University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Louisville
Connecticut Falls to No. 24 Louisville, 80-59
2/6/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 6, 2012
Louisville, Ky. (AP) - Freshman guard Ryan Boatright (Aurora, Ill.) scored 18 points as the University of Connecticut men's basketball team fell to No. 24-ranked Louisville at Monday night before a crowd of 21,804 at the KFC Yum! Center. UConn falls to 15-8 overall and 5-6 in the BIG EAST while the Cardinals are 19-5 and 7-4.
UConn freshman Andre Drummond (Middletown, Conn.) went scoreless, missing all six shots of his shot, and sophomore guard Jeremy Lamb (Norcross, Ga.) finished with seven points, well short of his average of 17.6.
Connecticut coach Jim Calhounmissed his second game on an indefinite medical leave of absence after he was diagnosed with spinal stenosis.
Louisville's Gorgui Dieng returned from a sprained right ankle to score 15 points and freshman Chane Behanan added 12 rebounds for Louisville. Dieng was questionable after Saturday's injury in a win over Rutgers.
Chris Smith scored 16 points, Kyle Kuric added 10 and Peyton Siva had nine assists while Behanan again made a mark coming off a 23-point, 11-rebound performance in a win over the Scarlet Knights. Dieng appeared to have some early problems with his ankle, but was a key contributor in the Cardinals' decisive 21-4 run that gave them a 65-36 lead with 6:18 left.
Siva's 3-pointer made it 49-32 with just over nine and half minutes minutes to play as the Huskies called a timeout. After the timeout, Drummond missed a layup and Dieng's long outlet pass went to Siva, who feathered a touch pass to Jared Swopshire for a layup. On the next possession, Swopshire intercepted a pass to start a four-on-one. Dieng couldn't convert the dunk, but grabbed his own rebound and finished it on the second try.
Lamb made a jumper to momentarily slow Louisville, but Swopshire hit a three-pointer and Siva was off and running again, cutting across the lane and finding Kuric, who finished with a one-handed slam that put the Cardinals ahead 58-34.
Connecticut called for another timeout as Siva ran to midcourt and spread his arms after Kuric's dunk. Behanan grabbed the frenetic point guard and carried him all the way to the bench. The Cardinals led by as many as 30 points in the closing minutes.
Assistant coach George Blaney ran the Huskies because of Calhoun's back problems. Junior Alex Oriakhi (Lowell, Mass.) scored 11 points and sophomore Roscoe Smith (Baltimore, Md.) added 10 for the Huskies.
Behanan set the tone in the second half, getting inside position for an offensive rebound and putback on the first play. After Boatright missed a 3, Behanan hit one that gave the Cardinals their first 10-point lead, 34-24, just over a minute into the second half. It was only Behanan's fifth 3-pointer in 29 attempts this season.
Connecticut, which led by as many as three points in the first half, missed its first eight three-point attempts until Lamb scored for the first time in the game with 16:48 left, then he completed an alley-oop pass to the six-foot Boatright that cut it to 40-30.
UConn returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Syracuse for a 1:00 p.m. game that will be televised on CBS and heard on the WTIC-UConn Radio Network.
