UConn sports

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

Louisville 82, UConn 69

TURNING POINT _ The outcome of the game was decided almost immediately. UConn was down 5-0 in a flash, trailed by eight points less than four minutes in, and was down 13 after the fifth Louisville 3-pointer splashed down with 13:50 left in the first half.

The turning point in the Huskies’ little downward spiral is the more important matter. Has the team hit rock bottom? Are they finally going to respond?

Acting head coach George Blaney admits it’s hard to appreciate even the small steps forward your team is taking if it doesn’t start picking up wins.

“You worry about that a lot,” Blaney said. “It erodes your confidence a little bit after riding so high. With the St. John’s game and the Texas game, where they just felt so good about themselves. They knew at that point they were good. And we are good. We’re still good. We’re just not playing very well.”

The last sentence certainly appears accurate. UConn has dropped three straight and six of its last eight.

UNSUNG HERO _ It’s a broken record but nearly every UConn opponent is getting much more production from its bench than the Huskies are. And forward Gavin Edwards doesn’t count. He’s a starter, whether his playing time begins at tip-off or not.

Monday night it was Louisville forward Jared Swopshire who made the biggest impact as a reserve. The lanky forward had nine points and nine rebounds filling in for the Cardinals’ foul-plagued frontcourt starters.

But it wasn’t just Swopshire. Louisville received solid play from guards Preston Knowles, Peyton Silva and even got six minutes from little-used freshman big man Stephan Van Treese.

Louisville coach Rick Pitino may have been a bit hesitant to insert Van Treese into the lineup. What did the coach say to Van Treese when sending him in?

“I didn’t say anything to him,” Pitino said. “I was just nauseous.”

BEST ‘X’ AND/OR ‘O’ _ Some thought UConn might actually appreciate facing a pressing team Monday, with the opportunity to go up-and-down more often and focus less on its halfcourt offense.

But the Cardinals didn’t press all the time, and many times it was the three-quarter court variety instead of the 94-foot version. It apparently was the correct strategy as UConn committed 18 more turnovers.

Louisville had a modest 10 turnovers, which is seven more than UConn’s previous opponent (Marquette) had on Saturday. Numbers like that have made some Huskies jealous, and forced them to question their team’s credentials.

“Three turnovers? We’d kill for only having three turnovers in a game,” Edwards said. “Good teams, they just know how to pull it out. They get down but they know how to stop the bleeding. Instead of going down 15, they only go down six or four and then come back and fight through it. We’re just not doing that as a team right now.”

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS _ In what was the fifth-to-last men’s basketball game at Freedom Hall, the 19,655 fans didn’t exactly start the game screaming their heads off. But a hot start by the home team got many of the fans on their feet and into the game.

The Huskies, meanwhile, didn’t appear to excited _ whether they really were or not _ about playing in the venerable building one more time.

“I talked tonight about playing in Freedom Hall,” Blaney said. “It’s a cathedral. It’s one of the great places in America to play basketball. And you should really be ready to play. It’s a privilege to play here.”

UConn hasn’t had the privilege of winning on anyone’s home court this season and Monday was no different. The Huskies are 0-5 on the road.

LOOKING AHEAD _ The Huskies host DePaul Saturday night in Storrs.

A guaranteed UConn win?

Hardly.

First, it would seem impossible to guarantee anything with this team. Second, DePaul led third-ranked Syracuse for much of its recent game and has hardly folded up shop since head coach Jerry Wainwright was fired.

“We talked before this game (Louisville) that we had 10 games left and we needed to do some business in the 10 games,” Blaney said. “Now we have nine games left and we have to do some business.”

BY THE NUMBERS

18 _ UConn’s turnover total Monday night.

71 _ UConn’s turnover total over its last four games.

- Neill

West Virginia University linebacker Reed Williams, an All-Big East performer, two-time ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America selection and a member of the National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete Team, has been chosen as the 2009 Big East Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The selection was made by the conference’s Academic Affairs Committee and is presented on the basis of academic credentials and athletic performance.

A graduate student from Moorefield, W.Va., Williams will receive a $2,000 scholarship, which may be applied to graduate or professional studies. The Conference also announced the 106 players who were chosen to the Big East All-Academic Team.

To be nominated, a player must have a cumulative grade-point index of at least 3.0, have completed a minimum of two semesters of academic work.

Sixteen UConn players were honored.

“We are very proud of all 16 of our selections to the Big East All-Academic Football Team,” UConn head coach Randy Edsall said in a statement. “Academic achievement, and ultimately graduation, is a key component to being a member of the Connecticut football program. I would like to pay special thanks to the Counseling Program for Intercollegiate Athletes (CPIA) for all the assistance that they provide the young men on our team.”

Here are the UConn players who made it:

Harris Agbor So. S Mesquite, Texas Political Science

John (Yianni) Apostolakos Sr. TE Pittsford, N.Y. Sports & Leisure/Finance

Jimmy Bennett RFr. OT Alexandria, Va. Undeclared

Derek Chard Jr. TE Burlington, Conn. Finance

Marcus Easley Sr. WR Stratford, Conn. Sport Management

Robbie Frey Jr. RB Lehighton, Pa. History

Alex Kaiser Jr. TE Newington, Conn. Economics

Brad Kanuch Sr. WR Johnstown, Pa. Sports & Leisure

Alex LaMagdelaine Sr. OG Rumson, N.J. English/Economics

Corey Manning RFr. TE Tyrone, Ga. Undeclared

Alex Molina Jr. WR Waterford, Conn. Psychology

Emmanuel Omokaro So. S Danbury, Conn. Sports & Leisure

Moe Petrus So. C St. Laurent, Que. Psychology

Alex Polito Jr. DT Reading, Pa. Communication Sciences

Dave Teggart So. K Northborough, Mass. Sports & Leisure

John Yurek So. S Greencastle, Pa. Biological Sciences

Sorry for no in-game blogging tonight. Wireless at the old Freedom Hall wasn’t working and my thumbs hurt when I type on the old I-phone.

Anyway, while I have a moment of internet ability, let me share some words from the aftermath of Louisville’s 82-69 win over UConn Monday:

– That’s three straight losses for UConn. And six of the last eight.

“We have to figure something out,” forward Gavin Edwards said. “This is really just getting out of hand right now.”

– The Huskies allowed a season-high in points. Providence got 81.

– UConn is 0-5 on the road and 1-7 away from home in total. It’s only win outside the state of Connecticut was over a seemingly bad LSU team.

– Add 18 turnovers to the pile. That’s 71 in the last four games.

– After trailing by 19 midway through the second half UConn cut that deficit all the way down to seven. Jerome Dyson, mostly showing off his 1-on-1 ability, was the catalyst.

But then the Huskies went nearly six minutes without a single point. And they scored only three in the final 9:22.

Can’t win that way, obviously.

“At times we’re out there looking our best and there’s not much the other team can do with us,” Dyson said. “And five minutes later, we’re back to the team that is giving up 3-pointers, layups and turning the ball over.”

– Louisville hit six 3-pointers in the first half. And those were by six different players.

Dribble penetration and passes to salivating jump shooters planted in the corners were the main problems.

“They really gave us trouble with the flare screen and certainly (Edgar) Sosa and (Jerry) Smith with their penetration and the kick-outs to the corner,” acting head coach George Blaney said.

– Edwards played with his right thumb heavily taped, the result of an injury he suffered in the Marquette game.

“It was pretty sore yesterday (Sunday) but it doesn’t feel too bad today (Monday),” Edwards said.

“There were a couple times when it got hit and it really hurt,” Edwards said. “But I really didn’t notice it during the game.”

Those sitting courtside noticed it. It was obviously bothering Edwards early. He did seem to adjust later in the game, though.

– UConn’s bench was pressed into service because of foul trouble all over the place. It did not respond well.

Take out Edwards, he’s really a starter, and UConn’s four reserves (Ater Majok, Donnell Beverly, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and Charles Okwandu) scored ONE point. And that was in a combined 47 minutes.

Coombs-McDaniel played 19 minutes and didn’t score a single point.

“Literally we got one point from the bench. That can’t be,” Blaney said. “We have to get some more help from the bench.”

Louisville, meanwhile, got a nice lift from its bench. Jared Swopshire was the key reserve, contributing nine points and nine rebounds.

Even the seldom-used Stephan Van Treese gave coach Rick Pitino six pretty solid minutes.

So what did Pitino say to Van Treese when he sent him into the game?

“I didn’t say anything to him,” Pitino said. “I was just nauseous.”

– 45 fouls. (Just thought I should write that….What’s that? Bob Donato just called a charge on me for that line? ….OK then. 46 fouls.)

- Neill

It’s not the last or the penultimate but tonight’s UConn-Louisville game is the quintulimate (just made that up) men’s basketball game at Freedom Hall. Next year the Cardinals move into a new downtown arena.

Looks like it’s going to be a good crowd, as is typical for the building. We’ll see if it’s a good game.

Both teams need the win badly.

No sign of Jim Calhoun. Also no sign of Rick Pitino’s white suit. The fans already here are clearly disappointed on both counts.

- Neill