UConn sports

Tonight the University of Connecticut men’s basketball team will introduce the latest “elite fit” from Nike for college basketball, the Nike Hyper Elite uniform which according to the company is 70 percent lighter than a traditional elite level basketball uniform.

UConn will be one of several teams in college hoops that will debut the Nike Hyper Elite uniforms this month, which “celebrates the rich spirit, tradition and culture of the nation’s top basketball programs.”

Nike designers worked with the university to create a distinctive look for the Huskies. Inspired in part by the program’s two national championships, the UConn jerseys feature two stars representing the two NCAA titles.

Three oak leaves and two acorns are placed at the top of the design, which represents the potential and the desire to grow toward perfection. The ceiling of the Business Building located on the campus, along with the establishment year of the university, 1881, represents the central focal point of the design. An image of UConn’s famed Husky mascot helps to complete the design.

- Neill

The UConn football team’s schedule, along with the rest of the Big East slate, was just announced. We’ll have more details soon.

CONNECTICUT

Sat., Sept. 4 at Michigan

Sat., Sept. 11 Texas Southern

Sat., Sept. 18 at Temple

Sat., Sept. 25 Buffalo

Sat., Oct. 2 Vanderbilt

Fri., Oct. 8 at RUTGERS (7:30 p.m., ESPN)

Sat., Oct. 23 at LOUISVILLE

Fri., Oct. 29 WEST VIRGINIA (8 p.m., ESPN2)

Thu., Nov. 11 PITTSBURGH (7:30 p.m., ESPN)

Sat., Nov. 20 at SYRACUSE

Sat., Nov. 27 CINCINNATI

Sat., Dec. 4 at USF (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2)

- Neill

Wednesday night will be the second-ever meeting between college basketball coaches who each have 800 or more career wins _ sort of.

UConn’s Jim Calhoun will miss his seventh consecutive game when the Huskies visit Jim Boeheim’s Orange at the Carrier Dome. So while George Blaney will fill in for Calhoun again, Calhoun still could get credit for a victory.

The only other 800-800 game came when Calhoun faced off against Duke’ Mike Krzyzewski earlier this season.

Anyway, here are some items from UConn’s practice Tuesday afternoon:

– Calhoun remains on an indefinite leave of absence but the Huskies really miss him, Blaney says.

“I think they miss him a great deal. His passion, his drive, his ability to motivate them, to get them to do the things we’ve been built to do,” Blaney said. “The sooner it is he can come back, the better it is for himself and for the players.”

Blaney and Calhoun have kept in close contact.

“I talk to him every day,” Blaney said.

Still no timetable for his return, it seems.

“As soon as he and doctors are ready,” Blaney said.

So is Blaney surprised or concerned that Calhoun has been out so long?

“We haven’t had time to think about that,” Blaney said.

– Syracuse F Wes Johnson concerns the Huskies. So does G Andy Rautins.

But the biggest worry for UConn might be C Arinze Onuaku, a senior who has become an offensive weapon.

“He’s just burying people,” Blaney said. “His body is just so huge, it’s a little bit like when Shaq turns on you. He just moves you because he turns, not because he’s pushing you or shoving you. He just turns and he’s into you, and you’ve automatically moved.”

– Count Blaney among those who isn’t surprised by Syracuse’s strong play despite their player losses in the offseason.

“No. I said last summer that I thought they were going to be a great team,” Blaney said. “I said it all fall and I believe I picked them first or second. I thought they were going to be really good. I thought they had good combinations. And the guy (Boeheim) wins all the time. It’s just like our Jim. They know how to win. You put 25 or 27 wins a year up for 30 years, you have a pretty good idea what you’re doing.”

– Once again it seems the UConn “reserves” had strong efforts in practice. We’ll see if it finally translates to the games.

“The guy that’s coming along, and he’s actually starting, is Ater Majok,” Blaney said. “I think Ater is gaining confidence every single day. He’s starting to do more and more things every day. He certainly is more of a factor in games. He can affect games. And that’s what you’re looking for from guys that come off the bench.”

– G/F Jamal Coombs-McDaniel continues to perhaps the greatest mystery.

“Shooters are a rare breed,” Blaney said. “They kind of think a little differently than most people.

“A lot of times it takes a game or like the half he had against Georgetown,” Blaney continued. “Normally something like than can really get you going and really can change your whole approach to how you play and your own confidence in yourself.”

Even though Coombs didn’t exactly get in a roll after that Georgetown performance (seven points total in the eight games since) the coaches still believe he can and will contribute.

“He is a good shooter. He really can shoot the ball,” Blaney said. “He just needs to get it done a couple more times.”

– UConn will face a top 10 team for the fourth time this season on Wednesday, with No. 4 Villanova and No. 5 West Virgina just ahead on the schedule.

– UConn 1-4 against ranked teams this season.

– George Blaney was 2-6 against Syracuse in his days as a head coach, 2-3 while at Seton Hall and 0-3 at Holy Cross.

– UConn is 11-17 at the Carrier Dome, 10-15 against Syracuse in the regular season

– The Huskies are now 20-7 in games Calhoun has missed.

– UConn is 0-5 on road (1-7 including neutral site games).

- Neill

Did some quick research. Need an explanation of why UConn is struggling?

How about this one: The Huskies’ rebound margin, an area they’ve often dominated, is only average at best.

REBOUND MARGIN

Season Margin

2009-10 +3.2

2008-09 +8.9

2007-08 +6.4

2006-07 +6.6

2005-06 +9.5

2004-05 +11.2

2003-04 +9.8

2002-03 +5.3

2001-02 +4.6

2000-01 +5.9

1999-00 +5.2

1998-99 +7.2

1997-98 +4.0

1996-97 +3.3

1995-96 +9.0

1994-95 +4.9

1993-94 +6.2

1992-93 +1.5

1991-92 +2.6

1990-91 +0.3

1989-90 +2.2

1988-89 +1.7

1987-88 +2.0

1986-87 +0.7

- Neill

A look back at Saturday’s UConn-DePaul game:

UConn 64, DePaul 57

TURNING POINT _ Ahead by just three points with 2:44 left in the game, UConn point guard Kemba Walker was sent to the free throw line. Walker made his first, but his second missed its mark.

Six-foot-11 UConn forward Ater Majok, who had exactly zero rebounds in 14 minutes of first-half action, then found the perfect time to crash the boards. He pulled Walker’s miss away from DePaul’s Mac Koshwal _ Majok’s cousin _ and fed the ball back out to reset the Husky offense.

Some 20 seconds later Jerome Dyson hit a fallback jumper from the baseline that put the Huskies up 60-54 and gave the home team just enough separation to survive.

“It probably won the game for us,” acting UConn coach George Blaney said.

The maturation of Majok continues, albeit at a slow pace. He came through with six points, four rebounds and five blocked shots Saturday, and gave the Huskies plenty of energy according to his coach.

“We’ve told him all along and coach (Jim Calhoun) told him along is that his motor is what makes him so effective,” Blaney said. “He plays with great energy and enthusiasm.”

UNSUNG HERO _ UConn might not have had the services of three of its starters if not for trainer James Doran.

Dyson was battling a mystery stomach issue, Stanley Robinson’s left arm was cramping constantly and even Kemba Walker was slowed by sore legs.

BEST ‘X’ AND/OR ‘O’ _ UConn certainly appeared to get a “friendly whistle” Saturday night at Gampel, but its propensity for driving to the basket (or is that its distaste for shooting from the outside) also helped facilitate a number of trips to the free throw line.

DePaul was called for 26 fouls and UConn attempted 35 free throws. The Blue Demons attempted only six.

“It’s not unusual to see a disparity in foul shots,” Blaney said. “We got to the basket very hard. We generally offensive rebound very hard. So we’re going to go to the basket. And we’re generally pretty big.”

Interim DePaul coach Tracy Webster protested two consecutive calls in the first half rather vociferously _ he appeared to have two good arguments _ and received a technical foul. After the game, however, he didn’t fire any direct shots at the officiating crew for the disparity in free throw attempts.

“All I can say is the six that we took, we need to make all six of them. That’s what we need to do,” Webster said. “Hopefully one day we’ll get to the line 40 times.”

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS _ UConn forward Stanley Robinson’s new do didn’t do him any favors in its first game. Four days after cutting his famous cornrows, Robinson had a rather pedestrian game against DePaul.

He managed to score 10 points, keeping his consecutive games in double figures streak alive at 29, but wasn’t at his best. Robinson hit just two of his eight shots from the floor and went through an entire game without a dunk _ something the 6-foot-9, high-flyer rarely does.

Of course, it probably wasn’t the lack of hair that sapped Robinson’s strength. He was battling cramps all evening, especially in his back and forearm.

LOOKING AHEAD _ It’s the first meeting between UConn and Syracuse since the six-overtime affair at the Garden last March.

The rivalry renews with the two teams headed in opposite directions. The Orange are rolling and the Huskies are reeling.

Well, UConn does own a win over top-ranked Texas has played a few tough games.

“It appears sometimes we play to the competition,” Blaney said. “That’s what it’s starting to look like. So hopefully we’ll be jacked up and ready to play against Syracuse.”

BY THE NUMBERS

Plus-3.2 _ UConn’s rebound margin per game this season (39.7 to 36.5).

Plus-8.9 _ UConn’s rebound margin per game last season.

1992-93 _ The last time a UConn team had a margin smaller than its current one for a full season. That season UConn out-rebounded its opponents by an average of 1.5 per game.

- Neill

It’s not like UConn and DePaul set the game of basketball back 20 years or anything.

No, it was only about 20 days.

Acting UConn coach George Blaney called it a “dentist game.” That sounds about right.

UConn over DePaul 64-57. The Huskies snap their three-game losing streak and head to Syracuse on a high (sort of).

“After the three losses I felt sick and I felt bad,” Blaney said. “Tonight I still feel a little sick but I feel good, because W’s are better than L’s. It’s a Big East win, it’s a win that we needed to get ourselves off the deck. … We had to fight for it, and I like the fight.”

The Huskies know it wasn’t their best game of the season.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” UConn’s Kemba Walker said. “But it’s a Big East win. We can’t complain about a win. We just take it and build from here.”

– Jerome Dyson led the Huskies with 20 points, and had a big jumper with 2:23 to play that put the Huskies up six.

Of course, he only made that jumper after an Ater Majok offensive rebound.

Majok had six points, four rebounds and five blocked shots in 32 minutes. And he did all of that playing against his cousin, DePaul’s Mac Koshwal.

“It was kind of a family battle,” Majok said.

– Dyson moved past Kevin Freeman and into 15th place on UConn’s all-time scoring list.

He’s now got 1,482 points.

– Dyson was feeling so bad he nearly missed the second half.

“He almost didn’t come out at halftime,” Blaney said.

Dyson said he had a pain on his left side.

“I don’t know what happened. I must have gotten hit,” Dyson said. “I just couldn’t think when I got hit.”

UConn trainer James Doran worked overtime Saturday. Stanley Robinson was cramping all night, mostly in his arm and back. Kemba Walker also has sore legs, it seems.

– DePaul’s Will Walker nearly orchestrated an upset by hitting 6-of-9 from 3-point range.

“He was moving well without the basketball,” interim DePaul coach Tracy Webster said. “Also his teammates were doing a good job of setting screens for him to get open. He was taking shots in rhythm and we were able to knock some shots down.”

– Stamford native Devin Hill’s bucket with 5:49 put DePaul up 52-51 but it was the Blue Demons’ only lead of the second half. UConn ended the game on a 13-5 run.

– A ho-hum effort against a ho-hum opponent? Sounds about right.

“It appears sometimes we play to the competition,” Blaney said. “That’s what it’s starting to look like. So hopefully we’ll be jacked up and ready to play against Syracuse.”

- Neill

By Neill Ostrout

STAFF WRITER

STORRS _ All isn’t exactly well for the UConn basketball team, but it is better.

The Huskies beat DePaul 64-57 Saturday night at Gampel Pavilion, snapping a three-game losing streak and keeping their faint NCAA Tournament hopes alive.

Jerome Dyson had a team-high 20 points for UConn (14-9, 4-6).

Will Walker led the Blue Demons (8-15, 1-10) with 24 points, hitting six 3-pointers.

DePaul has lost 29 of its last 30 Big East games.

The Huskies were playing their sixth straight game without Jim Calhoun Saturday, the longest stretch UConn’s veteran head coach has been away from his team in his 24 years here.

Ahead by seven at the half, UConn saw its lead slowly evaporate behind several DePaul offensive rebounds and Walker jump shots. But it was a basket by Stamford native Devin Hill that put DePaul up 52-51, giving the visitors their first lead of the second half.

It was the only lead DePaul would hold after the half. UConn responded by scoring six straight points to take a tentative hold on the game.

The outcome wasn’t decided until a fadeaway jumper by Dyson put UConn up 60-54 and, after yet another triple by Walker, the Huskies made all four of their free throws in the final minute.

After turning the ball over 73 times in their previous four games, the Huskies had 10 in the opening half Saturday but only three after halftime.

Halftime at Gampel Pavilion between DePaul and UConn. It’s 34-27 UConn at this point.

The Huskies were down eight points early but used a late 14-2 run to pull ahead.

Jerome Dyson has eight points to lead the Huskies.

Didn’t think there was a team out there worse from the foul line than UConn? Meet DePaul.

The Blue Demons, who shoot just 56.9 percent from the line for the season, missed all four of their first-half attempts.

- Neill