University of Connecticut Athletics
Top-Ranked Huskies Topple Seton Hall, 99-57
2/11/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (February 11, 2006)— Senior Rashad Anderson (Lakeland, Fla.) and sophomore forward Rudy Gay (Baltimore, Md.) each scored 18 points to lead the No. 1 nationally-ranked University of Connecticut men’s basketball team to a dominating 99-57 win over Seton Hall University Saturday at the Continental Airlines Arena.
With the win, Connecticut improves to 22-1 on the season and 9-1 and tied for first place in the BIG EAST Conference. The win is the 11th in a row for the Huskies, their second 11-game win streak of the season. Seton Hall had its six-game win streak snapped and fell to 15-7 overall and 6-4 in the BIG EAST.
Connecticut came out and scored the first seven points of the second half and opened up a ­19-point lead in the first four minutes out of the locker room at 54-35 with 15:49 to play in the game. It would prove to be just the start of a dominating second half of play by the Huskies. The hot-shooting Huskies made 56 percent (23-of-41) of their shots in the second half and shot 53 percent for the game.
Junior point guard Marcus Williams (Los Angeles, Calif.) scored 15 points and handed out ten assists. For Williams, the double-double was his third of the season and the ninth of his UConn career. Senior Hilton Armstrong (Peekskill, N.Y.) had nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds to go along with a game-high four blocks, for the nation’s leading shot-blocking squad.
Freshman Jeff Adrien (Brookline, Mass.) scored 12 points, his first entrée into double figures since the Stony Brook game on December 28. Senior Denham Brown (Toronto, Ontario) had 10 points and seven rebounds.
The Huskies dominated the game inside and out, hitting for a season-high tying ten three-pointers and holding a 60-32 advantage on the boards. Anderson led the way from three-point range, hitting on 4-of-6 from long distance. Gay and Williams also made three three-pointers on the night. Williams was a perfect three-for-three from long range.
The Huskies’ 99 points was their highest total in a BIG EAST game since netting 101 against Notre Dame on Jan. 12, 1999.
The Huskies led by a score of 43-33 at the half, leading at the break for the 21st time in 23 games this season. Seton Hall made five of its first six shots, but the UConn defense buckled down from there, forcing eight straight Pirate misses. The Huskies jumped out to a 24-15 lead with 8:41 to play, but the Hall responded with an 11-2 run over the next 2:24 to tie the score at 26-26. UConn responded with a burst of its own, scoring the next seven points and capping the response with a Denham Brown tip-in for a 43-31 lead, the biggest of the half, with under a minute to play in the first period.
UConn returns to action on Monday, February 13 with a contest against No. 4 nationally-ranked Villanova at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pa. That game will be televised nationally by ESPN at 7:00 p.m.
