A pretty good effort by the Huskies in their final pre-conference game of the season. (Yes, the Huskies have two more non-conference games but this was their last “pre-” Big East game. Wait, why am I arguing with myself for my grammar while I type. Oh well, back to reality).
UConn 93, Iona 74 Sunday afternoon at the old mall.
Stanley Robinson (29 points) was great. Everybody else in a UConn uniform was good, too, at least on offense.
“We’re going to have to play tighter defense. We can’t allow penetration down the lane,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. “But when you’re scoring, quite frankly, as quickly and easily as we did…”
In other words, after his team scored a season-high 93 points and shot 59 percent from the floor, Calhoun wasn’t about to quibble over some average D.
UConn actually started hot, too, something it hasn’t done very often.
“We got off to a good start, we really got some energy there in the first half,” Jerome Dyson said.
Iona pressed and UConn prospered. The Husky transition game did most of the damage.
“I thought Dyson, (Kemba) Walker, Robinson were terrific,” Iona coach Kevin Willard said. “If they play like that every game, they’re going to be tough to beat.”
– Playing in front of daughters Kamilah and Kelsi helped Robinson, it seems.
“I think I like playing better when my family’s here,” Robinson
Four-year-old Kamilah attended one of her dad’s UConn games once before (a 2006-07 game at Georgia Tech) but this was 2-year-old Kelsi’s first time seeing Stanley in a Husky uniform.
– Calhoun said he was relatively pleased with where the Huskies are at this point (heading into league play).
“Record-wise probably yes,” Calhoun said. “I think 9-2 is acceptable for this team. I would like to see us growing.”
– Freshman Jamal Coombs-McDaniel scored a career-high 13 points, hitting all four of his shots.
“I got up a lot of shots before (the game),” Coombs-McDaniel said. “And when I had an open shot, I took it.”
– UConn’s 35 free throw attempts (and 23 makes) obviously made a difference in the game.
Iona shot just 10 free throws (and made nine). It did a better job of getting to the line (or got a better whistle) in beating Providence at the Dunk earlier this season.
“We got to the free throw line against Providence. We weren’t able to get to the free throw line against UConn. They did a good job of containing our penetration early,” Iona coach Kevin Willard said. “We could never get to the bonus. It’s tough when a team shoots 35 free throws and you shoot 10. You have no chance. Road, home, neutral, Mars, you’ve got no chance.”
OK, that’s it. Back to football.
- Neill
