UConn sports

UConn coach Jim Calhoun doesn’t want to talk about the NCAA Tournament. He just wants to focus on winning some games.

But, much like many subjects he doesn’t want to talk about, Calhoun still talks about them. (I know, it’s complicated)

So when asked Thursday if his Huskies have to run the table and win each of their last five games to make the tourney, Calhoun said absolutely not.

“I’m not worried about that right now,” Calhoun said. “But if someone said we had to win 20 games and to have 10 league wins, I would tell them they’re absolutely foolish given who we’ve played.”

If UConn wins out in the regular season it would finish 20-11, 10-8.

Based on the Huskies’ strength of schedule Calhoun thought three wins (out of five) might do it.

“We can compete. Now we have to really compete to get ourselves some wins,” Calhoun said. “Do I think we have to run the table? No. But we have to win some games.”

The Huskies (15-11, 5-8) take on Rutgers at the RAC Saturday.

– The coach spoke a little bit Thursday about his team’s recruiting efforts this season.

“We’re working very hard in recruiting. We think we’re involved with the right kids, who have ‘star potential’ eventually and other guys who can fill needs for us,” Calhoun said. “We do have needs yet we feel very, very good about where we sit.”

A talent upgrade is clearly needed around Storrs, it seems.

“There’s no question we have to get more players like some of the players we’ve had here in the past,” Calhoun said.

And just because UConn is struggling a bit on the court doesn’t mean it should or will struggle to lure players.

“Everybody things success really helps you, and it does,” Calhoun said. “But conversely, kids are looking for playing time right away. Well at UConn, that’s going to be available.”

– Most coaches have come out with some sort of tacit support for expanding the NCAA Tournament.

Calhoun? He’s not so sure. The coach sees it as another money-maker for the NCAA and not really in the interest of the game or the players.

“If I really thought it was better for the game, if someone could show me why it is, then I would say yes,” Calhoun said. “If it’s just to make additional monies, I would say no.”

It’s kind of funny that there’s talk of a 96-team NCAA tourney in a year that UConn _ if the event started today _ is in line to be left out of the Big Dance.

“We’d probably be in a 96-team field but not get into a 65-team field,” Calhoun said. “This might be the year I should really be speaking for it.

“But I’ve always felt it’s an honor and a privilege to be one of those 65 teams.”

- Neill

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

UConn 84, No. 3 Villanova 75

TURNING POINT _ If you ask UConn coach Jim Calhoun, the turning point came when the Huskies realized they were actually a good team.

It took 26 games, but the message has finally sunk in.

“We’re a good basketball team. You don’t beat Villanova at Villanova unless you’re good,” Calhoun said.

The Huskies are still far from perfect, of course, as their 11 losses indicate.

“We have some warts, we have some youth, we have some things that we don’t do,” Calhoun said.

But the Huskies at least have shown signs that they’re capable of beating anyone. It’s the most frustrating and at the same time encouraging news for UConn fans.

The same bunch that beat Texas and Villanova, lost to Cincinnati at home and got lambasted by Providence. It shows UConn has the ability to run the table and win the rest of its games, but also that it’s not very likely.

UNSUNG HERO _ Jamal Coombs-McDaniel has been waiting to contribute again for more than a month. His coaches and teammates have been waiting, too.

So when the freshman swingman got an open shot early in Monday’s game and he missed, it looked like the Dorchester, Mass., native’s struggles would continue. But Coombs-McDaniel got some immediate feedback from Calhoun on the shot he missed that helped him make to later.

“My first miss he said ‘That’s a good shot. Keep shooting it,’ ” Coombs-McDaniel said.

Coombs-McDaniel did so and hit two key 3-pointers later in the game. He also, like many of the Huskies did on Monday, dove and hit the floor to try and grab a loose ball. That effort was as important as his the return of his jump shot in many ways, Calhoun said.

BEST ‘X’ AND/OR ‘O’ _ Alex Oriakhi made major strides against the Wildcats. Relegated to the bench to start the game, Oriakhi responded with 10 points and three blocked shots.

So what was the difference in the freshman center’s offense?

“He caught it today,” point guard Kemba Walker said with a laugh.

Walker can afford to joke about it now but Oriakhi finally gave his guards confidence that good things might actually happen when they pass him the ball in the paint. They didn’t exactly have that before Monday.

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS _ Calhoun swears he took a different approach to coaching in Philadelphia.

He felt he had kicked and screamed enough. These Huskies needed a kinder, gentler approach it seems.

The coach tried to be as kind and as gentle as he possibly could _ granted, it was a lot more gruff and loud than most people’s definition of gentle.

“So tonight I was Mr. Smiley Face,” Calhoun said.

“Normally I push,” Calhoun continued. “But this team isn’t in a position psychologically to be pushed as hard, because they’ve had so many close ones.”

LOOKING AHEAD _ The last time UConn stunned a team ranked in the top five _ a Jan. 23 win over No. 1 Texas _ it followed that effort up with three consecutive losses. The Huskies hope they’ve learned a lesson about consistent efforts this time around.

Besides, they aren’t exactly in a position where they can afford to lose any more if they expect to play in the postseason.

“If we lose another one it’s pretty much game over as far as the tournament goes,” Gavin Edwards said. “There’s no tomorrow.”

Saturday the Huskies head to Rutgers.

BY THE NUMBERS

6 _ Consecutive road losses in Big East play by the Huskies before Monday night’s win.

9 _ The school record for consecutive Big East road losses, which began in the 1987-88 season and ended in the 1988-89 season.

- Neill

They’re not going away quietly, these Huskies.

You can’t stick a fork in them yet.

UConn knocked off No. 3 Villanova 84-75 Monday night in Philly, picking up its first road win of the season and just its second over a ranked opponent.

“That was a terrific win for us at a terrific time against a terrific team,” said UConn coach Jim Calhoun, who one game earlier was “embarrassed” by his team’s play against Cincinnati.

– All is not solved with one win. UConn still must probably win out to have any NCAA shot. But at least they’ve got a little shot in the arm now.

“We’re a good basketball team. You don’t beat Villanova at Villanova unless you’re good,” Calhoun said. “We have some warts, we have some youth, we have some things that we don’t do.”

– Calhoun had the line of the night when praising Jay Wright’s team and putting the brakes on any talk of his own group’s run deep into March.

“He’s built a terrific team here that’s capable of getting to Indianapolis (Final Four),” Calhoun said. “We’re capable of getting to Rutgers right now.”

– PG Kemba Walker had a career-high 29 points. He was 14-of-16 from the free throw line and also had his jump shot working.

“They backed up off me. I guess they wanted me to take the jump shot,” said Walker, who hit three 3-pointers and two other jumpers in the game. “Tonight I kind of got in a zone. I was shooting shots and making shots.”

– G Jerome Dyson had a horrible shooting night but still scored 15 points, had six assists and played tough defense on Scottie Reynolds (eventually). Reynolds had just four points in the second half.

Dyson also pumped up his team before the game and during breaks with chants of “Why not?” and “Why not now?”

– C Alex Oriakhi didn’t start for the first time this season. But he ended up with a solid 10 points, four rebounds and three blocks.

“I kind of used that as motivation and it worked,” Oriakhi said.

Because it worked so well, Oriakhi may come off the bench for a few more games.

“If I keep playing like that, I don’t mind,” Oriakhi said.

– G/F Jamal Coombs-McDaniel likes to shoot in (relatively) new NBA arenas. And he hadn’t done well anywhere else recently.

In the eight games since his 11-point outburst against Georgetown at the Phone Booth (MCI/Verizon), Coombs-McDaniel had scored a total of nine points.

But he busted out Monday with eight big points against Nova on the heels of two 3-pointers. And that was after missing his first shot, a wide-open look from three.

“My first miss he (Calhoun) said ‘That’s a good shot. Keep shooting it,’ ” Coombs-McDaniel said.

- Neill

By Neill Ostrout

STAFF WRITER

PHILADELPHIA _ Just when you think they’re out, they may just pull themselves back in.

Kemba Walker scored a career-high 29 points as UConn stunned No. 3 Villanova 84-75 Monday night before a crowd of 18,123 at the Wachovia Center

UConn had been without a road win all season, let alone one in as tough a place to play as this. It also had beaten only one ranked team all year.

UConn was suffering through one of its worst stretches of basketball in years, having lost eight of its last 11 games. And given its atrocious performance Saturday against Cincinnati at home as precursor, there was little evidence UConn was going to spring an upset.

But in the second game since coach Jim Calhoun’s return to the sidelines, that’s exactly what the Huskies did.

Jerome Dyson had 15 points for UConn (15-11, 5-8). Alex Oriakhi and Stanley Robinson added 10 points each.

Scottie Reynolds 18 to lead Villanova (22-3, 11-2).

The Huskies somehow held a lead at halftime despite getting six turnovers from Robinson, 10 missed shots from Dyson and allowing Reynolds to score 14 an easy points.

UConn was up 36-35 after a foul-plagued first half. Two Husky starters, Ater Majok and Charles Okwandu, had three fouls each in the first 20 minutes.

UConn 36, Villanova 35 halfway through things here at the Wachovia Center.

Kemba Walker leads UConn with nine points.

Scottie Reynolds has 14 for Villanova.

It’s a game of mad scrambles for the ball, and the Huskies are actually showing some life.

UConn led by six at one point, but mounting fouls on both teams have kept things pretty closed.

Stanley Robinson is well on his way to a triple-double. He’s got six points, seven rebounds and six turnovers.

- Neill

Not exactly what the 14,605 fans who showed up Saturday in Hartford expected. Or what anyone on the court did, it seems.

Cincinnati beat UConn 60-48, and it probably wasn’t that close.

“Clearly the low point, in my opinion, of the season,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said after his return to the bench. “Not the fact that we lost the game. We had lost 10 previous games. But more importantly, the type of effort we gave is not the type of effort we’re going to need.”

Calhoun called it the worst performance in his 24 years at UConn.

“We started slow, continued to play slow and only starting playing in the last two minutes,” guard Jerome Dyson said.

– UConn’s big men (save Gavin Edwards) were awful.

Ater Majok, Alex Oriakhi and Charles Okwandu combined for zero points.

“You can’t put three kids, the smallest one being 6-foot-9, on the court for 44 minutes and have them not score a basket by accident,” Calhoun said. “It seems like an impossibility.”

The coach was off with his math a bit (it was 40 minutes total) but his point is right on.

The lack of production up front put plenty of pressure on the guards.

“It doesn’t take the guys on the outside off the hook,” Calhoun said. “But some of the stuff you can talk about ‘Well, they just went on their own.’ You have a choice: throw it to a guy who’s going to drop it or go on your own.”

– The Huskies (14-11, 4-8) have six regular season games left beginning Monday at Villanova. It might not be pretty.

– Cincinnati’s back in the talk for NCAA Tournament berths. The players, it seems, aren’t too consumed by it.

“They don’t feel the stress. You’d be amazed,” Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said. “They don’t sit around ‘Are we going to make the tournament?’ Fans, coaches, media, everybody’s analyzing it. They’re worried about their girlfriends, their two cell phones, their texting minutes.”

– Cincinnat G Deonta Vaughn said the Bearcats played the “No Paint” game on defense in practice and tried to carry it over to the game.

If any offensive player got into the paint during a practice drill, the defensive team would lose points. The Bearcats apparently tried to take the same approach Saturday.

– Vaughn on his late game free throws (4-for-4): “When I go to the line it’s a done deal,” Vaughn said. “You can wrap it up.”

– Vaughn on playing in Calhoun’s first game back: “We didn’t stress about it, talk about it, nothing like that,” he said.

- Neill

By Neill Ostrout

STAFF WRITER

HARTFORD _ It doesn’t appear to matter who is coaching the UConn basketball team. Whoever is leading them, the Huskies don’t seem built to win games.

Jim Calhoun returned to the team after a leave of absence that lasted seven games and the Huskies played perhaps as poorly as they have all season.

Cincinnati beat UConn 60-48 Saturday afternoon at the XL Center as the Huskies struggled mightily to score points until the final minutes.

Kemba Walker had 14 points UConn (14-11, 4-8), which has lost eight of its last 11 games. Jerome Dyson added 13.

It was UConn’s lowest point total since a 46-40 win over Villanova Feb. 11, 2002. It was the Huskies’ lowest in a loss since a 59-42 loss to Syracuse Feb. 28, 1999.

“It was one of the worst performances I’ve had here at UConn in 24 years,” Calhoun said. “I never thought we competed.”

Lance Stephenson led Cincinnati (15-9, 6-6) with 14 points.

Down 13 points with 2:25 to play in the game, UConn used its full-court pressure to stage a brief rally. The Huskies scored seven straight points to pull within six at 52-26 and 1:23 still on the clock.

The Huskies may have actually come all the way back if not for six missed free throws in the game’s final four minutes.

Cincinnati scored the final five points of the first half and began the second half with a 14-3 run. With 12 minutes to play in the game the Bearcats led 36-25, and it had been more than 11 minutes since the Huskies connected on a field goal.

UConn missed its first nine shots in the second half and 12 straight overall.

Gavin Edwards finally broke the Huskies hex with 11:31 to play in the game but it appeared too late to save his team.

It’s UConn 22, Cincinnati 22 halfway through things at the Mall this afternoon.

The Huskies were down five early, up six later on, then tied late in the half.

Stanley Robinson has 10 points to lead all scorers. (Hint: it’s not an offensive show)

Jim Calhoun entered the arena just before tipoff to a standing ovation (from those fans who actually bothered to show up on time, that is) and to the sounds of Republica’s “Ready to Go.”

- Neill