Earlier in the season, No. 3/3 UConn Huskies head coach Jim Calhoun said that he expected 18 wars during the Big East portion of the schedule. Tonight, his team got in to a war of all wars with the No.20/21 Villanova Wildcats and at the end stood victorious.
Led by a career-high of 29 points from A.J. Price, the Huskies were able to hold off the Wildcats 89-83 to earn a hard fought Big East win in front of 15,385 at the XL Center in Hartford, CT.
It’s the 6th straight win for the Huskies who improve to 17-1 (6-1 Big East). Jay Wright’s Wildcats fall to 14-4 (2-3).
With UConn leading 81-76, Villanova’s Shane Clark drove the lane only to have Hasheem Thabeet swat his shot away. Scottie Reynold’s got the rebound but missed a layup. Craig Austrie got the rebound and was fouled. Austrie hit both free throws. Reggie Redding then drove down the lane and had his shot rejected by Thabeet. After a timeout, Austrie was fouled again and this time hit 1-of-2. Dwayne Anderson drove the lane and was fouled by Jeff Adrien. Anderson hit both free throws to cut the UConn lead to 84-78.
Jerome Dyson then turned the ball over on the ensuing possession and Scottie Reynolds drained a 3 to cut UConn’s lead to 3 points. Kemba Walker got the inbounds pass and was fouled. He hit 1-of-2 to give UConn a 4-point lead. Reynolds drove the lane only to turn the ball over. Dyson and Walker hit 4 free throws to seal the deal for the Huskies.
Dyson added 19 points and 4 rebounds with 3 steals while Adrien had the 41st double-double of his career with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Thabeet spent a lot of the game in foul trouble but finished with 10 points, 3 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
Dwayne Anderson led the Wildcats with 15 points and 8 rebounds while Reynolds had 14 points and 5 assists. Corey Stokes, Antonio Pena and Redding all had 12 points each with Pena adding 8 rebounds to the cause.
Both defenses bore down in the second half after a first half that saw 96 (48 by each) points scored by both teams.
The Huskies now head to South Bend, IN where they will try to take down the 45-game home winning streak of the Notre Dame Fightin’ Irish on Saturday night at 7 PM. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN and will have Dan Shulman, Dick Vitale and Erin Andrews on the call.
Notes and musings:
Villanova Wildcats @ UConn Huskies 1.21.09 men’s basketball box score
The starters were A.J. Price, Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson, Jeff Adrien and Hasheem Thabeet.
The Huskies wore their alternate gray uniforms.
Former Huskies Kevin Ollie and Donyell Marshall were in the crowd tonight.
UConn shot 47.4% (27-57) while Villanova shot 45.3% (29-64).
The Huskies had just 12 assists on their 27 made baskets.
UConn shot 31-of-39 (79.5%) from the charity stripe while Villanova was 18-of-22 (81.8%).
Villanova committed 26 fouls in the game and UConn had 17.
The Huskies won the battle of the boards 37-32.
Both teams turned the ball over 14 times.
A.J. Price had all 4 of UConn’s 3-pointers.
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