University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies Beat West Virginia, Clinch East #1 Seed
2/23/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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STORRS, CT -- Sophomore All-America candidate Caron Butler (Racine, WI) scored 28 points to pace three teammates in double figures as Connecticut raced past West Virginia, 95-73, before a sellout crowd of 10,027 at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion.
The victory, UConn's fourth in a row, gives the Huskies the #1 seed from the East Division for the BIG EAST Tournament, which begins March 6 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Huskies improve to 19-6, 11-3 in the conference. The Mountaineers drop to 8-18, 1-13 in the BIG EAST.
West Virginia actually led as late as the 13:03 mark in the first half at 18-17, before the Huskies finished the opening period on a 29-19 run. Butler led the Huskies with 16 points at the half. Chris Moss had 15 in the opening stanza for West Virginia.
UConn stormed out of the gates in the second half scoring the first 10 points, capped by a fast-break lay-up by Tony Robertson (Jr., E. Providence, RI). Connecticut shot a torrid 57.1% in the second half (20-for-35) and finished the game shooting 52.1% (38-for-73) from the field. The Huskies scored 58 points in the paint, converted 20 Mountaineer turnovers into 30 points and raced to 35 fast-break points.
Freshman center Emeka Okafor (Houston, TX) tied the single-season school record of 111 blocks by swatting away eight West Virginia shots. Sophomore point guard Taliek Brown played well, tying his career-high with 12 assists against just two turnovers.
Butler narrowly missed his career-high of 29 points by connecting on 12 of 21 shots and adding four steals. Robertson added 15, while freshman Ben Gordon (Mt. Vernon, NY) had 12 and Johnnie Selvie (SR., Flint, MI) chipped in with 11.
Moss led five Mountaineers in double figures with 21.
The Huskies play their final regular season road contest when they travel to Chestnut Hill, MA, on Monday, Feb. 25 to play Boston College. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. and the game will televised nationally by ESPN.
