Jerome Dyson scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half to lead UCONN past the Pirates of Seton Hall 67-55 on a cold icy night at Storrs. Three other Huskies scored in double figures tonight. Jeff Adrien has 12 points, Craig Austrie had 11 and Doug Wiggins had 10. Seton Hall was led by Brian Laing with 17 points. Eugene Harvey added 10 for the Pirates.
The first half was very not a pretty sight as both teams struggled to make baskets. The teams combined to make 19 of 67 shots. As I said not very pretty at all. UCONN led by 2 at the half.
Seton Hall got out to a 5 point lead in the second half but a 15-2 run by the Huskies put UCONN up for good. Dyson scored 8 straight points to put UCONN up by 6 and they never looked back from there.
Notes and Observations:
- The starters were Austrie, Dyson, Johnson, Thabeet and Adrien.
- Besides having 12 points, Adrien was a monster on the boards pulling down 15 rebounds, 7 of them on the offensive end. The double-double was Adrien’s Big East leading 14th of the season.
- After starting recently, Stanley Robinson found himself in Coach Jim Calhoun’s doghouse and only played 2 minutes. He didn’t score.
- Dyson’s 22 points were a career high for him. His previous high of 20 came against Central Arkansas on opening night.
- A.J. Price’s struggles continued from the floor. He was 2 of 7 from the floor but hit a key 3 pointer in the 2nd half.
- Thabeet was blocking shots like they were flies. He ended up with 7 blocks. He was also a perfect 2 of 2 from the field and was 2 of 3 from the charity stripe. He added 9 rebounds as well.
- UCONN only shot 37.1% (23 of 61) from the floor. Seton Hall was no better shooting 28.8% (19 of 66).
- UCONN was 15 of 23 (65.2%) from the line. Still not good in my book but they really didn’t have to shot too many free throws down the stretch.
- The game was officially a sellout (10,167) but most of the ticket holders didn’t make it to the game. Seems we had a lil bit of N’oreaster up in these parts of the country today. My parents were crazy enough to make the trip.
Most of the game was not pretty. But it was really nice to see Dyson step up and perform like he should have been all season. I’ll take it though. It has been a tough long season for the young Huskies and hopefully this win was enough to put them into the Big East tournament. Even if they only get one game in the tournament, it will be very valuable experience for this young team.
With the win, the Huskies move to 16-9 (5-6 in the Big East). Next up for the Huskies is a nationally televised date in Syracuse against the Orangemen. Game time is 3:30 PM and is on ABC.
Technorati: UCONN Huskies, Jim Calhoun, Seton Hall Pirates, Big East Conference
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