When you look back to the 2007-08 season for the UConn Huskies, rarely ever would you find Jerome Dyson’s name as the leading scorer. You’d expect it to be A.J. Price, Hasheem Thabeet or Jeff Adrien. Then of course there is the off court incident that saw him get suspended.
It appears that Dyson has put his past transgressions behind and is out to prove that he can play some ball as his 21 points helped the No. 2 Huskies to a 76-57 win over the No. 19 Wisconsin Badgers to capture the 2008 Paradise Jam title in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Dyson also had 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals for UConn (5-0). Jeff Adrien had 14 points and 8 rebounds while freshman Kemba Walker chipped in with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 4 steals. He did have 7 turnovers though. Thabeet was named the Paradise Jam MVP and added 9 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
Keaton Nankivil was the only Badgers (4-1) player in double figures with 11 points. Marcus Landry had 9 points and 5 rebounds while Trevon Hughes and Jon Leuer also added 9 points. Joe Krabbenhoft pulled down a team-high 6 rebounds.
The two teams exchanged baskets early on before the Badgers took a 5 point lead at 14-9. Four straight points by Dyson cut the lead to 1 but a Jason Bohannon 3-pointer pushed the lead back to 4 points. They would get it to 5 points at 24-19 before a 8-0 run by the Huskies would give them the lead for good. The 8-0 run was actually part of an 18-4 run to close out the first half as the Huskies would take a 38-28 lead into the locker room.
Down ten points at 42-32, the Badgers went on an 11-3 run to get with in 2 points but they would get no closer the rest of the way as the Huskies used a 7-0 run and increased their defensive pressure in leaving the Badgers in their dust.
A very successful tournament for the Huskies as they beat two ranked opponents and saw different styles of basketball in each game. They were able to adjust and make the adjustments but ultimately forced their style of basketball on their opponents.
Next up for the Huskies is the Bryant University Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon at 1 PM at the XL Center. The game will be broadcast locally on My-TV9.
Notes and Musings:
Wisconsin Badgers vs UConn Huskies 11.24.08 Paradise Jam Championship box score
The starters were Johnnie Bird, A.J. Price, Craig Austrie, Jerome Dyson, Jeff Adrien and Hasheem Thabeet. The television broadcast had Bird listed as the starter instead of Price.
Hasheem Thabeet was named to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll. He averaged 15.0 pts, 11.5 rebs and 4.3 blocks in a 4-0 start.
Besides Thabeet being named MVP of the Paradise Jam, Kemba Walker and Dyson were named to the All-Tournament Team.
Thabeet’s 7 blocks against Miami were a Paradise Jam record. His 15 total blocks in the 3 games is also a Paradise Jam record.
This was UConn’s sixth straight win over a ranked opponent.
UConn shot 52.1% (25-of-48) from the floor while the Badgers shot 37.3% (19-of-51).
The Huskies were 5-of-9 (55.6%) from 3-point land while Wisconsin was 8-of-17 (47.1%).
UConn was 21-of-30 (70%) from the charity stripe tonight which is right about their team average. I still think this number needs to improve.
The Huskies won the battle of the boards 32-28.
UConn had 36 points in the paint to 16 for the Badgers.
The Huskies forced 22 turnovers on Wisconsin while committing 17 of their own.
UConn had 10 fast break points to none for the Badgers.
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