HARTFORD, Conn. – Based on the box score, this one was a laugher: The University of Connecticut Huskies 99, the University of Hartford Hawks 56. End of story, right?
Hardly.
“The final score was in not indicative of this game,” reflected UConn head coach Jim Calhoun after his clubs victory.
“I thought it was a great night for our program. I think what we really wanted to accomplish, outside of what’s on the floor, was to show more people in the city of Hartford, and around Hartford, is what University of Hartford basketball is all about. And I think we did ourselves proud,” said Hawks head coach Dan Leibovitz.
As crazy a notion as it may sound, the Hawks’ 43-point loss, the largest in the America East conference this season, may have been the league’s best performance on the young season.
Make no mistake, the final 13 minutes of the game were an absolute beat down, as Uconn closed out the game with a 44-7 run. But up until Jeff Adrien’s dunk with 12:55 remaining to start the run, Hartford played the Huskies as well as any team in the country could have.
Encouraging signs abounded for the young Hawks’ title hopes, and should give the rest of the America East Conference reason to worry. The Hawks never backed down, never gave up, and for an amazing 27 minutes, played as equals with the number two team in the nation.
The Hawks performed brilliantly in an incredibly hostile environment during the first half, and showed signs of a low-post game that was a huge question mark entering the season.
From the opening warm-ups, it was clear that UConn did not respect Hartford. The Huskies jogged through the Hawks’ pre-game stretches, and brushed against their layup lines as the headed for the locker room after shoot around. And each and every Husky stared down the Hawks when UConn retook the floor with 20 minutes to go, the floorboards shook as the XL Center’s sound system was cranked up to maximum, blaring Young Jeezy’s “Put on.”
It was enough to put a chill in the spines of even the most hardened power conference team. But one look into the eyes of Hawks senior captain Michael Turner, star Joe Zeglinski, and reserve David Bookman told the whole story: the Hawks had no fear. They were unflappable.
“These guys really believed they could win this game coming in, and they believed it once we took the court, they believed it at halftime, and they believe it right now after the game,” said Hawks head coach Dan Leibovitz.
You couldn’t make up a better metaphor for the David versus Goliath matchup than the opening tap, when UConn’s 7’3″ center (and future NBA lottery pick) Hasheem Thabeet stepped to center court and stared down at 6’1″ Jaret Von Rosenberg. (Leibovitz had Von Rosenberg take the opening tap, opting to have his other four starters already in defensive positioning.)
And perhaps no moment better summed up the Hawks’ heart than when Von Rosenberg swooped in and ripped Thabeet’s opening tip out of the hands of three Huskies.
Three times in the first half UConn pushed the lead to ten points or more, and all three times Hartford fought their way back against the Huskies and the deafening crowd. Every time UConn made a run, Hartford ratcheted up their intensity level and made a run right back.
“They got really jacked up and excited, and that’s a tribute to them,” reflected Calhoun.
Despite being vastly undersized, the Hawks, who played no one taller than 6’9″, were able to get both Thabeet, and 7’1″ Charles Okwandu in foul trouble thanks to their relentlessly scrappy efforts around the hoop, effectively taking them out of the game in the first half.
“We tried to be physical, tried to be scrappy,” said Hartford head coach Dan Leibovitz.
The Hawks were carried in the first half by the phenomenal point-guard play of Von Rosenberg and freshman Andres Torres.
“We executed the game plan pretty well in the first half, I want to say we only had six turnovers at half time, which is something you can hang your hat on as a coach, that’s our philosophy,” said Leibovitz. “When you don’t rebound the ball the only way you can make up (for it) is to take care of the basketball.”
Von Rosenberg’s ability to control the ball was questioned at times last year, but against one of the most talented backcourts in the country, the scrappy Von Rosenberg unveiled just how far his game has come over an offseason. He not only broke the Huskies’ press, but did an amazing job of getting to the rack, scoring 7 of his 11 points in the opening frame, and did a terrific job as a floor general with team leader Michael Turner on the bench because of foul trouble.
While Von Rosenberg kept Hartford afloat early on, it was Torres who kicked the offense into overdrive. Torres, a pint-sized guard from Puerto Rico, has game-changing speed, and showed flashes last season of being an impact player on the floor. Against the Huskies, Torres proved just how good he can be, blowing by defenders, getting into the lane and creating offense during the first half, as he seemed to be the catalyst for every Hawks first-half rally.
“He’s explosive, he’s the one guy on our team who can create opportunities off a make, he can just sprint the ball up and get us an early offense, “said Leibovitz. “I’m still trying to harness it, but he has some great ability, and I don’t care who you put in front of him, he can get by somebody.”
The Hawks went into the half trailing by nine, and the buzz courtside was that Hartford had already earned their own victory by keeping it close for a half. But no one expected what came next, as the Hawks opened the second period with a 10-2 run.
“We took a nine-point lead and almost turned it into a deficit, where it was only a two-point game, and that was Hartford’s (level of play), clearly,” said Calhoun.
Sophomore Kevin Estes was huge in the Hawks’ surge after the half, fearlessly taking the ball at Thabeet, the nation’s most intimidating shot-blocker. Estes silenced the Huskies faithful when he cut by Thabeet on an inbounds play and threw down a two-handed slam. Estes’ dunk made it a 43-39 game with 18:07 left. After a Zeglinski three, Estes took the ball right at Thabeet again on the right block, banking in a fade-away hook shot over the Huskies’ mountain in the middle, cutting the lead to one, 45-44, with 16:39 left.
Estes’ play was especially encouraging for Hartford, as low-post scoring was viewed as a big question mark entering the season. After scoring nine points on 4-6 shooting in Hartford’s opener, Estes scored eight on 4-5 shooting against one of the best frontcourts in the country, and is beginning to display a knack for getting to the bucket on the offensive end.
“He (Estes) really knows what he’s doing, on some of those slips on out-of-bounds plays are just reads,” said Leibovitz. “Those aren’t things that are drawn up. Kevin, when he comes around and slips to the rim, he sees how he’s being played, and that’s maturity.”
Leibovitz also believes that Estes will improve on the glass as well. After a freshman year marred by a bad concussion and a bout of the flu, Estes has shown no hesitation to play physical and throw his body around in the post
“I think that you will find that as the year goes on he will do a better and better job as a rebounder,” Leibovitz said of Estes.
6’9″ freshman center Genesis Maciel also flashed his potential on an incredible left-handed reverse layup, as he bumped Thabeet out of position on the low-blocks, and finished off a terrific spin move.
Morgan Sabia was solid all night, scoring a game high 15 points and showing no signs of any hangover from his 1-7 shooting night to open the season.
The story of the night for the Hawks, however, was the play of Zeglinski, who was coming off of the worst game of his college career, a 1-10 shooting night against Quinnipiac.
Zeglinski was fearless on the court in every aspect of the game, and not only ran the floor as an equal with the Husky guards, but got into the post and mixed it up physically with Thabeet and Jeff “The Incredible Hulk” Adrien. Zeglinski finished with only 11 points on 4-14 shooting, but his game was so much more than his numbers, as he was everywhere, fighting for rebounds in the paint (he finished with 5 boards), disrupting passing lanes (3 steals), and fighting for every inch on the hardwood.
“Joe’s a winner, he’s a special kid, and you can pretty much bank on him coming back every time he has a tough night,” said Leibovitz.
Zeglinski’s performance won him high praise from those in attendance, including former high school All-American and fourteen-year professional Bobby Martin, who was taking in the game.
“That kid Zeglinski is a winner. That kid would be a baller on any team, he’s a little bulldog, you just can’t teach that,” gushed Martin, who played his college ball at Pitt. “He’s a little bulldog in there, and he really won me over when he got in there underneath Thabeet and was wrestling him for a jump ball, and then when right back and started fighting Adrien with everything he had on the low block.”
“He’s aggressive, he’s fearless, and he’s everything to our program,” said Leibovitz.
In the end, the Huskies were simply too much for the Hawks, who were fighting exhaustion, a bigger, stronger, deeper, and more talented bench, and even it seemed the officials. But Hartford had absolutely nothing to hang their heads about, and Hawks fans, and those of the conference in general, should have felt honored to have been represented by the Hawks. Even after UConn began to blow the doors off, the Hawks never panicked, never began to jack-up threes, and kept their composure until the end.
“I think (the fans) left here and said ‘hey, that’s a team that knows what their doing, they play together, they play the game the right way, their pretty scrappy, and the game got away from them but hey, Hartford’s doing some things around here,” reflected Leibovitz.
