The UConn men's basketball team took care of business against two of the cellar dwellers in the American Athletic Conference this past week. Without Ryan Boatright and in front of a cozy home crowd due to a snowstorm, the Huskies destroyed the Temple Owls (99-66) on Tuesday night at the XL Center in Hartford. Last night, UConn made a final conference road trip to Northern Jersey and the Rutgers Athletic Center - a horrible building in its own right - and dismantled the Scarlet Knights (82-71).
On Tuesday night, behind stellar performances by Shabazz Napier (27 points) and DeAndre Daniels (31 points), the Huskies outright dominated new conference foe Temple. It was a performance for the ages for these two. They came a few points short of becoming the first UConn duo to score 30 points a piece in a game. The team was on fire from the field, hitting 53.4% of their shots, and going 12-23 from three point range. The Huskies also held their own on the glass, winning the battle of the boards 45-25.
Saturday night, the Huskies started the game up 1-0 before tip-off at Rutgers. Referee Duke Edsell (yes, brother of former UConn football coach Randy Edsell) called an administrative technical foul while Rutgers was in the lay-up lines. A Rutgers player was dunking the ball when he was not suppose to. The crowd was electric at the RAC. It could be the little shop of horrors in what looks like a bomb shelter. The game was back and forth, but the Huskies were able to build a ten point lead midway through the first half. They kept Rutgers in the game throughout. Niels Giffey (9 points in 33 minutes) hit open threes and Amida Brimah (10 points and 8 rebounds) was a force down low.
Rutgers did cut the lead down to five at the half and took it early in the second half on an 11-0 run. Little used freshman guard Terrance Samuel came into the game, provided some instance offense with the Huskies struggling, and converted on a three point play which gave the Huskies back the lead. Napier took over in the final 18 minutes of the game scoring 20 points. Napier finished with a game high 26 points.
The big concern are the ankle injuries of two key players. Omar Calhoun injured his ankle during the Temple game and did not play on Saturday. DeAndre Daniels suffered a high ankle sprain late in the first half on Saturday. A good thing the schedule is spread out the next couple of weeks. The Huskies play twice in the next 12 days. This gives time to heal.
Expect the Huskies to be ranked in this coming week's AP and USA Today polls. They are winners of five of six games. UConn is 16-4 overall and 4-3 in the American. Currently, they are fifth place in the American - only a half game out in the loss column of third place (Memphis and SMU are 4-2). Cincinnati (7-0) and Louisville (6-1) are the top two teams in the conference.
The Huskies are off until Thursday night when the host Houston at 9pm at Gampel Pavilion. (Yes, those Houston Cougars who knocked off UConn on New Years Eve.) The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network. If you do not get the game on your local tv package, listen to the game on the radio (1080AM - Hartford or 960AM New Haven) - do no pay UConnHuskies.com to listen to the broadcast online. There is no online coverage of the game. You only can listen for free online, tune in to WHUS.org, 91.7FM, the UConn student radio station.
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