After the break for final exams, the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team came out sluggishly in games against Central Florida and Maine. On Sunday afternoon at the XL Center in Hartford, CT, Stanley Robinson made sure there was no holiday break hangover.
Robinson led five players in double figures with 29 points as the Huskies went on to beat the Iona Gaels in front of 13,867 fans.
The Huskies improve to 9-2 on the season while the Gaels fall to 8-5.
Despite a poor afternoon from the floor (4-of-11), Jerome Dyson finished with 17 points and 7 assists. Kemba Walker added 14 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists while Jamal Coombs-McDaniel had 13 points and 3 steals. Gavin Edwards rounded out the Huskies in double-digits with 10 points and finished a rebound shy of a double-double with 9 off the bench. He also blocked three of UConn’s nine blocked shots on the day.
Ater Majok had another rough game as he scored just two points but did have six rebounds and three blocks. He did look more comfortable on the court though.
The Gaels were led by Scott Machado’s 14 points and 5 assists. Both Rashard McGill and Rashon Dwight had 12 points while Jonathan Huffman chipped in with 10 points.
Two free throws by Dyson gave UConn an eight point lead at 14-6 before six straight points by Iona cut the lead to two. The Huskies responded with a 9-3 run to push the lead back up to 8. Iona responded back with five straight points to cut it the lead to three at 23-20.
UConn then used a 14-4 run to take a 13 point lead at 37-24. They ended up scoring the final four points of the half to take a 45-31 lead into the locker room.
The closest Iona would get is 12 points in the second half.
If Coombs-McDaniel can put together some more games like he did on Sunday and Majok can continue to improve , the Huskies could make some noise as the season goes on.
UConn will finish out 2009 in the Big East opener on Wednesday night when they head to Cincinnati to take on the Bearcats at 7 p.m. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2.
Notes and musings:
Iona Gaels @ UConn Huskies 12.27.09 box score
The starters for UConn were Kemba Walker, Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson, Ater Majok and Alex Oriakhi.
The Huskies shot 58.9% (33-0f-56) from the floor while the Gaels shot 42.4% (28-of-66).
UConn had 22 assists on their 33 made baskets.
The Huskies were 23-of-35 (65.7%) from the free throw line. This needs to improve as Big East play begins.
Alex Oriakhi, who was shooting 31.6% from the free throw line, was 6-of-8 this afternoon.
UConn barely won the battle of the boards 35-33.
The Huskies had 20 points off of 14 Iona turnovers while committing just 11 of their own.
UConn had 28 fastbreak points to just 6 for the Gaels.
The Huskies scored 36 points in the paint while Iona had 34.
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