The up-and-down 2009-10 season has finally come to an end for the UConn Huskies. But it was ending that probably shouldn’t have happened.
Dorenzo Hudson had 27 points, 17 in the second half, to help the Virginia Tech Hokies to a 65-63 win over the Huskies in front of 6,983 raucous fans at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, VA on Monday night.
With UConn up one at 63-62, the Hokies had the ball after a timeout underneath the UConn basket. They ran a play for Hudson who came off a screen and nailed a jumper to put them up 64-63.
After a UConn timeout, Kemba Walker went for the game-winner only to have it blocked. He recovered the ball and got it over to Gavin Edwards who missed an easy layup. Walker fouled Terrell Bell with .7 seconds left. Bell missed the first shot and after a timeout, he made the second one while actually trying to miss it.
Walker’s last ditch effort went for naught as the Hokies survived to see another day.
Had Edwards dunked the ball or gone up strong with the ball, we could be talking about the Huskies advancing to the quarterfinals. Instead, we’ll now be talking about the season that was and that could have been.
The Huskies finish up the season at 18-16 while the Hokies improve to 25-8. The Hokies will take on the Rhode Island Rams later this week to for the right to go to Madison Square Garden.
Walker led the Huskies with 18 points, four assists and had six rebounds. Despite a poor shooting night (4-of-17) and foul trouble, Jerome Dyson had 15 points. Gavin Edwards added ten points and six rebounds while Stanley Robinson had nine points and eight rebounds.
Besides his game-high 27 points, Hudson led the Hokies with nine rebounds. JT Thompson added 10 points and six rebounds off the bench. Virginia Tech’s leading scorer Malcolm Delaney finished with just six points but led them with nine assists.
We could sit here and say what I said earlier about Edwards going up in stronger but in reality, the Huskies are the ones who put themselves in this position. Had they played together as team for the whole, like they did in beating Texas and Villanova, this season could have been a much different story.
Instead the season ends in the NIT with a disappointing loss, apropos of the way the entire season went.
Notes and musings:
UConn Huskies @ Virginia Tech Hokies 2nd Round Postseason NIT 3.23.10 box score
The starters for the final time this season were Kemba Walker, Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson, Gavin Edwards and Alex Oriakhi.
The Huskies shot 41.6% (25-of-60) from the floor while the Hokies shot 42.1%.
UConn had just seven assists on their 25 made baskets.
The Huskies were 4-of-16 (25%) from three-point land while the Hokies were 2-of-11 (18.2%).
UConn was 9-of-16 (56.3%) from the free throw line. Just think maybe if they made three more they would have won.
The Huskies outrebounded the Hokies 36-35 and outscored them in the paint 34-22.
Virginia Tech had 13 turnovers that UConn turned into nine points. The Hokies had 19 points off of 13 UConn turnovers.
The Hokies outscored UConn 8-2 on the fast break.
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