UConn sports

Just about to leave the Fifth Third Arena (It’s not as nice as the Fourth Third Arena, but it is newer).

UConn came away with a rather easy 81-72 victory. It wasn’t easy in the sense that Cincinnati is bad or the Huskies really were ahead by a ton. It was just pretty clear that the outcome wasn’t in doubt.

“We never had real control but we were always on top,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. “Then we grabbed ahold with about six minutes to go.”

A few notes from the festivities:

– A.J. Price was on fire.

Five three’s, 22 points, five assists and a big monkey off his back. It was one game after his 0-for-9 stinker against West Virginia.

“It was just a good day for me. I had the right approach mentally and it worked out for me from the start of the game,” Price said.

Price is becoming more of a jump shooter than he was last year, but he did have a couple nice drives to the basket on Saturday, too.

“I’m hitting a few more jump shots, looking for the jump shot a little more for whatever reason,” Price said. “Sometimes it’s given to me, sometimes I take it.”

– Cincinnati’s Deonta Vaughn had 19 points but they were a relatively quiet 19. He made two three’s, had six assists and four turnovers.

“We just didn’t want him to go off like he did last year,” Jerome Dyson said, referring to the 34-point shot Vaughn put on here last year.

– UConn played zone. No really, it did.

With Hasheem Thabeet and Stanley Robinson in foul trouble, it was time for a little 2-3.

“It saved us, really,” Jeff Adrien said. “We didn’t play unbelievably but we got some stops and then we got some buckets out of it. … That’s why we practice it every day. You never know when we’re going to need it.”

– Cincinnati freshman center Yancy Gates earned some good reviews from Calhoun. The 6-foot-9, 260-pounder looks like he’s going to be a player.

“He’s a little smaller _ not much _ version of Andrew Bynum,” Calhoun said. “He’s got a beautiful soft touch. It’s good when a big guy can roll to the basket and finish. It’s great when a big guy can pop and then make shots.”

Gates did a little of what Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody did to the Huskies last year.

“He gave us a ton of problems doing the exact same thing,” Calhoun said.

– I might have some more info later but I’m trying to get home and stay ahead of the weather.

- Neill

A few more notes before UConn and Cincinnati tangle:

– UConn point guard A.J. Price was, by his own admission, awful against West Virginia. He missed all nine of his shots from the field.

“That’s pretty accurate,” Price said Friday night. “I never had a game like that in my career in college.”

He’s obviously anxious to play better on Saturday.

“You have to leave it in the past, try to put it behind me and bounce back,” Price said. “(Today’s) game, I’m not going to say it’s critical for my play, but I definitely want to bounce back and have a much better performance.”

Coach Jim Calhoun says he’s already seen a difference in A.J. in practice this week.

“We have a one minute and 30 second 3-point shooting drill,” Calhoun said. “If you can get 25, it’s good. He got 32. Thirty-four is the most I’ve seen and that was Rashad (Anderson).

“He’s been playing better and I haven’t said much.”

– Jerome Dyson has been outstanding on defense lately and gets a chance to Cincinnati guard Deonta Vaughn Saturday.

So what does Dyson like doing better: scoring 25 points or holding someone 15 points below his average?

“There’s no difference to me as long as we get the win,” Dyson said.

But you like scoring 25, right?

“Oh yeah, everybody does,” Dyson said.

– UConn center Hasheem Thabeet obviously worries Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin.

“Half of his baskets are dunks. The problem is he plays with other really good players,” Cronin said. “If whoever Hasheem’s man is has to start helping others, they’re just going to throw it up and he’s going to dunk it.

“He gets a lot off his teammates. That being said, he’s definitely improved his post moves the more touches he’s gotten.”

– Calhoun was asked if he wants Stanley Robinson to shoot more.

“Yes,” was his answer.

That’s good to hear for Robinson.

“I’m going to go out and fire it up. I’m going to shoot,” Robinson said with a smile.

- Neill

UConn freshmen Scottie Haralson and Charles Okwandu did not accompany their teammates to Cincinnati Friday and will not play Saturday against the Bearcats.

It’s nothing punitive or health related, but notable nonetheless.

Both the reserve guard and reserve center will attend a class in Storrs on Saturday morning that finishes at 12:30 p.m. There were two snow days this week that cancelled their daily intersession class and the two were unable to miss Saturday’s make-up.

The two were actually late to UConn’s Tuesday night game in Morgantown, joining their teammates on the bench after the game had already begun. They flew in Tuesday afternoon (much like Jerome Dyson and Craig Austrie did earlier this season) and just made it.

That late arrival plan wasn’t an option this time as Saturday’s game starts at 4:30 p.m.

- Neill

Greetings from the Queen City.

Wait, why is Cincinnati the Queen City? Something to do with English royalty? Cross-dressers? I don’t know. I’ll look it up.

Anyway, spent the afternoon with Bearcats coach Mick Cronin and big Bearcat. Here’s a taste of the pre-game comments for Saturday’s UConn game:

– Cronin is taking a little heat from the locals for a poor start to the conference slate. Cincinnati is 10-5 overall but is off to an 0-2 start in Big East play.

Cronin bluntly says his team’s record is about where he thought it would be.

“We’ve probably lost one game that people thought we were going to win, the Providence game,” Cronin said, mentioning Wednesday’s 87-79 loss here to the Friars. “Other than that, you could have probably picked our record right now.”

He’s kind of right. Losses to Florida State, Xavier, Memphis and Marquette? That’s almost as expected.

Wins over UNLV and Mississippi State and a few others? OK.

But a home loss to the Friars did hurt.

– Local scribe is going a story on UConn coach Jim Calhoun and Cronin had a few good lines about the veteran.

“What he’s done, to say it’s impressive is an understatement,” Cronin said. “You have to look at UConn when coach Calhoun got there.”

Cronin expressed some concern about Calhoun’s health, wishing him well.

“My concern with all I read about Jim Calhoun is his health. You have to hope he’s OK, he’s been through a lot in the last year,” Cronin said.

Cronin also points out that he doesn’t plan on being around as long as Jim.

“I won’t be coaching at his age. That I can assure you, no matter what level it may be,” Cronin said…Then a little shot at his critics…“I’m sure right now some people think it should be junior high basketball.”

“I can assure you I’ll be somewhere in a warm climate,” he said. “I won’t be walking the sidelines three hours a day.”

– Cincinnati center Yancy Gates is doing pretty well in his freshman season. He’s averaging 10.2 points and 6.3 rebounds. The 6-foot-9, 260-pound Cincinnati native admits he hasn’t seen anyone like UConn’s Hasheem Thabeet.

“You always wonder what it would be like to try and put the ball over the top of a 7-3 who is also athletic,” Gates said. “I mean, I’m going to TRY to get it over him.”

– Cincinnati would love to snap a three-game losing streak by upsetting the No. 5 Huskies. It’s easier said than done, however.

“Playing hard enough to win Big East games is different than playing hard enough to win games in November and December,” Cronin said. “Until you go through it, it’s hard to understand.”

UConn swept two games last season from the Bearcats, an 84-83 win here and a 96-51 drubbing at Gampel.

– By the way. Cincinnati was booming in the early 19th century and some locals began calling it The Queen of the West. That phrase was popularized in a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Eventually people just started calling it the Queen City.

So there you go.

– Another update after we catch up with the Huskies this evening…

- Neill

Just finished the day job covering UConn-West Virginia in Morgantown.

Yes, thank you for asking, John Denver was again at the top of his game.

During the action, however, neither team was outstanding. What they both were, however, is tough.

Toughness is a category UConn teams have historically scored high on and this one may be no different.

After 12 lead changes and eight ties, UConn pulled ahead for good.

Plenty of offensive rebounds, plenty of defense and a tough 61-55 win to start a three-game road trip (it’s not really a trip, they’re going back-and-forth to Storrs, but the phrase sort of fits).

“It’s great,” said Jerome Dyson, who had a driving layup with 35 seconds left that sealed the deal. “It really gives us a little momentum to carry with us on these next two away games.”

Also:

– West Virginia went scoreless for the final 2:27 with guard Alex Ruoff missing several tough (and a few open) shots.

– Jim Calhoun earned win No. 787 Tuesday, moving him past Lefty Driesell into sole possession of seventh place on the all-time list.

Next up is Eddie Sutton at No. 6 with 804 wins.

– UConn is now 15-15 in Big East road openers, 13-10 under Calhoun.

– Jeff Adrien, who scored 13 of his game-high 17 points in the second half, went over the 1,300-point mark in the game.

Adrien now has scored 1,316 points, 23rd all-time in UConn history.

– This just in: Stanley Robinson can jump.

And jumping helps in rebounding.

“I kept rebounding. They kept coming my way,” Robinson said after snaring a career-high 15. “That’s a great job on my part. I think I did pretty good.”

– West Virginia’s Ruoff was 4-of-16 from the floor and scored 13 points. He is the second straight “star” two-guard the Huskies have handled. (Rutgers’ Mike Rosario was 2-for-13 on Saturday.)

Some, perhaps the UConn coaches, are going to expect Dyson to hold everyone down like that.

“I think so,” Dyson said with a chuckle. “I’m not worried about it. I look forward to the challenge.”

– Calhoun called it the biggest win of the season. He’s probably right but there’s going to be games that score higher on that scale if the Huskies turn out to be as good as they think they are.

– This was just the second time all season West Virginia has been out-rebounded. UConn did it big time, gaining a 52-33 edge.

– A.J. Price was 0-for-9 from the floor and looked a step slow or a bit tired. The UConn brass says he isn’t sick, but I’m not sure.

- Neill

Now who doesn’t love a little John Denver?

Oh, OK then. I won’t bring him up again.

Greetings from the Waterfront Place Hotel in lovely Morgantown, W.Va. Just finished speaking with UConn coach Jim Calhoun, WVU coach Bob Huggins and a few of the combatants in Tuesday’s game.

No major news on the UConn side but here’s a taste:

– It’s the first of three straight road games for the Huskies.

“We definitely want to try to handle business and get it off to a good start,” point guard A.J. Price said. “We don’t want to overlook anybody but we understand this is probably going to be toughest challenge of the three games. It’s important for us to come out and be ready.”

In Calhoun’s tenure in Storrs the Huskies have faced this kind of test (three straight road games) seven times before. Never have the Huskies gone 3-0.

– UConn fell to No. 5 in the polls. About as expected.

There are now nine Big East teams in the top 25 with West Virginia getting in at No. 25.

– Calhoun appeared to be feeling a little better than he did against Rutgers, though he was still perhaps a step slow.

“I felt lousy during the game,” Calhoun said. “I talked to George (Blaney) and I said ‘Let me see how I feel at halftime.’ ”

He didn’t feel better and left the team in Blaney’s hands. Calhoun was, however, pretty confident the Huskies would win.

“I felt a comfort level defensively and, at the end of the half, offensively,” Calhoun said.

– Huggins’ plan to attack UConn center Hasheem Thabeet?

“Just throw it in there and let him block ‘em,” Huggins said Monday night.

Oh, so it’s the sarcasm route we’ve chosen for this question-and-answer session. Well, that will be fun for all of us (read: Huggins only).

Huggins offered a few (a very few) insights about Tuesday’s game but he was at least gracious enough to give us poor scribes from Connecticut a few minutes of his time.

– Calhoun has plenty of praise for the job Huggins has done already at West Virginia. He also gave him credit for using some of what former coach John Beilein left in place.

“To throw out what John Beilein has taught kids _ for any of us _ would be absolutely crazy,” Calhoun said. “The one thing Bob is not is crazy.

“He’s nuts but he’s not crazy.”

– UConn is 14-15 in Big East road openers, 12-10 under Calhoun.

– Rhode Island native Joe Mazzulla, WVU’s starting point guard for much of the year, isn’t likely to play because of a shoulder injury.

Too bad. He played well in the postseason last year and I was looking forward to seeing him in person again.

– No Joe Alexander any more for the Mountaineers. (Collective “whew!” by UConn coaches and fans).

Calhoun, though, says it’s not time to party yet.

“They are, in total, a better team without Joe Alexander,” he said.

– West Virginia will likely use a matchup zone defense, something the Huskies have sometimes been stymied by.

“We’ll be tested mentally as much as anything else by the matchup,” Calhoun said. “I don’t think we should be, by the way, because we’ve faced matchups before and handled them pretty well.”

- Neill

One small note as I wait for the lovely drive from Pittsburgh down to Morgantown.

UConn’s Jan. 15 game against St. John’s at Madison Square Garden will be seen on ESPN, the big wigs announced Monday. It will tipoff at 7 p.m.

The game had been listed as an ESPN or ESPN2.

- Neill

One night after missing the second half of his team’s game due to illness, UConn coach Jim Calhoun was back at practice.

Calhoun put his team through its paces Sunday morning in Storrs, including center Hasheem Thabeet. Thabeet went down briefly in the Rutgers game with a hip-pointer.

The Huskies will travel to Morgantown, W.Va., Monday afternoon and play the Mountaineers Tuesday night.

- Neill