviously it’s more than that.

Nova is a little bigger this year, but has always seemed to find undersized big men who are active and can compete in the middle. Senior Dante Cunningham has turned into a very good player; he’s averaging 17.4 points and 7.4 rebounds now.

Villanova has held its own on the boards against UConn and they’ve made shots.

“When you’re playing them, you have to make shots,” Wright said. “They do a great job of keeping you off the foul line. They play great defense without fouling.”

More tidbits to come…

- Neill