A season that begin full of hope and promise for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball has mercifully come to an end. Sure they could end up playing in the NIT but for all intent and purposes, this season is done.
Plus, if you’re Jim Calhoun, do you really want to play in the NIT after watching your team play in the last four games?
For the fifth straight season, the Huskies were bounced from the Big East Tournament on the first day, this time by the St. John’s Red Storm 73-51 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday afternoon.
It’s the fourth straight loss for the Huskies, who lost 12 of their last 18 games, as they fall to 17-15. The 13th seeded Red Storm improve to 17-14 and will take on the 5th seed Marquette on Wednesday afternoon. It’s the first win for the Red Storm against the Huskies in nine games.
As you might expect, Kemba Walker once again led the Huskies in scoring with 12 points. Gavin Edwards had 11 points off the bench and Stanley Robinson added 10 points and eight rebounds.
Sean Evans led the Red Storm with 19 points and nine rebounds. Paris Horne and Justin Brownlee chipped in with 13 points.
The Huskies were never really in this game at all as they fell behind 12-4 early on. The Huskies would get no closer than five points at 17-12 for the rest of the game.
It looked as though everyone on UConn with the exception of Walker quit. Jerome Dyson was just brutal as he had nine turnovers and didn’t look like he even cared that his Huskies were losing.
We all know the Huskies won’t be dancing this year in the NCAA Tournament so now we’ll have to wait until Sunday night to see if they get an NIT bid.
Notes and musings:
UConn Huskies vs St. John’s Red Storm Big East Tournament First Round 3.9.10
Despite what Calhoun said on Sunday about benching the starters, he went with a lineup of Kemba Walker, Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson, Ater Majok and Alex Oriakhi.
The Huskies shot 37.5% (21-of-56) from the floor while the Red Storm shot 50% (29-of-58).
UConn had ten assists on their 21 made baskets.
The Huskies were just awful at the free throw line going 6-of-18 (33.3%). Walker was 2-of-6 and Ater Majok was 1-of-5.
UConn had 11 points off of 14 St. John’s turnovers. The Red Storm had 15 points off of 20 UConn turnovers.
UConn won the battle of the boards 38-36 while the Red Storm outscored them in the paint 38-30.
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