A look back at Saturday’s UConn-South Florida game:
UConn 64, USF 50
TURNING POINT _ A.J. Price was fair at best during most of the game but had an outstanding two-minute stretch of offense that propelled the Huskies to victory.
He scored seven straight points, the first seven of a 9-0 run, with a pair of aggressive drives to the hoop and a 3-pointer.
After the game Price was asked if coach Jim Calhoun’s harsh words during a timeout in the second half had spurred Price to make such a contribution.
Price laughed and shook his head apologetically.
“It’s a long game,” Price said. “I don’t know which part of which timeout you’re talking about. It happens every timeout.”
A.J. was then asked about the state’s budget deficit and whether or not his gameday per diem money, which probably covers a Big Mac or two, would be better off donated back to the university.
OK, that last part isn’t true. It would be nice if someone would do his or her job and ask Price the tough questions though, huh? (I kill myself…I am so funny sometimes.)
All right, back to the serious stuff. Calhoun actually said he’s trying to limit Price’s minutes a little so that he can have more stretches like the one he had Saturday.
“A.J.’s not a 35-minute player,” Calhoun said. “It’s going to take A.J. two years to get back to full throttle (referring to the ol’ ACL repair).”
UNSUNG HERO _ We’ll go with Stanley Robinson.
Sticks’ defense on USF’s Dominique Jones was pretty good but that’s now why we’re giving him the nod. The fact that Robinson took 12 shots from the floor is a good sign for the Huskies.
Now, Robinson missed seven of those shots but that’s not the point. It looks as if Robinson WANTS to score again and is actively trying to do so. (Calhoun isn’t thrilled that Robinson can’t seem to hit a three but anyway…).
If UConn is to advance deep into March it will need a big offensive game or two from Robinson. When he first returned it looked as if Robinson would defer to his teammates forever. Now he at least is trying to score…and the next step is perhaps an offensive explosion.
BEST ‘X’ AND/OR ‘O’ _ This goes to USF coach Stan Heath, despite the loss.
It doesn’t look like a great strategy considering that Hasheem Thabeet scored a game-high 21 points but the Bulls defended UConn pretty well. It started with how they played UConn’s big man.
“I told anybody who was guarding Thabeet ‘I don’t care who drives to the basket, your body stays on his body,’ ” Heath said. “Because they’re unbelievable when somebody drives. They just throw it up in the sky. It could be 20 feet high and he (Thabeet) goes and gets it. I just told them to make those other guys finishers.”
UConn’s guards didn’t exactly thrive faced with that challenge so it appeared to work. Calhoun gave USF plenty of credit for his team’s ho-hum offensive day.
“There was another team wearing another color. They actually had something to do with that,” Calhoun said. “They defended us pretty well.”
SIGHTS AND SOUNDS _ A frustrated former reporter/political candidate/annoying blogger confronting Calhoun.
We’ve gone over that enough, though.
Actually, there weren’t many sounds from the old Civic Center Mausoleum, err Coliseum. Pretty quiet and subdued crowd for the final game in Hartford this season.
LOOKING AHEAD _ Marquette is up next. No easy challenge for the Huskies.
Then it’s Notre Dame back in Storrs next Saturday.
Everyone it seems, however, can’t wait for UConn-Pitt Part Deux on March 7.
“We’ve ordered the shoulder pads and helmets,” Calhoun said.
Before we get to the Super Bowl there’s quite a game in Milwaukee to be staged. UConn pounded the Golden Eagles last year in their only meeting but haven’t fared well at the Bradley Center in their history (one game of history, that is).
BY THE NUMBERS
799 _ Career victories for Jim Calhoun.
2 _ Wins that were taken away from Calhoun by the NCAA (for Kirk King and Ricky Moore’s plane ticket situation) that came in the 1996 NCAA Tournament.
2 _ Wins over Canadian teams when Calhoun was at Northeastern that were originally credited to Calhoun but later taken off his win total and counted as “exhibitions.”
- Neill
