UConn Holds Off Villanova For 70-65 Victory

Boxscore

Philadelphia (January 13) –  Caron Butler (So., Racine, WI) led the University of Connecticut men’s basketball team with 19 points and Taliek Brown (So., Queens, NY) had a season high 16 to propel UConn to a 70-65 victory over Villanova at the First Union Center in Philadelphia on Sunday.

With the win, UConn improved to 10-3 and is now off to a 4-0 start in BIG EAST play for the fifth time in school history. Villanova fell to 9-4 and 2-2 in the league as UConn is the only team to have defeated the Wildcats this season without the game going into overtime.

Butler, who hit each of his first four shots from the field and scored all of UConn’s first seven points, tied the game at seven with a three-pointer that triggered a 15-2 run. At the 15:57 mark, Tony Robertson (Jr., Providence, RI) stole the ball and slammed it to give UConn its first lead of the game with the score standing at 9-7.

On the next possession, Villanova turned the ball over again and Butler was the one who had the slam dunk for his ninth point just four minutes into the game. Ben Gordon (Fr., Mount Vernon, NY) nailed UConn’s third three-pointer putting the Huskies up 10 and marking the Huskies largest lead of the first half with 12:11 remaining.        
Villanova answered to tie the game at 23 when Brooks Sales threw the ball inside to Ricky Wright for a lay up five minutes before intermission. Robertson snapped the tie by hitting a three and UConn scored seven unanswered points to help the Huskies take a 36-32 halftime lead.

The first eight minutes of the second half featured four lead changes, but UConn took advantage of Villanova turnovers on six of eight straight possessions and went on an 8-0 run during which Emeka Okafor (Fr., Houston, TX) hit on consecutive shots to make it 48-41.

Connecticut would lead by as many as 11 twice in the second, but Villanova trimmed it to three with just over 30 seconds remaining before the Huskies hit four of six from the foul line down the stretch to put the game out of reach.

Free throws were what kept the Wildcats in the game as they hit on 23 of 27. In the first half the Wildcats made 12 of 16, while UConn never had an attempt. However, it was 20 turnovers that proved to be costly as the Huskies scored 28 points off Villanova miscues.

Sales led the Wildcats in scoring with a career high 22 points and finished the day with 12 rebounds as well. Okafor led UConn in the rebounding department with eight.

UConn will stay on the road for its next contest as it travels to the Dunkin Donuts Center to take on the Friars of Providence on Wednesday, January 16 at 7:30 p.m.