Huskies Blow Out Albany With Defense, Fast Break Points
STORRS, Conn. – The second time around was the way many probably thought the first one would be.
Last March, Albany looked like it was ready to become the first No. 16 seed to win a first round game in the NCAA Tournament. In a well-chronicled game, the Great Danes led by 12 with less than 12 minutes to play before Connecticut took over the game to win by 13. If not for George Mason’s run to the Final Four, that game might have been the one thing most people remembered from the tournament.
Sunday’s game between the two teams had a similar start, but Albany only led during some of the opening minutes. Connecticut pressured the Great Danes into 21 turnovers and scored 35 points off them en route to an 86-55 rout on Sunday.
“They really got up in us, and that bothered us a bit,” Albany head coach Will Brown said.
The Huskies broke the game open with a run of 13 straight points in the first half, aided by the turnovers. They pressured Albany point guard Jamar Wilson, who was arguably the best player on the floor in the meeting last March, into eight turnovers and stifled his penetration to the basket. He over-dribbled and struggled to get teammates involved to the degree he normally does. The Huskies put 6’5″ sophomore Marcus Johnson on him, giving them a size advantage at that position.
What this game showed isn’t that a few months make a real difference; that much is obvious, as both teams had different looks. Albany lost two 1,000-point scorers and their starting big man from last season’s team; Connecticut lost three first round NBA Draft picks. What it showed about the Huskies is that unless they progress with their offense, the path to victory will have to be stifling defense and points off turnovers. While that may sound like a typical Connecticut team – and this team full of athletes is built much like many of those that Jim Calhoun has won with in Storrs – that’s the case with this team more than ever. Simply put, the Huskies weren’t pretty in the halfcourt overall.
“When we aren’t doing well offensively, which was the case tonight, we extend out in the lanes more,” Calhoun said.
For starters, the Huskies had more turnovers than assists – that won’t cut it in the Big East. Take away the breakaway baskets and the overall field goal percentage of over 58 percent for the game isn’t quite as impressive. They had an off-game from long range, making just one of nine three-point shots. Indeed, the best players in the halfcourt on Sunday might have been freshmen Jerome Dyson and Gavin Edwards, although sophomore Jeff Adrien has been reliable thus far (Sunday was his first game without a double-double) and should be the rest of the way.
Dyson was aggressive on offense and created, handing out four assists to go with 12 points. Edwards, a late spring signee who wasn’t recruited by the Huskies until the spring, considered attending prep school this year. He surpassed all of his early career numbers in just this game, scoring 16 points on 6-6 shooting in 19 minutes and grabbing five rebounds.
One thing that is certain is that this is a hungry Huskies team. They’re young and have something to prove after falling short of the Final Four last season with the talent they had. As young as they are, they aren’t lacking talent, and there is ample opportunity to get better all the time.
“Every day is really intense, and it’s a learning tool at the same time,” said Johnson, who scored 14 points. “We’re getting better every day and we’re forcing each other to get better.”
Calhoun’s teams are known for playing good defense, and the tools – from the athleticism at all perimeter positions to the presence in the middle of 7’3″ big man Hasheem Thabeet – are there to do that again. If the offense comes along to where they can consistently score aside from fast break points off turnovers, the Huskies will be right there in the race for the top of the Big East later in the season.
