You could definitely tell the No. 4/4 UConn Huskies hadn’t played since December 8th because of final exams. All things considered, they didn’t really play all that bad although their defensive effort late in the second half will probably draw the ire of Jim Calhoun.
As he has all season long, Kemba Walker led the way with 20 points to help the Huskies to a 76-64 win over the Coppin State Eagles in front of 10,193 and a nationally televised audience at the XL Center in Hartford, CT on Monday night.
The Huskies improve to 9-0 while the Eagles fall to 4-4.
Walker, who was one of three Huskies in double figures, also had five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Jeremy Lamb chipped in with 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists while Alex Oriakhi had 12 points and seven rebounds.
Charles Okwandu, who now has to look over his shoulder because of the arrival of Enosch Wolf, had a good game with nine points and seven boards. Wolf played three minutes and had four points and a rebound in three minutes. Roscoe Smith led the Huskies with 10 rebounds to go along with five points.
Akeem Ellis led the way for Coppin State with 19 points and six rebounds. Tony Gallo added 17 points while Michael Harper had 13 points.
Neither team could get going early on as the Huskies were just 3-of-18 early on. Gallo hit a three-pointer to put the Eagles up 10-8 but that’s the last time they would see the lead in the game. The Huskies responded with 5-0 run and after a basket by Ceslovas Kucinskas, Walker took over with nine straight points in 9-3 run to give UConn a 22-15 lead.
The Huskies then went on a 16-0 run over the next seven minutes to push the lead to 38-15 before Coppin State closed out the half on a 6-0 run to make 38-21 at the half.
UConn started the second half with a 9-0 run to push the lead to 26. Coppin State then used a 9-2 run to cut the lead down to 19 before a 9-3 run by UConn put it back up to 25 at 58-33. With the Huskies leading 66-45, the Eagles came soaring back as they went on an 11-0 run to cut UConn’s lead to 10. But that’s as close as they would get as the Huskies were able to hold off the fiesty Eagles.
As I said at the top, they didn’t really play all that bad once they got going. You definitely could see the rust but once they got going, they looked good at times.
But simply put, they need to play better defense with the lead. If that happens during Big East play, especially given the fact that there are four other teams in the top 10 besides them, they could easily find themselves on the losing end of things.
Quick turnaround for the Huskies as they’ll be back in action on Wednesday night when the Harvard Crimson come to the XL Center. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and the game will be televised locally in CT on SNY.
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Notes and musings:
Coppin State Eagles @ UConn Huskies 12.20.10 box score
New UConn president Susan Herbst was introduced to the crowd during the game.
The starters for the Huskies were Kemba Walker, Jeremy Lamb, Roscoe Smith, Alex Oriakhi and Charles Okwandu.
All 11 Huskies who saw action had at least two points.
After shooting 32.5% (13-of-40) in the first half, the Huskies finished the game shooting 40.6% (28-of-69) from the floor. The Eagles shot 37.5% (24-of-64).
UConn had 18 assists on their 28 made baskets.
The Huskies were just 3-of-16 (18.8%) from three-point land while the Eagles were 11-of-27 (40.7%).
UConn was 17-of-24 (70.8%) from the charity stripe.
The Huskies dominated the glass as they held a 58-29 advantage.
UConn outscored Coppin State 42-20 in the paint and 8-6 on the fast break.
The Huskies had 13 points off of 12 Coppin State turnovers. The Eagles had 16 points off of 15 UConn turnovers.
Photo credit: John Woike – Hartford Courant (No. 1)
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