The stage is set for a supreme dogfight between UConn and Providence at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs on Saturday.
The No. 2 Huskies, who have won eight straight following a listless home loss to Georgetown, will look to get the Providence monkey off their back.
The Friars have won four consecutive games at UConn, where they owned the Huskies in every aspect of last year’s 77-65 rout. The game was actually more of a shellacking than the score indicates. Doug Wiggins canned a pair of treys in garbage time to cut down a 17-point deficit. So, UConn will renew the Route 6 rivalry. Wiggins has since transferred to UMass. Tomorrow’s game will also have some extra juice.
If UConn defeats Providence, they will likely become No. 1 in the country for the first time since 2006.
The matchup comes in the aftermath of fourth-ranked Wake Forest’s thrilling, 70-68 win over North Carolina.
The game, won on forward James Johnson’s layup with eight tenths of a second to play, indicated that the ACC is almost as stacked, talent-laced, and wide open as the Big East this season.
“Between the ACC and the Big East, there must be about a dozen teams that can make the Final Four,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski told the New York Daily News. “I think you’re going to be in a lot of games like this, where teams get a chance to show their grit.”
UConn showed a complete lack of grit during their lone loss of the season, a late December game Jim Calhoun dubbed a “home-serving.” The Hoyas did a solid job containing Jerome Dyson, who shot an abysmal 1-for-10. Some of Dyson’s offensive woes were self-inflicted, however, as he botched a layup and exited the game mentally.
Georgetown also limited 7-foot-3 center Hasheem Thabeet to four field goals.
“It’s better that we get this loss out of the way early,” said A.J. Price, following the lackluster loss. “We didn’t by any stretch of imagination think we were going undefeated.”
Undefeated? No.
No. 1 ranking?
If the Huskies erase the past and clamp down on a well-oiled offensive machine that features three-headed monster Weyinmi Efejuku (13.4 PPG), Marshon Brooks (13.1 PPG) and 5-foot-10 point guard Sharaud Curry (10.4 PPG, 4.5 APG), yes.
The Friars have other firepower with 6-foot-7 playmaking point forward Geoff McDermott and Jeff Xavier, a fifth-year senior shooter who is playing this season despite nagging injuries.
Randall Hanke, a veteran center and never the sharpest tool in the shed, is beginning to flower. The 7-foot beanstalk scored 12 points (6-for-7 FG) in 19 minutes during the Friars’ 100-94 defeat of No. 15 Syracuse.
Providence (14-6, 6-2) has won three of their last four since Xavier’s brother walked onto the court toward the referees in the Marquette loss.
Still, with the inside manpower of walking double-double Adrien and Thabeet, UConn looks to end Providence’s win streak and success at the Constitution state.
A Look Back: January 17, 2008
UConn was buried under a barrage of three-pointers, as Providence’s perimeter assault did the Huskies in during the second half. The Friars’ 14 treys tied for the most three-pointers allowed by UConn in a Big East game. Providence’s Dwain Williams, who dialed in from a different area code, led the long-range assault with 23 points and six trifectas. Jeff Adrien led the Huskies with 16 points and 15 boards. The Friars held Stanley “Sticks” Robinson, a double-digit scorer, to just two points on a wowing putback dunk in the first half. Jerome Dyson was off his game as well. Calhoun certainly wasn’t in good spirits during the press conference.
“I mean, did Jerome Dyson play tonight?” Calhoun quipped. “I’m not sure if he did or he didn’t.”
