UConn Game 28: Villanova Robbed. UConn Lucky. UConn 75 Villanova 74 Curtis Sumpter & Allen Ray are very exciting to watch two guys almost to the summit, in Nova’s near upset over UConn. Villanova out rebounded and out hustled the Huskies. Well, almost. Ray finished with 20. Sumpter with 22. Foye had a double double with 10 & 10 boards. The game was tied at the half. UConn jumped out early in the second, but Nova’s tenacity found them up eight with six plus left. Rashad Anderson played his usual good D. He finished with 5, but hit a three in the final seconds of regulation to lead the Huskies to OT. Josh Boone put back a Ben Gordon miss in two put UConn up 75-74, the final score. Okafor, who was bothered again with back spasms, blocked shots by Foye at the end of regulation and again in overtime to preserve the win. Besides playing through the pain, (Trust me, I’ve had three back surgeries in the past year alone. Back problems effect every move you make.) Emeka was as demonstrative emotionally as I have ever seen. It was contagious. After Josh Boone put back what would be the winning bucket, he and Taliek Brown did a chest thump and a big hug. That said, it is about damn time that this UConn team rose to the occasion. In every sense of the phrase. Taliek Brown had 4 assists and 10 points. Coach Calhoun recently said that Taliek is the most maligned player that Calhoun has ever coached. I am beginning to see what Coach means. I have gone off more than once about Taliek’s shortcomings. He misses lay-ups. His free throw shooting stinks. If they had a national award for being “out of control”, Taliek might win it. But when all is said and done, I will miss Taliek. His smile and enthusiasm is inspiring. He reads the court extremely well. UConn fans do not talk much about Taliek as a defender. Fans are spoiled by his consistency. Taliek has an awesome assist to turnover ratio. Taliek had no help his freshman year. Ricky Moore was gone. El-Amin was desperate to begin his “NBA career”. We have watched this guy grow into a man. Taliek played 43 minutes today. There is no way UConn steals this game without him. Charlie Villanueva had a very good first half. Charlie V is slowing improving on D, but has a long way to go. I read this week that Charlie V’s “people” have soured on Jim Calhoun. If this is the case, than his people (Who the hell are his “people”, anyway? Agents? Family? His girlfriend?) have got it wrong. You do not play for Jim Calhoun unless you have earned it. Charlie V gets well-deserved minutes. Is he going to take minutes from Emeka? Josh Boone? Hilton Armstrong? (Yeh, okay. But he only plays 5.) Calhoun is bring Villanueva along very well. Charlie’s people cannot think sitting out a year to transfer is the answer, and he is not even El-Amin ready. Perhaps he is losing minutes, because of his people. If he is not sticking around, why cut in on Boone’s minutes? Or for that matter, Hilton’s? Charlie V finished with 8 points, 4 blocks and 2 boards in 17 minutes. Shamon Tooles did a great job in his 6 minutes on D. One last question: Whatsup with Denim Brown? Denim had 3 points & 3 boards in 21 minutes. Yes, I have read that he might be injured, and I know he lost his starting role in Game 27. But is there more to the story? (Sorry, I did have another question). You are what your record says your are. UConn is 23-5. The regular season Big East is still a possibility. The Big East tourney, should be a good one. And then, Selection Sunday. Hello, March…
Yes, Uconn got a little lucky in this game, but they are a good team and they have proven this throwout the regular season. Uconn still manage to win with there best player, Okafor, either on the bench, or in pain the whole game. It wasn't the prettiest of wins, but it was a win none the less. In my opinion Uconn won't make it very far in the tourny, but I have to give them credit they do have a good team. Uconn could suprise me I'll have to wait and see.
Villinova is a young and innexperienced ball club, and youth can not close out basketball games. I bet it drives everyone at Villanova crazy how they have lost so many close calls. Just when they were forgetting about Syracuse they were slammed with this. I will congratulate them on hitting 87% of their free-throws though; not hitting free-throws can take a team out of the game, like Memphis against Louisville last night. They need to get Jason Fraser more involved in the offense. He came in as a High School All-Amiercan and could have easily skipped college to be a first round draft pick. He only took one shot in this overtime game though. Villanova needs to get him some better looks. Allen Ray took ten three-pointers. He's a great shooter, but nobody should take ten three-pointers in a college basketball game. Great win for the Huskies; this could have really hurt them.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting coolhandluke:</div><div class="quote_post">In my opinion Uconn won't make it very far in the tourny, but I have to give them credit they do have a good team. Uconn could suprise me I'll have to wait and see.</div> UConn does not underchieve in the tourney under Calhoun. I would not bet against the Huskies making the final 8...
