Gay Comes Up Big In Second Half, UConn Avenges Last Year’s Upsetting Loss
by Zach Smart
HARTFORD, Conn. – As the No. 3 UConn men’s basketball team took the floor for the second half holding a nine-point edge, one eager fan shouted some motivational words in the direction of Rudy Gay.
“Rudy, get in this game!”
Gay, who scored just four points in the first half, responded by taking the game over.
And so the acrobatic sophomore put together the finest second-half performance of a Thursday evening showdown, as UConn avenged last year’s stunning upset with a vengeance. The Huskies coasted past the Minuteman, 78-60, erasing Rashaun Freeman’s buzzer beating basket out of memory.
Gay finished with 17 points, including a thunderous tomahawk stuff to add to the highlight film. The CBS Sportsline Pre-season Player of The Year selection also pulled down nine boards, four of which were offensive.
There were no surprises, no late game heroics this time around – just a dominant Husky ballclub that’s off to a sizzling hot start. The Huskies, one of the four Big East teams with an unblemished record, improved to 7-0.
Senior sharpshooter Rashad Anderson provided a spark off the deep UConn bench, scorching the nets for 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting (3-4 from downtown). Freshman guard Rob Garrison was also solid off the bench for the Huskies, handing out a game-high five assists in 17 minutes.
Anderson entered the game a little over five minutes in and right away connected on back to back three-pointers to build an early eight-point lead.
The Huskies extended their lead to 19 on Gay’s dunk. Gay scored 7 points in a minute and 30 seconds during a strong 9-0 run fueled by a Josh Boone (13 points, 10 rebounds) bucket underneath.
UMass was never able to climb out of the hole. Freeman paced the Minutemen with 19 points and nine rebounds, while Connecticut native Jeff Viggiano contributed 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting.
The Huskies shot 46 percent from the floor and out-rebounded UMass by a 44-29 margin. The Minutemen (37% FG) relied too much on the perimeter game. It certainly didn’t help, as they went an abysmal 4-for-22 from behind the arc.
“We got beat by a much better team tonight,” first-year UMass head coach Travis Ford said during a post-game interview with ESPN. “We actually executed most of the things we wanted to do, we just didn’t make very many shots.”
The Minutemen, who entered the contest having not played a game since Nov. 28 (a 93-57 trouncing of Savannah State), fell to 2-3 with the loss. It is their worst start since the 2003-2004 season.
Freshman point guard Craig Austrie, starting in place of the suspended Marcus Williams, operated the up-tempo UConn offense dishing out four assists.
Jim Calhoun murdered the ear of Gay after the sophomore forward had a sluggish first half. The UConn coach’s words surely got the best out of his star small forward, who admitted he was motivated as a result of the yelling.
“It was just getting set in my mind that I’m going to be a dominant player,” explained Gay.
