A look back at Tuesday’s UConn-Maine game:
UConn 71, Maine 54
TURNING POINT _ Remember MTV’s annual basketball all-star game, the Rock ‘N’ Jock? What was essentially a glorified Hollywood pickup game featured extremely tall baskets at each end of the floor in which made field goals counted for 10 and sometimes 25 points.
Well, perhaps the UConn basketball team believes it can score such basketball coups, too.
In their last two games the Huskies have come out rather flat, and have been over-anxious to come back and seize control. It has led to what coach Jim Calhoun says is like trying to make “a 10-point shot.”
“We said ‘Don’t let it all happen at once’ and that’s exactly what we tried to do,” Calhoun said of Tuesday’s effort against Maine.
Eventually the Huskies did come back and more or less dominated the second half. But they probably could have pulled away sooner if they hadn’t been shooting at imaginary targets.
“Don’t try to make a 10-point shot,” Calhoun said was his message to the players during the game. “We’re suffering from the 10-point shot lately.”
UNSUNG HERO _ Freshman Jamal Coombs-McDaniel is a really good shooter. Well, that’s what the coaches and players who practice with him every day say.
UConn fans who simply attend games weren’t so sure but Coombs heated up just a little Tuesday night, nailing a 3-pointer and scoring eight points in the Huskies’ win.
Coombs earned his 17 minutes of playing time, according to Calhoun, with some impressive performances in recent practices.
“He definitely can shoot the ball,” teammate Jerome Dyson said. “He shows that every day in practice.”
BEST ‘X’ AND/OR ‘O’ _ Somewhat lost in the Huskies’ offensive woes is the fact that UConn is playing excellent defense.
UConn did it again Tuesday night to Maine, holding the Bears to an 18-for-63 shooting night (28.6 percent).
“When you start holding teams in college basketball in the 20′s,” Calhoun said of his team’s field goal percentage defense, “I’m upset but a normal human being would not be upset by that.”
It was thought that the Huskies’ style of playing defense _ feeding opponents’ drives to the basket to its shot-blockers _ might have to change with the departure of Hasheem Thabeet. But they continue to lead the nation in blocked shots, with Gavin Edwards making the biggest strides in that area.
UConn’s opponents are shooting just 35.8 percent from the field this year. The Huskies have already blocked 104 shots in 10 games.
SIGHTS AND SOUNDS _ Heading into the half on a 6-0 run and tied with the 11th-ranked team in college basketball, the players from Maine had to be feeling pretty good about themselves.
But a lot of the fans at the XL Center weren’t feeling too good about their Huskies’ performance over the first 20 minutes and booed the home team as it exited the floor.
Calhoun, as he has in the past, said he doesn’t like it any time college athletes are booed.
That being said…
“The way we played, I was probably doing a little bit of that under my breath myself.”
LOOKING AHEAD _ Iona has already beaten the likes of Providence and Creighton.
The Gaels also played Florida State and Baylor very tough on neutral courts before losing.
Sophomore point guard Scott Machado, the MAAC Rookie of the Year last season, leads Iona in scoring (11.1), assists (4.3), and steals (2.1).
BY THE NUMBERS
27 _ Jerome Dyson’s career high in points for a single game.
4 _ The number of times Dyson has scored 27 in a game.
- Neill
