It was a great Saturday for UConn Huskies men's basketball coach Kevin Ollie.
Earlier in the day, he received a five-year contract extension giving the program some stability going forward. Then later, his team went out and rewarded his extension with a win.
While it definitely wasn't a pretty win, it was a win as UConn beat the Washington Huskies 61-53 in front of an announced crowd of 12,720 at the XL Center in Hartford, CT on a snowy Saturday night.
The east coast Huskies improve to 10-2 while the west coast Huskies fall 8-5 in the final non-conference game for both teams.
Omar Calhoun led the way for UConn with 14 points. Shabazz Napier had 13 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. However, he did commit seven turnovers. Ryan Boatright added 13 points.
DeAndre Daniels had nine points before leaving late in the game with a cut lip. Enosch Wolf paced the Huskies with nine rebounds to go along with two points. And with the help of Wolf's nine rebounds along with Napier's eight, the east coasters actually outrebounded the west coasters 40-36.
Scott Suggs was the only member of Washington to hit double figures with 15 points. Andrew Andrews and Shawn Kemp, Jr. both had nine points. Desmond Simmons pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds and had six points.
As usual, the Huskies played with a lot of energy. They fall behind early as they looked rusty due to the lengthy layoff for Christmas break. But they took control of the game with an 11-0 run and then clamped down on the defensive end.
It was nice to see the local Huskies work hard for rebounds. This is something they're going to need to continue going forward as they kickoff Big East play for the rest of the season.
That first Big East game will come in 2013 when they travel to Milwaukee, WI for a matchup with the Marquette Golden Eagles on New Year's Day. Tip is scheduled for 8 p.m.
Washington Huskies @ UConn Huskies 12.29.12 box score
Here are the postgame quotes from UConn head coach Kevin Ollie.
Here are UConn's postgame notes.
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photo credit: david butler ii – special to hartford courant (no. 11 in gallery)
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