UConn sports

Charles Okwandu starting today in place of Ater Majok against Michigan.

A few hours before tip-off here in Crisler Arena.

The Huskies and Wolverines are getting ready to do battle (CBS at 1:30 for Verne Lundquist and company…1:00 on WTIC for Joe D’Ambrosio and crew).

Expect a raucous crowd of Maize and Blue (actually, just Maize today). And many of the students will be seated right behind the UConn bench _ a recipe for some interesting comments and looks from coach Jim Calhoun, it would seem.

– The national perception of UConn is still quite impressive. For instance, take a look at the final paragraph of the advance story in Sunday morning’s Detroit Free Press:

“Connecticut has two potential NBA lottery picks in 6-foot-9 forward Stanley Robinson, who is more athletic and taller than anyone Michigan will match up with him, and point guard Kemba Walker, who is faster and smoother than any of the Wolverines’ guards. Shooting guard Jerome Dyson also is a likely NBA player, and freshman big man Alex Oriakhi also could be a lottery pick in two years.”

-Neill

Greetings from Ann Arbor (in Ypsilanti at the moment, but anyway) as we get ready for UConn-Michigan on Sunday afternoon (1:30 p.m., CBS).

I and my esteemed colleagues in the media got a chance to speak with UConn coach Jim Calhoun and a few of the Huskies this afternoon before practice at Crisler Arena. Here are a few of the highlights:

– Apparently practice has been pretty spirited since the Huskies lost to Pittsburgh Wednesday night.

“We had a couple good days of practice,” guard Jerome Dyson said. “Coach got everybody competing in practice. We’ve been scrimmaging a lot.”

Calhoun says it’s a slightly different approach than the one he used last year, but that he and the coaching staff have done a little more “good-versus-good.”

“We’ve tried to put best-against-best, tried to have them compete against each other,” Calhoun said. “We’ve made some games up and, quite frankly, they’ve been very even.”

Calhoun said last year the Huskies pretty much went 1′s (starters) against red (scout team) for most of the season. This week was a little bit of a departure.

– For Dyson, he’s anxious to play against a team that doesn’t know the Huskies quite as well.

“Yeah, it is. They might not know every play we run,” Dyson said. “A lot of teams this year have been calling our plays out for us before we run them.”

– Who on the Michigan roster is UConn most wary of? It might be the team’s fourth-leading scorer.

“Everyone talks about how good Manny Harris is, and he’s terrfic. (DeShawn) Sims? Terrific,” Calhoun said. “But (Stu) Douglass killed us last year.”

Calhoun’s right on that last point. Douglass hit six 3′s and scored 20 against UConn last season in Gampel.

– Michigan coach John Beilein’s complimentary words from Friday were relayed to Calhoun Saturday afternoon. A reporter mentioned how Beilein recalled Calhoun mentoring him when he first took the head coaching job at West Virginia.

“That sounds like I’m nice,” Calhoun deadpanned. “And that couldn’t be farther from the truth.”

Actually, the two men are relatively good friends.

“John Beilein is an easy guy to be a competitor with, and also a friend with,” Calhoun said.

- Neill

Michigan coach John Beilein met with the Ann Arbor-area media Friday afternoon to talk about Sunday’s game against UConn.

Here are a few of the key phrases:

– On Beilein’s (former West Virginia and Richmond, not to mention Canisius and LeMoyne) familiarity with Jim Calhoun and UConn:

“I don’t think it’s an advantage either way,” Beilein said. “We’re not going to surprise each other, let’s say that.”

– Beilein called Calhoun something of a mentor, even though the men are only 11 years apart in age.

Apparently when Beilein first got to West Virginia Calhoun gave him a few tips about life in the Big East. Callhoun told Beilein his old ‘Just coach one team, Irish’ story from an early meeting with St. John’s.

“He mentored me when I first got in the league in a little bit, just by telling me about how to approach coaching at this level,” Beilein said. “It was good. His basic message to me was coach one team at a time. He told me the whole story about Lou Carnesecca. Don’t worry about what other people are doing, worry about what you’re doing.”

– Beilein’s teams are usually known for a 1-3-1 zone defense (and they’ll play plenty of it Sunday) but the coach isn’t focusing on it now.

“I’m more excited about our man-to-man than anything. It’s getting better,” Beilein said.

– On Calhoun’s continued success:

“He really knows how to coach and they’ve been able to recruit tremendous players,” Beilein said.

– The Michigan fans are apparently pretty fired up about the game.

“It’s always an exciting day on campus when you have a power from another league come in to play you,” Beilein said. “And it was exciting for us to go there last year.”

There is a “Maize Out” planned at Crisler Arena Sunday. Expect plenty of corn in the stands…I mean yellow….I mean, well, maize.

– Michigan forward DeShawn Sims on the size disadvantage the Wolverines are likely to be at against UConn.

“If we come out and play hard, the length and the height won’t matter,” Sims said.

– Sims said Friday afternoon he hadn’t watched a lot of film on the Huskies yet but has seen them on TV this season.

“I’ve seen them on TV. Pretty big team, easily beatable team if we come in and play hard,” Sims said.

- Neill

David McMichael, an assistant coach with the UConn football team for the last nine years, accepted a similar position at West Virginia Friday.

McMichael coached tight ends at UConn this season but also spent time as an offensive line coach and special teams coordinator with the Huskies.

McMichael previsously spent 18 years as a WVU assistant, all with former West Virginia head coach Don Nehlen. McMichael played for Nehlen at Bowling Green.

“David’s ability as a coach and recruiter are exceptional as his 35-year coaching resume can attest,” West Virginia head coach Bill Stewart said in a statement announcing McMichael’s hiring. “I was very impressed with the job he did as a member of the staff at Connecticut, helping lead the Huskies to winning seasons and bowl games.”

McMichael will coach the tight ends and serve as special teams co-coordinator with the Mountaineers.

“It’s great to come back ‘home’ to West Virginia University,” McMichael said in a statement. “Bill Stewart is a tremendous person, who I’ve worked with in the past. I am excited now to work for him. He is a quality leader who has tremendous vision and the ability to coach football. During my years that I was gone from here, I always had a spot in my heart for this place, and now I get to be a full-fledged member of the staff again. This is a dream come true. No one knows how special of a place this is until you leave.”

- Neill

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

Pittsburgh 67, UConn 57

TURNING POINT _ Given the number of big leads that have disappeared in Big East play recently _ including UConn’s 19-point advantage over Georgetown and Louisville’s 17-point edge over Villanova _ UConn needn’t have been too worried about being in a 10-point hole early in the game.

And even when Pittsburgh pulled again pulled ahead by 10 early in the second half, the Huskies didn’t have to panic.

Sure enough, UConn staged a nice rally, scored 10 straight points and took a 47-46 lead with 9:39 left in the game.

But the Panthers, who have made a living early in the conference season by staying tough on the road, refused to go away quietly _ or even go away, for that matter. Pittsburgh, after key timeouts by coach Jamie Dixon apparently calmed the players down during the Huskies’ run, stayed with its game plan and created some separation once again.

A 9-2 spurt by the visitors put them back up by six points with under four minutes to play in the game.

“When it came down to it and we got the lead, we didn’t get the stops when we needed them,” UConn guard Jerome Dyson said. “We’d come down, make a good play and then let the other team get a three or a layup.”

UNSUNG HERO _ Many of the Pittsburgh players, some of whom you may not have known by name until now, earned this honor.

The undersized Panthers (with the exception of 250-pound center Gary McGhee) played big on the backboards, outrebounding UConn 26-13 in the second half. Six-foot-3 guard Jermaine Dixon and 6-5 forward Nasir Robinson came up the biggest, pulling down seven and six rebounds respectively.

UConn’s front line, which usually featured the 6-9 Stanley Robinson, the 6-10 Gavin Edwards and the 6-9 Alex Oriakhi, could not get its share of caroms.

“I asked the guys where was (DeJuan) Blair?” Calhoun said.

BEST/WORST ‘X’ AND/OR ‘O’ _ UConn’s offense, which has rarely looked in sync during half-court possessions this season, executed very poorly. The Huskies produced a season-low 57 points and many of their second-half possessions turned into simple 1-on-1 battles.

“I say it’s poor offense that led, at the end, to the 1-on-1 with Dyson and Kemba (Walker),” Calhoun said.

UConn did make 46.3 percent of its shots, so it wasn’t all bad. But too often key trips down court often resulted in turnovers or missed free throws.

“They ran their offense pretty well,” Edwards said. “We were kind of in disarray the whole game. We never ran things the way we were supposed to. We didn’t set screens. It comes down to execution and they out-executed us.”

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS _ There was an Ater Majok sighting in the second half Wednesday.

After not appearing at all in the second half of UConn’s last game, a loss to Georgetown, the freshman played some rather significant minutes against the Panthers.

Majok, who continues to start at power forward even though most of the minutes go to Edwards, was on the floor in place of center Alex Oriakhi during some big moments Wednesday. He came up with a few key plays, getting a put-back on Dyson’s free throw miss and making a nice post-up move with three minutes left in the game.

He finished with a modest line of 4 points, 2 blocks, 1 rebound and 1 steal in 10 minutes of action, but seemed to earn more playing time as the season goes forward.

LOOKING AHEAD _ John Beilein’s Michigan team has been somewhat up-and-down this season. Sound familiar?

UConn should have an advantage on the court when the two teams hook up Sunday afternoon. But Crisler Arena isn’t the easiest place to play, and the Huskies haven’t had many (any?) easy games this season. Expect a battle.

BY THE NUMBERS

9 _ Rebounds by Alex Oriakhi in the first half Monday.

0 _ Rebounds by Alex Oriakhi in the second half Monday.

- Neill

Former UConn quarterback Shane Fogarty was named a graduate assistant football coach with the Huskies Thursday.

Fogarty, a native of Morgantown, W.Va., was a member of the Husky program from 2002-05 and earned a letter in his senior season. He graduated from UConn in May 2006 with a degree in history.

“We are very happy to welcome Shane back to the UConn football family,” head coach Randy Edsall said in a statement. “During his time as a student-athlete here, Shane was an extremely hard worker and had a deep understanding of the game of football. We look forward to him taking those traits to our coaching staff.”

Fogarty spent the 2009 football season as an assistant coach at Norwich University in Northfield, Vt. He worked with the wide receivers and also recruited and was responsible for opponent film breakdown. He was an assistant coach at Trinity College in Hartford from 2006-08 working with the running backs and special teams for the Bantams.

Fogarty also served as a head coach and offensive coordinator in the spring of 2008 for the Carinthian Black Lions in the Austrian Football League.

In 2001, he led Morgantown High School to a championship in the state’s biggest division. He had a 25-2 record as a starting quarterback in high school and was a two-time All-State pick.

- Neill

Some of the early fallout from Pittsburgh 67, UConn 57:

– What was UConn’s biggest issue?

6-for-13 from the free throw line? Good guess.

26-13 on the boards in the second half? Another good try.

6 turnovers, including one really big one, and 4 missed free throws from your best player (Jerome Dyson)? Maybe.

But coach Jim Calhoun says the biggest problem was 35 and 40. The Huskies don’t play the full 35 seconds of a shot clock on each possession and they don’t play the full 40 minutes in a game.

“Some of the games against Harvard and some of those teams _ they’re very good teams, it’s nothing against those teams _ were early indications that we don’t play 35 and 40,” Calhoun said. “In the past those games were 15, 18 or 20 on a good Harvard team. But they weren’t. They were six points with two minutes to go and they had the ball.

“This has been a season-long problem.”

– The Huskies have had a few hiccups before this season, but Wednesday was the team’s first loss at home this season.

– Not only is Pitt 4-0 in league play, the Panthers have won the last three of those on the road (at Syracuse, at Cincinnati, at UConn).

So what makes the Panthers so good on the road?

“Good players is the first thing,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “And the second thing is probably good players. And then the next thing is probably good players.”

– It was clear Pittsburgh won nearly all of the “hustle” stats in the second half.

“We seemed to get every loose ball in the second half,” Dixon said. “We got on the floor.”

Calhoun put it another way:

“They wanted to win,” he said of the Panthers. “And they didn’t talk about winning, they showed it. Talking about it is one thing, doing it is another.”

– UConn was ahead 18-14 on the boards after one half. Pitt turned that around and out-rebounded UConn 26-13 in the second half.

“I asked the guys where was (DeJuan) Blair?” Calhoun said.

– Stanley Robinson had 19 points and went over 1,000 in his career.

“Yeah, it’s nice to know that I finally got 1,000,” Robinson said.

– There was a small problem with the possession arrow at the start of the game Wednesday. After a jump ball early on, the lighted sign on top of the scorer’s table wasn’t turned on.

Referee Tim Higgins confirmed it by checking with a few reporters seated along press row.

“Can you see that arrow?” Higgins asked.

Told that we couldn’t see it, either, Higgins laughed.

“I thought it was the end of my career,” he said.

- Neill