UConn sports

Sorry, no time for long stories about trips to Tampa or references to 80′s movies that half of this audience has never seen.

Just some nuts and bolts about the USF and UConn Saturday at the Civic (OK, reference to P.C.U., fabulous movie by the way).

– C Hasheem Thabeet sat out about half of Friday’s practice at Gampel and has been limited lately because of a shoulder injury.

“His shoulder, when he was flipped over, was sprained,” coach Jim Calhoun said. “He’s been taking ice and medication and other things for that.”

Just in case anyone missed it, Calhoun was referring to the DeJuan Blair suplex that Hasheem got Monday.

“The one he fouled on. When he was pulled over, the one he fouled on,” Calhoun deadpanned.

Thabeet should be OK today, though.

“I wouldn’t think it would limit him, no,” Calhoun said. “A good kick in the butt and he’ll be ready to go.”

– Calhoun was excited that recruit Alex Oriahki was named to the McDonald’s All-American game’s East roster.

“He’s more than deserving in my opinion,” Calhoun said.

The game is April 1 in Miami.

“He really has worked hard on every aspect of his game,” Calhoun said. “And every aspect of academics at a really rigorous school.”

– The Huskies are having a good season, right? Someone must have questioned that to Calhoun because the coach made a point of saying so Friday.

“We lose sight of the fact that we’ve had a pretty good season,” said Calhoun, speaking about the loss to Pitt. “Most schools would say it’s a little better than a pretty good season _ but not here, I understand that. And I have no problems with that.”

– The coach is really hoping a few more players “step up” and make up for Jerome Dyson’s absence.

“It depends on what you want to do,” Calhoun said. “Do you want to go down as a good team? We’re going to go down as a good team. This is going to be a good season. But that’s not our aspiration.”

- Neill

South Florida and coach Stan Heath are looking forward to Saturday’s game against UConn…sort of.

The Bulls already own a win over Marquette this season and are anxious to try their hand at the top-ranked (for now) Huskies. But given UConn’s painful loss to Pittsburgh Monday night Heath knows it won’t be an easy afternoon in Hartford.

“We’re probably going to be running into an angry bear,” Heath said Thursday on the Big East’s weekly conference call.

USF lost to Georgetown 65-40 Wednesday night, the first real egg it has laid in conference play despite only having three wins.

“It’s a little bit of a letdown. We’ve been playing very competitively with everybody,” Heath said. “The game kind of got away from us.”

The Bulls aren’t on fire but they appear to be a better team than in recent years. They’re on track to make the Big East Tournament for the first time in school history (everyone makes it this year, of course) and would like to do more.

“We want to accomplish more, climb the ladder and get out of the basement part of this league,” Heath said. “There’s still a lot to play for.”

- Neill

A look back at Monday’s UConn-Pittsburgh game:

Pittsburgh 76, UConn 68

TURNING POINT _ As good as Sam Young and DeJuan Blair were, the Huskies had weathered the storm. They had let a five-point lead sip away but were still tied 61-61 with just over three minutes to play in the game.

But then Pitt point guard Levance Fields stepped out behind the line, losing UConn guard Craig Austrie in some traffic, and nailed a 3-pointer to put the Panthers up three.

After an empty trip by the Huskies at the other end, Fields did it again. This time he used a Blair screen to bump UConn point guard Kemba Walker and _ when Hasheem Thabeet perhaps didn’t hedge as he should have and/or Walker didn’t get around the screen quick enough _ nailed another triple.

Fields had been 0-for-7 from the field and was scoreless until those shots. He finished with 10 points, all in the final three-0-nine.

“We knew he hits big shots. He likes to hit big shots,” Austrie said. “Throughout the whole game he was struggling but he came up and hit some big shots.”

UNSUNG HERO _ Mike Kitts? Nah, too easy.

How about Pitt coach Jamie Dixon?

Did you notice that Dixon called timeouts every time the crowd at the Civic Center (XXL) started to reach peak volume?

The fans in Hartford were terrific for the homestanding Huskies but only once did they really, really get as loud as possible. Dixon did a great job of stopping play (which leads to P.A. announcements, ads, contests, etc., plenty of things to quiet a crowd) whenever UConn made a big basket or a mini-run.

BEST ‘X’ AND/OR ‘O’ _ This one is rather easy. And it wasn’t rocket surgery. Or brain science, if you prefer.

Allowing Blair to go hard at Thabeet (sort of Blair’s usual approach, nonetheless) and push the UConn big man with his hips (re: butt).

Everyone knows you have get into a shot-blocker’s body to lessen his impact and keep him from blocking shots. But Thabeet knows this, too, and has become very good at knowing when to use his body and when not to.

Now, before you think this is going to become the secret way to beat UConn, slow down. Not only do you have to approach a game against Thabeet a certain way, you need certain players (re: body types, attitudes, experience) to pull off this trick. There’s only a handful of teams in the country that can do this.

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS _ There were seemingly dozens of UConn basketball playing and coaching alumni in the crowd Monday. Former head coach Fred Shabel (1963-67) and forward Vin Yokabaskas (1949-52) were perhaps the biggest surprise guests.

Yokabaskas scored 1,275 points in his UConn career. Shabel inherited a pretty good team from head coach Hugh Greer (who died in 1962) and interim coach George Wigton, then guided the Huskies to the 1964 NCAA regional final after an upset of Bill Bradley and Princeton in the East regional semis.

Some 18 NBA scouts, all kinds of local, regional and national media, and 16,000-plus rabid fans were in the house, too.

The giant face signs of Thabeet, A.J. Price and Jeff Adrien were a nice touch.

But what was up with the guy with the “Happy Birthday Austrie” sign? As far as I know (in other words, according to the UConn media guide), Craig’s birthday is March 17.

It was, however, Hasheem Thabeet’s 22nd birthday Monday.

He wasn’t in much of a mood to celebrate, though.

LOOKING AHEAD _ South Florida might be in for it Saturday.

The Huskies are probably mad and could take it out on the Bulls. South Florida has a proven scorer in Dominique Jones and has already knocked off one Big East leader in Marquette this season. That being said, it’s going to be tough to keep up Saturday in Hartford.

The somewhat long layoff isn’t likely to help, either.

BY THE NUMBERS

48-31 _ Pittsburgh’s rebound advantage over UConn Monday night.

42-26 _ West Virginia’s rebound advantage over UConn in the Big East Tournament on March 13, 2008, the last time the Huskies were outrebounded.

44-35 _ South Florida’s rebound advantage over UConn on Feb. 16, 2008, the last time the Huskies were outrebounded in a regular season game.

- Neill

The streak is over. UConn’s 13-game win streak and Hasheem Thabeet’s personal five-game headline-grabbing streak.

Pittsburgh 48, UConn 31

Oh, wait that’s not the final score. Those were the rebounding totals, numbers a lot more surprising than No. 4 Pittsburgh’s 76-68 win over top-ranked UConn.

“You’ve got two of the best rebounding teams in the country going at it. That’s what we both do,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “Whoever won that I thought would win the game.”

Not that it was a major secret but I and a few others thought that, too.

Here’s a few nuts and bolts.

– Pitt center DeJuan Blair was tremendous. 23 points, 22 rebounds and a lot of impressive post moves.

“When he’s allowed to roam in the post like that and use his physicality in the post, he’s absolutely wonderful,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. “He’s a nightmare for every single coach.”

We think that’s a compliment.

UConn center Hasheem Thabeet didn’t have a very happy 22nd birthday. He was in foul trouble all evening and finished with just five points, four rebounds and two blocks.

– Calhoun spent about 10 minutes after the game talking about how didn’t want to talk about the officials.

“It’s just a different kind of game than we’ve played all year, a much different kind of game,” Calhoun said over and over again.

Obviously Calhoun wasn’t too keen on the job done by officials Mike Kitts, Ed Hightower and Tony Greene. Well, he didn’t name names but the latter two didn’t really get under his skin. Kitts? Well…

“I have no comment on the officiating,” Calhoun said. “I think one guy spoke out for himself the whole game.”

Calhoun tried very hard not to get specific with his comments (remember his Wally Rutecki rant last year?) but came close.

“If you watch the game you have to come up with your own conclusion. I can’t,” Calhoun said. “This is my league. I like all of those three people. I have nothing against them personally. The game was different. If you didn’t see it (speaking to reporters) you probably should be writing about tennis tonight.”

Tennis? Good one, coach.

If you must know, however, I prefer to cover track and field. Or is that track & field?

– As much as Calhoun disliked the way the game was called, he knows as well as anyone that his Huskies had chances to win and didn’t convert.

“If you can make a couple foul shots (Stanley Robinson missed the front end of a 1-and-1) it’s a two-point game with 57 seconds to go. Then you have a chance to stop them and come down to tie the score,” Calhoun said. “And you should have run some offense when you had a five-point lead. So we had plenty of reasons why we lost the game.”

“We got beat. I’m not making excuses,” Calhoun said. “Jamie Dixon’s team came in here and beat us. That’s the bottom line.”

– Don’t try blaming the loss on the absence of Jerome Dyson. Calhoun will have none of that.

“Did we have four guys on the court?” Calhoun said rhetorically when asked about perimeter defense late in the game. “Someone has to step up.”

Then he started to provide a few colorful metaphors before catching himself.

“I don’t want to be an assh..uh, real jerk about this,” Calhoun added. “But someone has to step up. They’re basketball player on full scholarship.”

The coach was asked about Levance Field’s two late-game three’s that essentially won the game. Kemba Walker got caught behind a screen on the first one and Craig Austrie made a similar mistake on the second. It’s doubtful Dyson would have been guarding Fields were he around, anyway.

Fields was 0-for-7 from the floor before making his two big shots. He scored all of his 10 points in the game’s final 3:09.

“I knew he was due,” Dixon said. “He’s made big shots his whole career.”

- Neill

Jerome Dyson had successful surgery Monday to repair his injured knee and will miss the remainder of the season, UConn announced.

The tear in his lateral meniscus was repaired, putting Dyson’s recovery time at a few months as opposed to a few weeks.

The Huskies, in case you were under a rock recently, will play their second game without Dyson tonight against Pittsburgh.

In other news….Hasheem Thabeet earned Big East player of the week honors Monday, the second straight week he’s claimed that crown.

- Neill

It was the Hasheem Thabeet show at the Prudential Center Saturday afternoon, in case you missed it. The UConn big man had 25 points, 20 rebounds and 9 (cough-cough) blocked shots as the Huskies won their 13th straight game, beating Seton Hall 62-54.

Have to hit the Jersey turnpike soon (Valentine’s Day, you know) but here’s some quick hitters:

– First game without Jerome Dyson went OK.

There was some suspect shooting and some shaky perimeter defense by the Huskies. Jerome may not have changed that by himself but…

“He gives us fiber many times in a game that you can’t necessarily get,” Calhoun said. “At times during the game we didn’t seem to have that. That’s the adjustment we’re going to have to go through.”

– Thabeet had just the third 20-rebound game for a Husky under Calhoun. It was also the 11th-best rebound effort in Big East history (league games only).

“He was immense,” Calhoun said.

As he usually does, Calhoun took issue with the official scorer and his counting of Thabeet’s blocks.

“I don’t know why people do that,” Calhoun said. “What purpose does it serve?”

Now, first of all Calhoun always does this.

Secondly, he’s sometimes right.

In this case he was. I counted 10 and another scribe swears it was 11. Calhoun guessed 15 (that’s a little high) but it was more than the Pirates gave Thabeet credit for.

The coach even apologized for complaining after a win.

“I’m sorry. That’s small on my part,” Calhoun said.

Thabeet will have to wait for his second triple-double.

– The Huskies’ trip home from Jersey was probably more pleasant than it could have been. A loss would have created a different set of coach’s rules.

“We’ll get on the bus and they can watch a movie, as opposed to me throwing movies out, ipods and all those things,” Calhoun said. “It’ll be a safe trip home.”

– Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez threw a little curve at the Huskies.

“We fully expected them to come out and press us,” Calhoun said.

– Gonzalez certainly was impressed by Thabeet.

“To me, Thabeet might be the best player in the country,” Gonzalez said. “I don’t know who has a more dominant guy. In my opinion, from what I’ve seen, he’s the number one player in America. I’m not trying to push him out the door, but if I was in an NBA franchise, I’d take him number one in the draft. I just don’t know what you do with the guy.”

– How about these for numbers:

Take away Thabeet’s shooting effort and the Huskies were 12-of-44 from the floor.

Take away Seton Hall center John Garcia’s shooting and the Pirates were 14-of-64.

That’s a total shooting effort (minus centers) of 26-of-108!

- Neill

Jerome Dyson may not be a contributing member on the court anymore but he still thinks the Huskies are destined for big things.

“We’re still the No. 1 team in the nation,” Dyson said before Saturday’s Seton Hall-UConn game. “Me being out, we’re still a great team. More people just have to step up. I have faith in my teammates. I know how good they are.”

Dyson will have his torn lateral meniscus surgically repaired Monday, and says he’ll probably opt for the surgery that requires four months of recovery.

“I’m definitely looking to the future,” Dyson said. “I kind of want a career out of this. I don’t want to come back as fast as I can. If they can repair it, that’s what I want them to do. That would be the best thing for me in the long run.”

Instead of banging his right knee into something hard Wednesday night against Syracuse, Dyson said he hurt it after planting and twisting slightly.

Dyson said he tried to walk on the knee during halftime of the game but felt pain after a few steps. Still, he was holding out hope that it was just a bruise.

“Once I got up the next morning I felt like it was more than just a bone bruise,” Dyson said. “I was getting a lot more pain and my knee was starting to swell up.”

- Neill

Jerome Dyson may be out of the lineup for the rest of the season but UConn coach Jim Calhoun said Friday that hasn’t changed the mindset of his team.

“With the team we have on the floor, our goals are still attainable,” Calhoun said.

Craig Austrie, as expected, will start in Dyson’s place beginning Saturday at Seton Hall. But Calhoun is counting heavily on Kemba Walker and Stanley Robinson to step up their play in Dyson’s absence.

As for Dyson, he will have surgery on the later meniscus in his right knee soon, probably Monday. His recovery time depends on the surgery, Calhoun says.

“It just depends on whether they repair or cut a piece out,” Calhoun said. “The best thing to do is to repair it. Down the line, five six years from now, Jerome won’t have problems.”

“We want to make sure he has a good, but not necessarily a speedy, recovery,” the coach continued.

Calhoun said Dyson had difficulty when first hearing the injury news.

“He was devastated in the training room when he was told. He broke down,” Calhoun said. “It was a tough scene.”

There’s an outside chance Dyson returns but it doesn’t seem likely at this point.

Calhoun said over and over during his chat with reporters Friday that he “likes the team he’s taking with him” on the bus to Seton Hall.

The Huskies played well without Dyson last year, albeit under much different circumstances. And Calhoun believes this team is in better position to deal with his loss.

“Last year we were a good team,” Calhoun said. “This year…I had certain feelings about our team. Those feelings haven’t gone away but Jerome was a big part of that.”

- Neill