George Blaney was acting like a stand-up comedian, Shabazz Napier was furiously whipping a towel after Enosch Wolf scored his first basket of the season and chants of “Ky-le Bai-ley” rained down from a half-full student section.
If that doesn’t spell blowout, I don’t know what does.
When you win, it’s all smiles afterwards. Especially when you’ve lost six of your last seven.
George Blaney (AP)
UConn deserves credit, certainly. The Huskies moved the ball much better than they have in previous games (it wasn’t dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, contested jump shot). Instead, UConn got out on the break and took advantage of athletes like Andre Drummond and Alex Oriakhi. And, let’s face it, DePaul just isn’t very good. The Blue Demons aren’t even average. They’re a very bad basketball team getting pounded in a very competitive conference.
Anyway, here’s the recap of Wednesday’s massacre, some relevant information and then a sample of Blaney’s post-game stand-up.
* Jim Calhoun will miss at least two more games, UConn announced Friday.
* Roscoe Smith (sore Achilles) was in uniform, but did not play. His absence freed up Alex Oriakhi for some more playing time. Oriakhi responded with his third double-double of the season.
* UConn, projected as a No. 9 seed in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology, is No. 20 in the RPI.
“We are in a very good position if we just start getting some wins,” Blaney said.
In my opinion, UConn’s magic number is 20. The Huskies are at 16 wins right now.
*UConn tied a season-high with 23 assists and grabbed 20 offensive rebounds.
And now for some Blaney one-liners…
* “Alex has been giving us such an effort and leadership and then Shabazz with 11 assists and no defense on the 3-point shot in the second half.”
* On Andre Drummond: “He’s like Gronkowski…he catches everything.”
* On Jeremy Lin (not Jeremy Lamb): “Oh, Linsanity? I always love players, especially point guards…you’re given decisions in a game, and when you look at his play, most coaches are going to agree that he has made the right decision almost every time.”
* On serving as head coach with Calhoun out: “Well, I’m just hoping that I live…the way I was coaching tonight, I’m not so sure.”
George Blaney’s jokes remind me of my dad’s. And I think my dad is hilarious.
Only one thing went wrong Wednesday: Kyle Bailey didn’t get any burn.
But Bailey, Ben Stewart, PJ Cochrane and Alex Oriakhi were all honored before the game for achieving a 3.0 GPA or higher last semester. Hey, you guys had me beat. Good work.
If they played every game against DePaul they’d never have to run their half-court offense, which has been so pathetic.