Gay Nets 22 To Lead No. 2 Huskies Over Texas Southern, 113-49

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STORRS, Conn. (December 2, 2005) - Sophomore forward Rudy Gay (Baltimore, Md.) scored a game-high 22 points while senior Denham Brown (Toronto, Ont.) became the 39^th player in school history to register 1,000 career points to lead the second-ranked University of Connecticut men’s basketball team to a 113-49 victory over Texas Southern on Friday night before a sold out crowd of 10,167 at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion.

Gay has now led UConn in scoring in three of six games this season and for two consecutive contests.

A total of four Husky players scored in double figures for UConn, which improved to 6-0 on the season while the Tigers fell to 1-5. Senior Rashad Anderson (Lakeland, Fla.) scored a season-high 20 points while junior forward Josh Boone (Mt. Airy, Md.) scored 17 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for his second double-double of the season and the 16^th of his career.

Brown finished the game with 15 points and scored his milestone 1,000^th point on a fast break dunk with 17:23 left in the second half. He becomes the second Husky to reach the 1,000 point mark this year as Anderson accomplished the feat in the season-opener at Pepperdine.

Prior to the start of the game, a new banner was unveiled in Gampel Pavilion to commemorate head coach Jim Calhoun’s induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame banner is permanently placed between the Huskies’ NCAA Championship banners of 1999 and 2004.

UConn shot a season-best 55.7 percent from the floor on 39 of 70 shooting while limiting the Tigers to 28.1 percent shooting (18 of 64).

Texas Southern was led in scoring by junior Ike Count, who had 15 points.

UConn dominated the game throughout and opened up a 20-6 lead with 12:09 left to play in the first half. Texas Southern then went on a 7-2 run to cut the gap to 22-15 with 7:33 left to play in the half, but the Huskies scored the next 12 points to take a commanding 34-15 lead with 5:44 left to go and led at intermission 55-22.

The Huskies again dominated the second half and reached the century mark in scoring for the first time this regular season and the first time overall since scoring 123 vs. Quinnipiac last season on Dec. 30.

The contest was the 17^th regular-season opener at Gampel Pavilion history and the Huskies have never posted a loss in those games. UConn has now won 35 of its past 39 overall contests in Storrs. The Huskies are now 22-0 all-time in Gampel Pavilion games played in the month of December. Friday night's point total is the third-largest for UConn in games played at Gampel Pavilion. The Huskies racked up 116 points against Dec. 3, 2002.

UConn returns to action on Thursday, Dec. 8 when it plays host to Massachusetts at the Hartford Civic Center at 9:00 p.m. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN2.

POSTGAME QUOTES

UConn Player Quotes

Denham Brown

On getting a standing ovation after surpassing the 1,000 point mark

If they weren’t standing then I haven’t done my job here at Connecticut.  And I appreciate how they could see a player like me and appreciate what I’ve done for them.  And just as they appreciate me, I appreciate how they come through the snow and cheer for us.

On getting involved in the offense early in the game

I just wanted us to put the game away early to get guys flowing and get everyone in the game.

Rashad Anderson

On Denham Brown scoring 1,000 points

I told him welcome to the club.

On setting a season high in scoring in each of the last four games

It’s just a matter of continuing to practice hard, continuing therapy on my leg, and doing anything possible to get an edge.

I’m feeling better, but sometimes I feel I can get to certain areas on the court but my leg is hesitant to do it.  So, sometimes I settle too much for jump shots. 

Why were you able to push through and blow the game open tonight?

We continued to play defense and get up in the passing lanes like we should have done in the Army game.  We came back and we watched film and made the right corrections.

Did you guys see that Rudy dunk?  Oooh, dear God.  He’s got some Freddy Krueger arms.

On staying focused in a lopsided game

We older guys take every game seriously.  You can’t take games off.  You have to play every game like you’re playing Duke or anybody. 

Rob Garrison

Did you play against zones often in high school?

Yes, I had a big team so most teams played zone against us and we had to find ways to beat it.

Has Coach Calhoun been hard on you?

Yes since day one, but it has made me a better player.

I felt we weren’t getting much zone penetration or pushing the ball up the court, so I felt it was my job to come in and spark those parts of our game.

It seems that you are getting better each game. Can you talk a little about your progression?

I feel a lot more comfortable. Everything is slowing down for me and I am starting to know the plays like the back of my hand.

Josh Boone

It seemed that everyone came out with a little more intensity especially towards the end of the first half. 

Do these games tend to get tedious for you guys?

No, it is always a learning experience; you can always something you can gain from a game no matter what team you are playing. 

No, it works on our team chemistry and works on us getting into people on defense. Even when we were up 30 points we were still playing hard defensively. It also helps to get the younger guys some game experience.

As a team we came out much tougher on defense. We really tried to get to the offensive boards and to also contest every shot they took and that created turnovers and missed shots and we took that and ran with it.