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If September 13 was Jim Calhoun’s day, then December 29 belonged solely to Kevin Ollie, who was awarded a five-year contract extension through April, 2018.

There hasn’t been much good news in UConn athletics lately, and the fanbase can now breathe a sigh of relief: Kevin Ollie is free. He can now begin to truly recruit.

It’s a relief for Warde Manuel, too. The guy has a ton of pressure on him: Find the right conference for UConn and find the right successor for Calhoun. That’s no easy task.

Luckily for Manuel, Kevin Ollie fell into his lap. Twelve games in (and ten toes in), Ollie has proven that he’s unequivocally the right choice.

“What Kevin has done, even in the short period of time, has showed me that, hey, we might have bumps in the road, we might lose here and there,” Manuel said. “But I’ve got the right leader who will stick with it and fight through it because he loves this place.”

Read my column here.

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By the way, there was a basketball game played Saturday night at the XL Center. UConn moved to 10-2 with a 61-53 victory over Washington. Here’s what you need to know:

Omar Calhoun (AP)

*The story was defense for UConn, which held the West Coast Huskies to 29.7 percent shooting from the field. Washington guard C.J. Wilcox, who entered averaging 19.6 points per game, shot just 2-for-12 for five points.

“I think Shabazz did a remarkable job on him, playing tough defense, taking him out of his comfort zone, getting into his space,” said UConn coach Kevin Ollie. “And then, it’s not only Shabazz. It’s Enosch moving over, being in the low position…We did it collectively, so everything Wilcox did was tough on him.”

*Enosch Wolf (four points, five rebounds in past three games) was benched in favor of Tyler Olander. Both played 17 minutes, but Wolf was more productive.

“It was an ESPN game, so we know Enosch would come to play,” Ollie joked.

The 7-foot-1 junior grabbed a team-high nine rebounds while Olander tallied just two.

*DeAndre Daniels received stitches in his chin after hitting the floor late in the game. Ollie said he’ll hopefully be ready for Tuesday’s Big East opener versus Marquette. The team doctors must first check for concussion symptoms, he said.

*Against three high major teams — Michigan State, N.C. State and Wake Forest — Omar Calhoun averaged just 4 points and 2.6 rebounds while shooting 14.3 percent from the field. On Saturday, he led the Huskies with 14 points, using his muscular frame to score in the lane.

*It wasn’t a particularly pretty game: Shabazz Napier, prolific for most of the season, committed seven turnovers. In fact, both teams were in the red for assist-to-turnover ratio (Washington 10/13; UConn 13/17).