HARTFORD – Notes, quotes, thoughts from UConn’s blowout win over the hapless Hawks of Maryland-Eastern Shore. And the road map to our coverage.
First is obvious. Don’t draw much in the way of conclusions from this one. UConn hit a lot of shots from the perimeter, and scored 19 fast-break points. UMES was over-matched, and couldn’t get back and cover them.
UConn was out-rebounded and, against an opponent like this, that remains troubling. But the Huskies did shoot 66 percent, so there weren’t many offensive rebounds. UConn out-rebounded the Hawks 23-19 on the other end.
“When we play the better teams we’re not going to be able rely on shots,” Shabazz Napier said, “We’re going to have to rebound, do the little things.”
Said Ryan Boatright, “You can win games getting out-rebounded, but rebounding gives you a much better chance.”
Here is Kevin Ollie’s take on the game.
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From the sound of it, Tyler Olander is a little on the outs. Enosch Wolf started again, and Kevin Ollie was a little tougher than usual in his post-game remarks. More on UConn rebounding in the Tuesday Courant.
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Players were allowed to express their sympathy for Newtown victims in any way they chose. Boatright chose to write
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HARTFORD – Some highlights from Kevin Ollie’s remarks following UConn’s 84-50 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore.
“I want to just take this timeout to really thank the guys and the cheerleaders and what we did in the beginning of the game. It was just a great tribute to all the victims. It’s just a sad day, but we’re going to continue not just to have moments, but have a movement where we can stop this violence. I think a moment is just not enough. We always have moments and then it goes away. Hopefully, we’ll have a movement. And hopefully we can get down there soon. We’re trying to plan something after Christmas to get down there, to Newtown.
… Maybe a practice, an autograph session, a clinic for the kids. We’ve let them know we’re available. Hopefully, we can put some smiles on some of the faces.”
Once we had to start to play the game, I thought the guys executed. I thought they played well. Defense was non-
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STORRS – The Huskies, who last played on Dec. 7, got back to work on Sunday and tried to focus on basketball, but the tragedy of Newtown was on everyone’s mind.
“It hit home,” coach Kevin Ollie said. “We want them to know they’re in our hearts and on our minds.”
Ollie said, at some point, when he would like to take the Huskies to Newtown to offer support.
“I don’t know if we can help,” he said. “But it’s better than being here doing nothing.”
The men’s and women’s basketball and hockey teams will observe a moment of silence before games over the next few weeks, and a commemorative patch is being readied, hopefully for the UConn men’s game against Maryland Eastern Shore on Monday night.
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When Shabazz Napier heard what happened, he could think only of his 2 ½-year-old niece, who comes to every one of his games.
“I called my sister and said I wanted to talk to her,” he said. “There are kids five and six years old and they won’t get to
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The Big East Conference as we knew/know it appears to be crumbling and it now appears UConn may be in the worst possible place … the last program standing without an invite from another major conference. So what’s next for the Huskies? Of course, the obvious answer is hope and pray for the ACC … but let’s assume that door is closed for the immediate future. Now what? Drop a post here and give us your thoughts about what Susan Herbst, Warde Manuel and the university should be thinking about. We’ll take a look at some of your very best advice and run some in the Saturday Courant. Join the discussion with a post right here!
Jim Calhoun’s Holiday Food Drive will go on as usual in 2012, as Kevin Ollie and UConn’s players and coaches will join the Calhoun Family in distributing 1,000 holiday meals, turkeys and fixings, to needy families in Hartford next Tuesday, Dec. 18.
The UConn group will be at St. Monica’s Episcopal Church (5-6:15 p.m.) and Pope Park Recreation Center (6:30 to 7:30 p.m.) to help in handing out the groceries, donated by Calhoun, ShopRite and the Hartford Law Firm of
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Q: What wouldn’t UConn pursue becoming a non-football member of the ACC? The ACC currently has 15 schools in non-football schools with the addition of Notre Dame so wouldn’t it make sense to add UConn as a 16th non-football member? It doesn’t solve our football affiliation problem but it would solve our non-football issues. I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere so I’m wondering why not? What am I missing here?
Andre
Tariffville. Ct.
A: Thanks for the question, Andre. I ran this by Paul Doyle, our conference realignment guru. Couple of things to consider. UConn can pursue anything, but without an invitation it doesn’t mean much. And, of course, any league change that doesn’t solve the football problem just creates new problems. UConn certainly couldn’t make it as a football independent, so it’s hard to imagine UConn pursuing this option.
Paul joined me on our live chat today and we devoted the hour to conference realignment; many creative solutions were tossed out there. Click here for the replay.
Click the play button and replay our weekly UConn men’s basketball chat with The Courant’s Dom Amore. Click here to access the replay on a mobile device:
Spoke briefly with John Buck, who coaches Kentan Facey at Long Island Lutheran. Facey, 6-foot-9, who committed to UConn in August and signed his letter-of-intent in November, is considered a player with great upside. He began playing basketball relatively late in his native Jamaica and really made eye-opening strides last summer. Now in his senior year, Facey had 19 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks in LI Lutheran’s win over Burke Catholic this weekend.
“We have a very talented team,” Buck said, “otherwise his numbers might be more inflated. … Kentan’s understanding of the game has improved tremendously this season. He is much stronger and his footwork in
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Some notes, quotes and thoughts from UConn’s win over Harvard …
STORRS – Kind of a check-point for the Huskies. They have a 10-day break for final exams.
At 7-2, you have to figure they have overachieved. The win over Michigan State was one you couldn’t have predicted, the losses to New Mexico, which has since been ranked, and NC State you can take. They’ve beaten the teams any UConn team is supposed to beat, though it took double OT against Quinnipiac, a come-from-behind effort against Stony Brook and some grueling effort against New Hampshire and Harvard.
In this game, and the New Hampshire game, UConn broke out to early leads and never gave the lead up. That probably says something.
The search for a “third scoring option” is leading to DeAndre Daniels, who scored 23, a career high. (I will write more on him tomorrow). Shabazz Napier was effusive.
“He has to believe he can score,” Napier said. “I always tell him, not to compare himself, but watch Carmelo
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STORRS – Some highlights of Kevin Ollie’s remarks, following UConn’s 57-49 win over Harvard:
“Great victory today. I would definitely take 7-2. Once again, we started with a great run in the first half like we did against NC State, and then we relaxed. I think we had three turnovers, gave up a couple of threes and they got right back into the game. Once again, this team showed that fight, showed that resiliency to come back.
“To come out 7-22, I’m very proud of them, but I’m not satisfied. We’ve got to continue to work.”
“Our margin is so slim, so we can’t overlook anybody. Hopefully, we just continue to play like this and find a
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