UCONN vs Quinnipiac

Tonight, November 10th, the UCONN Huskies, led by Jeff Adrien’s double double, defeated the Quinnipiac Bobcats 53-47. It was an ugly game for the Huskies as the team was very “Dr Jeykll and Mr Hyde” like scoring 35 pts in the first half and 18 pts in the second half.

Notes and observations:

• Starting lineup for UCONN: AJ Price, Jerome Dyson, Jeff Adrien, Marcus Johnson, Hasheem Thabeet
• UCONN’s free throw shooting was abysmal. 15 of 34 from the line (44.1%)
• UCONN shot 30.4% from the field. I will bet you any amount of money this won’t happen again this season.
• Whatever Coach Calhoun said to Jeff Adrien must have worked. He was a monster on the boards and in the paint tonight scoring 14 pts and pulling down 18 rebounds.
• Jerome Dyson led the way in the 1st half with 12 pts and finished with 16 in the game. Other than his stellar play in the 1st half, he was virtually non-existent on the floor in the second half.
• AJ Price struggled mightily in his first game as a Husky. He was 2 of 11 from the field and finished with 7 pts. He needs to shake off the rust to show us what was expected from him 2 years ago.
• Hasheem Thabeet also struggled down on the offensive end but was stellar on the defensive end blocking 7 shots and pulling down 11 rebounds. He has made improvements each game and in practice and I would expect this trend to continue.
• Marcus Johnson is definitely in the dog house with Calhoun. He was yanked at least twice in the second half for some poor decision making.
• With Marcus Johnson in the dog house, Stanley Robinson showed some brilliant flashes and pulled down 6 rebounds in the 1st half. Robinson finished with 4 pts, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks.
• Rob Garrison did not see any action tonight and may not until he also gets out of Calhoun’s doghouse.
• Most of the freshman had nerves and Doug Wiggins showed this. Not a stellar debut for him but I’d expect him to play a lot better.
• UCONN committed 21 turnovers while forcing 19.

Overall, not a pretty win for the Huskies. I’d expect Calhoun to have these boys running lots of sprints tomorrow. I will say that I was very impressed with the way UCONN played in the 1st half and not impressed at all with them in the 2nd half. If they play like they did in the 2nd half in the Big East or against anyone for that matter, it is going to be a LONG season. Next up for the Huskies is Central Arkansas next Friday at the Hartford Civic Center. Game time is at 8 PM. The game will not be televised. (Which means I beg mom and dad for a ticket!)

Rumor is Coach Calhoun has already scheduled practice for 5 am tomorrow!!!

After the jump is my notes I made during the game.

First half:
UConn started out strong making a 10-0 run to go up 10-2. UConn looks a lot better offensively than they have in the first two exhibition games. Leading the way scoring wise so far have been Jerome Dyson with 12 pts and Jeff Adrien with 11 pts. UCONN is still awful at the free throw line shooting under 50%. Hasheem Thabeet has blocked 4 shots so far and altered many more. UCONN has had 12 turnovers so far while forcing 15 first half turnovers on the Bobcats. Uconn has held Quinnipiac scoreless for the last 9 minutes of the first half and to 20% shooting from the field while UCONN is shooting only 40%. AJ Price has looked a little rusty this half but that is to be expected. First half score UCONN 35 Quinnipiac 16.

Second half:

Quinnipiac started the half with a 8-0 run holding UCONN scoreless for the first 3 minutes 30 seconds. We still suck shooting free throws. Marcus Johnson seems to be in Calhoun’s doghouse right now as he just got yanked for the second time this half. The Bobcats have cut a 19 pt deficit to 5 pts with 11 minutes to go. They are currently on a 20-8 run to start the half. Ugly second half so far as the Huskies have scored 13 pts so far this half and lead by 8 with 3:47 to go in the second half. Quinnipiac just hit a three point shot to cut the lead to two points with 2:34 to go in the game. Austrie just hit a 3 pt shot with 2 mins to go to put UCONN back up 5 pts. Jeff Adrien just made a huge offensive rebound with a minute to go off a Dyson missed free throw. Final Score: UCONN 53 Quinnipiac 46