Huskies Debut With 84-71 Win Over Vanderbilt

[Boxscore]

HARTFORD, CT -- Sophomore Caron Butler (Racine, WI) scored 23 points to lead three teammates in double figures as the University of Connecticut opened its 2001-2002 season by defeating Vanderbilt 84-71 before a crowd of 15,904 at the Hartford Civic Center giving UConn head coach Jim Calhoun his 600^th career victory. 

“Vanderbilt is a very tough team to play,” said Calhoun. “We never gave them a chance in the first half to play. Once they settled down by the second half and started to make threes and run good offense, they were a very difficult team that you wouldn’t want to get caught in a four or five point deficit with 10 minutes to go because they run exceptionally good stuff.”

The Huskies stormed out of the gate, taking a 21-4 lead in the first 5:29 of the game, as Butler scored eight points in the decisive spurt.  The Commodores got no closer than 13 points after that in the first half, trailing 47-24 at intermission.  Butler ended the first half with 12 points, as UConn shot a sizzling 60% (21 of 35).

The Huskies made a believer out of Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings.  "We were clearly outplayed.  We were concerned about the very things that ended up beating us.  Their conversion offense (24 points) was a lot better than our conversion defense."  "We got off to a bad start and I think our guys got rattled."

Vanderbilt used its three-point shooting to get within 10 points twice in the second half, the final time at 58-48 with 12:06 to play.  The Commodores hit 11 three-pointers, including eight in the second half.

Joining Butler in double figures for UConn were Tony Robertson (Jr., E. Providence, RI) who had 16, Johnnie Selvie (Sr., Flint, MI) who had 15 and freshman Emeka Okafor (Houston, TX) who scored 11 and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds in his first collegiate game.  Point guard Taliek Brown (So. Queens, NY) scored nine points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out a game-high 11 assists.

Calhoun earned his 600^th win in his 30^th season of coaching.  His record in 16 years at UConn is 350-142 after notching a 250-137 record in 14 seasons at Northeastern.

"It’s a lot, and the only way you get a lot is years, and the only way you get years is to get old," said Calhoun. “Somewhere in the process you had to be around a little bit to do it. I was fortunate to start as a head coach in my twenties and have had two terrific institutions and so many good players. Some of those kids were here tonight.  I think people just blow it off and say that it’s not important. It is important though, not necessarily just to me, it’s important to because it shows that the two schools I’ve been at and the kids I’ve coached have wanted to achieve excellence as much as I did. That’s how you end up winning a lot of games, because you have kids with the same mindset as you.

UConn, despite playing without starting center Justin Brown (Jr., Perth, Australia), dominated inside, outscoring the Commodores 54-24 in the paint and outrebounding Vanderbilt 46-36.

Chuck Moore led Vanderbilt with 20 points, including six of nine from three-point range.  Matt Freije added 15.  Vanderbilt drops to 1-1 on the season.

UConn returns to action on Monday, November 26 when they host New Hampshire at the Hartford Civic Center.  Game time is set for 8:00.  Tickets are still available.