Top-Ranked UConn Takes Down St. John's, 66-50

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STORRS, Conn. (January 25, 2006) -  Sophomore Rudy Gay (Baltimore, Md.) scored 20 points and the nation’s-leading shot blocking team had 16 blocks as top-ranked Connecticut pulled away late to defeat St. John’s, 66-50, Wednesday evening at Gampel Pavilion before a sellout crowd of 10,167.

The win was the Huskies’ sixth in a row and improved their record to 17-1 overall, 5-1 in BIG EAST play.  The Red Storm drop to 10-7, 3-3 in the conference.  The game was Connecticut’s first with the top-ranking since January, 2004.

The Huskies led by just five, 53-48 with 6:06 to play before asserting themselves to clinch the victory, closing the contest on a 13-2 run.  Gay scored back-to-back lay-ups and senior Rashad Anderson (Lakeland, Fla.) drilled a three-pointer to put the Huskies ahead, 60-48.  Senior center Hilton Armstrong (Peekskill, N.Y.) had an emphatic slam dunk to put UConn ahead 62-48 and finish off of the Red Storm.  The Huskies shot 52 percent (14 of 27) from the field in the second half, after shooting just 35 percent (10 of 29) in the first stanza.

Gay connected on nine of 15 shooting in registering 20 points for the first time since Dec. 18 against New Hampshire.  He also tied teammate Josh Boone (Mt. Airy, Md.) for game-high rebounding honors with eight.  Boone also had a season-high total of seven blocks, while Gay had five rejections and Armstrong had three.

Junior point guard Marcus Williams (Los Angeles, Calif.) scored a season-low three points but had nine assists, eight after intermission.  Anderson was the only other Husky to reach double figures in scoring, when he tallied 12 and a team-best three steals.

The Huskies played the final 9:05 without freshman power forward Jeff Adrien (Brookline, Mass.), who was ejected for fighting with Aaron Spears of St. John’s.  Both players will sit out their respective teams next games.

The first half was a sluggish affair as both teams shot poorly and combined for 14 turnovers.  The Huskies trailed by as many as three before rallying for a 31-30 lead at halftime.  Connecticut got a jolt of energy from senior Ed Nelson (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) who had four points and three rebounds in seven active minutes off of the bench.

St. John’s was led by backcourt starters Eugene Lawrence and Daryll Hill, who scored 17 and 13 points respectively.

The Huskies will now venture to the Dunkin’ Donuts Center to play Providence on Saturday afternoon.  The game is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. and it will televised by Fox-61.

POSTGAME QUOTES

UConn Head Coach Jim Calhoun

"I want to congratulate the St. John’s team for its terrific effort.  They took us out of our offense early, played us very physical and did not allow us to get into a flow.  Our kids had to make some decisions because we’re not a “go by” team – by that I mean we don’t necessarily beat you off the bounce.  We basically try to beat you by setting screens, passing the basketball, etc.  And St. John’s did a good job of doing that.  There pressure didn’t really hurt us very much….The tempo of the game was actually what we want, but we couldn’t put the ball in the basket, particularly in the first half." 

"In the second half….the game became much more physical than I would like to have seen.  It reminded me of a Big East game, probably back in the early ‘90s." 

"Our kids have got to be prepared for any type of basketball.  If a team is going to put ball pressure on us, which St. John’s did a great job of, we have to do a better job.  They did a great job with the flat screen, which gave them a great deal of penetration."

"The good news is that we had the kind of people that can block shots, so we blocked 16 shots when they came down the middle.  That, obviously, was very positive."

"I think we as a team played OK.  I think St. John’s disrupted us for most of the evening."

"It’s an atypical game that we’ve been involved with….Our students were jacked up, certainly St. John’s was jacked up, I don’t know if our players were quite as jacked up early as I would have liked them to be.  Second half we came out with a lot of fire, but I don’t know if we burnt anybody with the torch."

"We didn’t make foul shots, and we have been making foul shots, and that’s disappointing."

UConn's Jeff Adrien

On the altercation that led to his ejection

"I didn’t even know what was going on afterward.  I guess he was trying to throw a punch.  I didn’t fight.  I wasn’t attacking anyone.  During basketball people get elbowed – I got elbowed in practice.  It was nothing intentional.  It’s all in coaches hands.  I guess they might appeal.  If the league saw what I thought happened, I think they should understand it was nothing intentional or anything like that.  I was just playing basketball."

"I heard from my players that he was trying to throw a punch, but I didn’t even see that.  I was going forward and I looked to my right and I saw a lot of drama going on.  And then they said go to the bench."

UConn's Rudy Gay

On the physical play

"That’s what we’re in this room (weight room) for.  We come in here, we lift weights and we get strong, not only physically but mentally.  And coach makes sure in practice that we bang each other so that will never get us off our game.  We have to expect that."

"Games like this make it easier on you.  This team had a lot of mismatches and we just exploited them."

On his technical foul

"It was just in the heat of battle.  I kind of acted out of character."

UConn's Josh Boone

On the physical play tonight

"That’s what the BIG EAST is all about.  St. John’s won a couple of games in a row by being a tough physical team and that’s what they brought tonight…I think someone had a quote in the paper that they’re ‘New York tough.’  They show it on the floor.  They get out on the wing and they pressure you.  Anytime you get the ball down low they’re pushing, they’re shoving, they’re smacking at the ball.  That’s how a lot of New York kids play – real tough physical basketball."

"It’s good to have a team that can win all types of different games.  The Louisville game was more of a transitional game.  Whereas this game was more of a grind it out, work the ball inside, basically fight back."

UConn's Denham Brown

"They played pretty rough, but they’re a good team.  One of their main objectives is to get teams not score a lot.  They did that well against us."

What happened at halftime to help the team start the second half so well?

"We had to regroup, regroup as a team.  We knew we had to refocus on what the team had to do.  We knew that we played a lousy half in our eyes and we had to come out and do something about that quick."

UConn's Ed Nelson

"I just try to light a spark when I’m out there.  Things worked well tonight.  I felt like I got the crowd into it and I got the team going at times.  When I’m out there I’m just try."

On physical play

"Yes, it was very physical and more so scrappy…At the end, we just came together collectively and got the win."

On picking up little fouls easily

"Sometimes I think I have a target on my back, like Big Brother’s watching me…I think it’s different when you’re scoring 10 points and 8 rebounds, like I did in my past, you can get away with some of the things."

St. John’s Head Coach Norm Roberts

"I thought it was a hotly contested game.  Both teams played hard.  They did a good job of getting some baskets in transition in the second half that kind of opened it up.  We had some defensive lapses.  But give them credit, they made plays when they had to.  They’re a great team.  They’ve got so many different weapons, they can beat you in so many ways." 

"Our thought our guys battled hard, played hard throughout the whole game.  They couldn’t make a basket there at the end – pretty close to, but just couldn’t put any in.  It definitely was not a 16-point game."

"We’re not in it for moral victories.  We’ve got a good basketball team.  We have to continue to get better.  We have to continue to stay focused and pay attention to detail.  And our guys will do that.  We’re young, but I like my guys."

On physical play

"It’s BIG EAST basketball.  BIG EAST basketball is that way.  It’s a physical game every time you play in the league.  You know, guys are just playing so hard and you’ve got so many big bodies out there, it’s going to be physical."