UConn sports

UConn 88, Texas 74?

Who knew the Huskies were this good?

Apparently interim/associate head coach George Blaney did.

“They need to believe in themselves. They need to believe how good they are,” Blaney said after the game. “They played the number one schedule in the country then beat the number one team in the country. In order to do that, you have to be really good.”

– UConn scored 54 points (shooting 60 percent) in the second half. It was the Huskies’ best output in any half this season and the most Texas has given up in any half this season.

“We’ve been there before. All the ranked opponents we’ve played so far, we’ve been down,” said Jerome Dyson, who scored a career-high 32 points. “We fought back in those games and we weren’t able to get over the hurdle. Today we were able to.”

– The Huskies called coach Jim Calhoun (who missed his second game because of a medical leave of absence) from the locker room after the game.

“He was excited,” Blaney said. “He told them how tough they were and how he believed all along in their heart. He never questioned their heart. And when you’re 10-down to the number one team in the country and come back to go 10-up in a short period of time, that is heart.”

The team certainly misses Calhoun.

“We have to play for him now,” Dyson said. “We know that these wins will help him get better because it will take some of the stress off him having to worry about us. He can focus on getting himself better.”

Said Ater Majok: “I do miss him. I miss him yelling at me.”

– Blaney had some good advice for Kemba Walker at halftime.

“Yeah, I told him ‘Don’t turn the ball over,’ ” Blaney said. “I’m serious.”

It kind of worked. Walker had six turnovers in the first half but only two (both in the early minutes) in the second half.

Blaney’s straight talk apparently worked on other occasions, too.

“I told him another time ‘Go tell Alex (Oriakhi) to make two foul shots,’ ” Blaney said. “He looked him like I was crazy and I said ‘Go tell him!’ So he did, and he made them.

“Then when Kemba missed one I said ‘Ask Alex to tell you to make a foul shot.’ ”

– How much credit does Blaney deserve for the Huskies’ two-game win streak?

“Yeah, I think I’ve had a lot to do with it,” Blaney said. “I’ve done exactly what Jim would want me to do with his team. I think that he prepared the players to play this way.”

– UConn had 20 turnovers but NONE in the final 16 minutes.

“I think we just slowed down and we executed our offense,” Gavin Edwards said. “In the first half we were kind of rushing everything, trying to make the home run passes. In the second half we were making the passes that were there.”

– Walker’s 3-point heave late in the game was a bit reminiscent of former UConn point guard Taliek Brown’s shot in the 2002 Big East tournament championship game at MSG.

Brown’s was deeper (some 35 feet to about 26 for Walker) and more a prayer, and later in the game (near the end of the second overtime as opposed to six minutes left in regulation) but still…

“When it went in all I could think about was when Taliek Brown hit that shot,” Walker said.

– Top scoring games at Gampel Pavilion by a UConn player?

39 _ Ray Allen vs. Rutgers on Feb. 28, 1996

37 _ Ben Gordon vs. Nevada on Nov. 11, 2003

37 _ Chris Smith vs. St. John’s on Jan. 7, 1992

33 _ Rashad Anderson vs. Morehead State on Dec. 23, 2005

32 _ Richard Hamilton vs. Richmond on Nov. 19, 1998

32 _ Chris Smith vs. Providence on Feb. 22, 1992

32 _ Jerome Dyson vs. Texas on Jan. 23, 2010

- Neill

UConn is behind top-ranked Texas 42-34 halfway through today’s game.

Texas went up by nine early but the Huskies rallied to tie it. UConn then fell behind by nine again.

If UConn could hold onto the ball a bit better (9 turnovers in the first six minutes) things might look better for the the home team.

Kemba Walker has six of the Huskies’ 16 first-half turnovers.

The Huskies also cooled off with their shooting after a hot start. They made nine of their first 11 shots from the floor, then made only one of their next 10.

Jerome Dyson has a game-high 14 points for UConn.

- Neill

The two teams are warming up here in Gampel Pavilion to the usual mix of Guns ‘N’ Roses and Archie Eversole.

Tipoff isn’t until 4:15 p.m., in case you didn’t know. So get comfortable.

Plenty of excitement in the building already. All of the students are in the house and seated. The rest of the riffraff is slowly filtering in.

Twenty-three credentials were issued to NBA scouts for today’s game, including three to the Knicks. Danny Ainge of the Celtics is expected to be here, so is former Husky Bob Staak (Orlando Magic) and former Seton Hall forward Arturas Karnisovas (Houston Rockets).

We’ll talk to you at the half.

- Neill

We got sort of caught up with the UConn basketball team this afternoon but football coach Randy Edsall had a conference call with reporters Friday afternoon, too, and had a lot of updates.

A number of players have left the program and some have returned:

– Fullback Anthony Davis is gone “due to a university suspension,” Edsall says.

– WR Brian Parker has left the school and the program. Edsall says it’s for academic reasons.

– A number of walk-ons have also left: OG Clark Maturo, LB James Healy, LS Glenn Kolebrenner and OT Zac Zielinski have departed.

– OG Scott Schultz has transferred to the University of New Haven.

– FS Aaron Bagsby will graduate this summer and leave the program.

– Among the players who are already on campus and started classes Tuesday are: DE Marcus Campbell, ATH/QB Leon Kinnard, LB Mike Osiecki, DE Jonathan Louis, OT Greg McKee, LB Andrew Opoku and DB Gilbert St. Louis.

– One more player who will return is OG Mathieu Olivier. After first thinking he would leave after completing his undergraduate work, Olivier changed his mind and will return for a fifth year of school (grad school) and football.

“I got a phone call from him and I told him I’d love to have him back,” Edsall said. “I didn’t really want him to leave in the first place.”

– How about some position changes?

For starters, Scott Lutrus is moving (or rather staying put..he moved late in the season for injury reasons) to middle linebacker.

Related to that move is Greg Lloyd’s switch from middle linebacker to defensive end.

Then there’s Jonathan Jean-Louis. He’s moving from linebacker to running back.

Kijuan Dabney is moving again. He’s going back to outside linebacker from safety. He moved the opposite way at the start of last season.

David Kenney’s going the other way. He’s moving from linebacker to strong safety.

– Let’s talk about injuries:

DE Jesse Joseph had shoulder surgery in January. He’s “doing fine” but won’t participate in spring practice.

OT Mike Ryan had shoulder surgery, too, and also won’t play in the spring.

CB Blidi Wreh-Wilson is in the same boat. Shoulder surgery and no spring practice.

Dabney’s shoulder is doing well and he “should be able to do some things in spring” according to Edsall.

QB Cody Endres (shoulder) will be fine for the spring.

OT Jimmy Bennett (knee) is recovering but won’t be able to do contact drills in spring.

RB/KR Robbie Frey (shoulder) is “coming along” but also won’t have contact in the spring.

Lloyd will miss spring practice.

– Edsall says he’s in the process of trying to hire a new defensive backs coach to replace Scott Lakatos and a new tight ends coach to replace Dave McMichael.

“I’m hoping I can have it wrapped up by signing day,” Edsall said. “And if I can, that will great. If I don’t, then hopefully it won’t go too much passed that.”

– Edsall on Campbell, who missed last semester at UConn (and last season) for academic reasons:

“I see a much more mature Marcus Campbell. I think he learned a lesson,” Edsall said. “It was very similar to what happened to Dahna Deleston.”

– Do the UConn assistant coaches need better salaries for the Huskies to stay competitive?

“I’ve already had that discussion with Jeff (Hathaway),” Edsall said of the UConn athletic director. “And I’ll just leave it at that.”

– An internet report indicated UConn running backs coach Terry Richardson was/is a finalist for the offensive coordinator job at Syracuse.

Not even close, Edsall says.

“You shouldn’t believe all that you read, just like with me,” Edsall said.

“That came up about Terry about two weeks ago. He called me and started laughing. There is no truth to that what so ever,” Edsall said.

– UConn RB Andre Dixon and DE Lindsey Witten (I guess they’re “former” players now) will compete in the East-West Shrine Game today (3 p.m., ESPN2).

– Former UConn RB Donald Brown is kind of busy this weekend, too.

“I’d like to say how excited I am for Donald Brown to be playing in the AFC Championship game this weekend,” Edsall said. “It’s good for our program to have one of our players playing in that, and have the opportunity to get to the Super Bowl. We wish him well.”

– FYI, the Huskies begin spring practice March 16. The Blue-White Game is April 17 at Rentschler Field.

- Neill

A few words from UConn basketball practice Friday at Gampel Pavilion (and from Texas coach Rick Barnes) as we get ready for the Huskies and Longhorns Saturday (4 p.m., CBS):

– UConn coach Jim Calhoun’s leave of absence continues, though interim head coach George Blaney said he spoke to Calhoun yesterday.

“I talked to him (Thursday) night and he sounded great,” Blaney said.

So did Calhoun watch Wednesday night’s game against St. John’s?

“I think he watched,” Blaney said. “I don’t know if the doctor supposed to know that. I want to be careful. By the way we talked, he knew what was going on. He was really happy with it. He was happy that we fought.”

According to Blaney, Calhoun has not been on campus since starting his leave Tuesday.

– Stanley Robinson and the Huskies haven’t spoken to Calhoun. But Robinson’s mother Rosa apparently did talk with the coach.

“Coach said he was feeling a little better,” Robinson said of his mom’s chat with Calhoun. “He said he’d be back soon.”

The players seem to miss him (insert tear).

“It’s been tough but I’m praying for him,” Robinson said. “I need him back. That’s all I’m saying.”

– With or without Calhoun, Barnes believes he knows what he’ll face today.

“They’re going to run, they’re going to rebound and they’re going to block shots. Because I know Jim Calhoun,” Barnes said. “Those three areas of the game you better be ready to deal with or you’re not going to have a chance.”

– So does Texas C Dexter Pittman’s size worry Blaney?

“It scares me to death,” Blaney said of the 6-10, 290-pounder. “I know whatever weight they have in the program, it’s not enough. He’s a lot more than that. More importantly, his arms are way longer than his body should indicate.”

Between Pittman and forward Damion James (17.3 ppg, 11.0 rpg), the Huskies may have their hands full.

“We’re probably going to need four of those guys (big guys) and we’re not afraid to play Stanley at the four either,” Blaney said.

– This is the first time ever that a No. 1 team has visited Gampel. And just the second time any No. 1 team has visited UConn (Kansas came to Hartford as No. 1 in January of 1997)

The Huskies are seemingly pretty pumped.

“We’ve played the best schedule in the country so we know what playing teams like this is like,” Blaney said. “They know what it’s like and they’ll be ready to play.”

– UConn leads the all-time series 3-2.

Calhoun has a 9-8 edge over Barnes in their 17 meetings, most of them UConn-Providence tilts.

Blaney was 1-3 against Barnes when the former was at Holy Cross and the latter at Providence.

– Jones apparently called Barnes the other day to apologize for the team’s loss to Kansas State Monday night.

“He said ‘I’m sorry about the way I played the other night. It was my fault. I didn’t set the tone for our guys,’ ” Barnes said. “He’s just matured so much.

“He does not act like a guy who is having a phenomenal year,” Barnes added.

– It seems none of the Huskies have picked ex-UConn forward Curtis Kelly’s brain yet on how to beat Texas.

“No. But I was definitely glad to see Curtis do well,” Gavin Edwards said.

- Neill

A look back at Wednesday’s UConn-St. John’s game:

UConn 75, St. John’s 59

TURNING POINT _ Playing without coach Jim Calhoun and staring at a three-game losing streak, the Huskies didn’t flinch. They played as well on offense _ at least in the half-court set _ as they have all season.

But interim head coach George Blaney wasn’t about to take credit for the good showing. He gives Calhoun credit for laying the foundation for the victory, and says he’ll continue to follow the plan.

“You need to still follow what Jim does. It’s Jim’s team, it’s not my team,” Blaney said Thursday. “Whatever feelings I have about how things should be or shouldn’t be, that’s not important. It’s important to continue and have some continuity in what we do.

“The players have to adjust a little bit to a different style,” Blaney continued. “Whether I yell or don’t yell, or whatever it is I do a little differently, they have to adjust to that. But the way we play, we should be playing the same way.”

UNSUNG HERO _ Reserve guard Donnell Beverly played 21 minutes Sunday against Michigan, but much of that was out of necessity. Jerome Dyson picked up two quick fouls and UConn needed some backcourt help badly.

Against St. John’s, however, there was no specific need for Beverly to play a load of minutes but he did so anyway.

Beverly came up with four points, three assists, two rebounds and a steal in 19 minutes against the Red Storm. He also provided a nice spark with a breakaway dunk midway through the second half.

It was his first dunk in a game as a Husky.

“I knew once I got the steal I was going to dunk,” Beverly said. “It was in my mind the whole time. I was just thinking about which dunk I was going to do.”

BEST ‘X’ AND/OR ‘O’ _ An offense that had looked at times stagnant and other times stalled came to life Wednesday. Point guard Kemba Walker looked confident in directing traffic, not hesitant, and as a team the Huskies ran their plays at full speed for nearly 40 minutes.

“In practice we’ve been working on running plays,” Beverly said. “Running plays, running plays, running plays. That’s what has really been killing us down the stretch in close games. We haven’t really been able to run our offense all the way through to get the shots that we want.”

As a result of running hard, setting good screens and sticking with the plays, the Huskies got open shots and they made them. UConn made 56.9 percent of its shots against St. John’s, 65.4 percent in the second half.

The Huskies also hit 3-pointers at a pace they hadn’t in nearly a month. They made six Wednesday after connecting on a total of six over the previous four games.

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS _ One of the men officiating Wednesday’s game was Wally Rutecki. Calhoun famously called Rutecki “incompetent” after a win over Northeastern in December 2007.

Calhoun received two technical fouls that night _ one of which he said was for laughing. He was later reprimanded by the Big East for his comments about the officials.

Wednesday is believed to be the first time Rutecki has worked a UConn game since that incident. And it happened to come in the first game of Calhoun’s medical leave.

LOOKING AHEAD _ Top-ranked Texas visits Gampel Pavilion Saturday. The Longhorns will become the first No. 1 team to face the Huskies in Gampel and just the second visiting No. 1 in UConn history (joining Kansas, who played against UConn in Hartford on Jan. 19, 1997).

“Texas coming in Saturday is a game we’ve looked forward to,” Blaney said.

Texas is coming off a loss to Kansas State on Monday night and likely doesn’t enjoy the prospect of losing two in a row.

BY THE NUMBERS

56 _ Points by UConn’s big three of Jerome Dyson (21), Kemba Walker (17) and Stanley Robinson (18).

62 _ The season high for the trio of Dyson (24), Walker (20) and Robinson (18), set against Harvard.

- Neill

A few words from around the Big East Conference, courtesy of today’s conference call with half of the league’s coaches:

– UConn interim head coach George Blaney says the Huskies aren’t really “his” team. Jim Calhoun may be on leave, but he’s still the coach.

“You need to still follow what Jim does. It’s Jim’s team, it’s not my team,” Blaney said.

Blaney said he spoke to Calhoun Wednesday night after the St. John’s game.

“I talked to him right after the game last night,” Blaney said.

– A number of the league’s coaches were asked about how they deal with the stress of the job, given Calhoun’s recent issues.

“If you ask my wife, I don’t deal with it well at all,” Villanova’s Jay Wright said.

“It’s something that we all have our own way to deal with. I’m working with mine constantly,” Wright added.

Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez says he’s taken a little bit easy recently, too.

“The way I was working when I was at Manhattan, was kind of maniacal. If I didn’t change a little bit, I probably would have a health issue by now,” Gonzalez said.

Said Providence’s Keno Davis: “I think what I try to do is leave my work as much as possible at the office.”

– DePaul snapped a 24-game conference losing streak Wednesday night by beating Marquette 51-50.

“They fought and they fought and they fought, which was really good for us,” interim coach Tracy Webster said.

“It was huge. I thought it was really huge for us,” Webster added.

– Seton Hall may not have a sparkling record but that might not be because of their talent level.

“Our schedule has been brutal, absolutely brutal,” Gonzalez said. “The perception that we’re not doing well is attributed to our schedule.”

- Neill

Heading out of the mall after UConn beat St. John’s 75-59.

Hey, Jim Calhoun or no Jim Calhoun, the Huskies own the Johnnies recently. That’s nine a row for UConn over their neighbors from Queens.

The three-game losing streak is over and now it’s on to Texas. But before that, let’s just take a look at a few of the particulars:

– Interim head coach George Blaney talked to Jerome Dyson, Kemba Walker and Stanley Robinson before the game, telling the trio they had better step up.

They did.

“Jerome and Kemba and Stanley were just outstanding,” Blaney said. “I told the three of them before the game that we need them to be great players. We can’t have them being ordinary players.”

– The Huskies made a total of six 3-pointers over their last three games before Wednesday. They hit six alone against St. John’s.

How did that happen? They got open looks. Or, more specifically, they ran the offense to get open looks.

“If you run it full speed, it makes it very difficult to defend,” Blaney said. “And if you run people into things _ whether it be into a defender, into a screen, into a referee. I don’t care who you run them into, just run somebody into something and you’re going to get open.”

– UConn was also 11-of-12 from the line, by far its best percentage of the season from the stripe.

– G Donnell Beverly has played 40 minutes in the Huskies’ last two games.

In the seven games before that he played a total of 37.

– C Charles Okwandu started again and actually played some significant minutes. He had a dunk and a very unlikely up-fake, baseline drive and reverse layup.

“I don’t know what that was,” Walker said. “It was good, though. It worked out for him.”

– Dyson had the play of the game with a high-flying block on D.J. Kennedy’s transition layup attempt in the second half.

“I missed the shot so I had to hustle back and get that one,” Dyson said with a smile.

– Most of the players it seems were stunned when Calhoun didn’t show up for practice Tuesday.

“He seemed like his normal self,” Dyson said. “I was surprised when I came to practice to find out.”

But Walker, for one, said he thinks Calhoun might actually be back for the Texas game.

“I think it’s possible,” Walker said. “He’s a fighter.”

So, Kemba, it wouldn’t surprise you if he showed up at practice Friday or the game Saturday?

“It wouldn’t surprise me if he came today!” Walker said.

- Neill