University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn Slips Past BYU to Advance to NCAA Second Round
3/20/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
SPOKANE, WA (March 20) -- Sophomore center Emeka Okafor (Houston, TX) poured in 20 points, snatched eight rebounds and rejected seven shots as the University of Connecticut men's basketball team defeated Brigham Young University, 58-53, in the first round of the 2003 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship.
UConn will play Stanford, which is set to tip-off on Saturday at 3:20 ET. The victory improves Head Coach Jim Calhoun's record in NCAA first round games to a remarkable 11-0 at UConn and enhances Connecticut's record to 22-9 on the year while BYU finishes the season at 23-9.
With the game tied, 26-26, at the half, UConn looked to put BYU away early in the second half. The Huskies scored the first four points of the second half and mounted a 20-6 run capped off by a Ben Gordon (Mt. Vernon, NY) three-pointer at the 11:50 mark to take their largest lead of the game at 46-32. The Cougars answered the bell as they held UConn scoreless for next 4:30 and put-together a 9-0 run to shrink the Husky lead to five at 46-41. BYU stepped up the defensive intensity, holding the Huskies without a field goal for 10:43 and crept to within two points, 50-48, with 2:16 left in the contest. Gordon broke the drought with a floater in the lane at the 1:07 mark to put the Huskies up six, and UConn was able to hold on with solid free-throw shooting in the second half making 14-of-18 attempts in the final period.
Gordon was the other Husky in double figures with 14 points, and freshman Marcus White (Chicago, IL) gave UConn a huge lift off the bench, notching nine points and eight rebounds. UConn enjoyed an excellent defensive stretch, limiting the Cougars to ten points in the final 8:04 of the first half and the first 3:45 of the second half. UConn's overall defensive effort was decisive, holding BYU to just 11.8% shooting from beyond the arc (2-for-17) and 31.3% for the game (20-for-64).
Travis Hansen and Mark Bigelow led the way for BYU with 21 and 12 points respectively.
