Calhoun Returns in UConn's
Win Over St. John's

Boxscore (.pdf)
Boxscore (.html)

STORRS, CT (February 22, 2003) – Sophomore center Emeka Okafor (Houston, TX) came within one blocked shot of his first career triple-double as 24th-ranked Connecticut held off cold-shooting St. John’s, 77-69, Saturday afternoon before the usual sellout crowd of 10,167 at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion.

The Huskies, who welcome back head coach Jim Calhoun after a five game absence for prostate surgery, improve to 17-6 with the victory, 8-4 in BIG EAST play. The Red Storm drop to 12-11, 5-8 in the conference.

The Huskies seemed to have the contest well in hand, enjoying a 60-43 lead with 10:14 to play before Kyle Cuffe led St. John’s back. Cuffe scored six points in a 10-0 Red Storm run to get St. John's within seven at 60-53 with 6:21 to play. Marcus Hatten hit two three-pointers sandwiched around a huge runner in the lane by sophomore guard Ben Gordon (Mt. Vernon, NY), cutting the Husky lead to 72-69 with 1:09 to go in the contest. Senior guard Tony Robertson (E. Providence, RI) followed with a quick lay-up, and after a missed three-pointer by Anthony Glover, Okafor sealed the win with a dunk off a feed from junior point guard Taliek Brown (Queens, NY). Brown returned to the lineup after a four-game absence due to a broken finger on his non-shooting hand. He finished with four points and two assists in 17 minutes of action.

Okafor was immense all afternoon for Connecticut. He finished with 13 points, 12 rebounds and nine blocked shots. His seventh block of the game pushed him past former UConn great Donyell Marshall into first-place on the all-time Connecticut blocked shot list with 246 career rejections in just 57 career games (4.3 average). It was Okafor’s 16th double-double of the campaign.

Gordon, who scored a game-high 18 points on six of 10 shooting and had a game-high seven assists, led UConn. Robertson added 14 and freshman forward Denham Brown (Toronto, ON) chipped in with 10. The Huskies continued to get stellar bench play from freshman power forward Marcus White (Chicago, IL). White narrowly missed his first career double-double with nine points and nine rebounds in 25 solid minutes.

UConn shot a solid 56% from the field for the game (27 of 48) including a sizzling 61% (14 of 23) after intermission. The Huskies held the Red Storm to just 32% (22 of 69) shooting for the contest.

Cuffe and Hatten led St. John’s with 16 points apiece.

Connecticut has a short turnaround for their return to the court as they travel to South Bend, IN to face Notre Dame on Monday, February 24. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally by ESPN as part of their Big Monday package.

Post Game Quotes

Connecticut Head Coach Jim Calhoun

The kids had a personal statement….they don't want me back.  Coach Blaney got them to shoot 25-26 from the foul line and then they decided to torture me as much as they possibly could so I really appreciate that from them.  That was their welcome back gift to me I guess.

Waking into the building with the fans was an incredible feeling, it really was something.  Just seeing the kids signs, and Mike (Jarvis) having his kids from St. John's come over to welcome me back was a real class gesture.  The whole idea, I made my mind up last night and this morning, and I decided that "yeah, I'm ok, and I'm just going to sit there" and it did last for about 8 minutes, which I thought was remarkable in and of itself, and then all of a sudden, I guess like riding a horse or a bike, I got back on then Jimmy Burr and I are exchanging ideas about the philosophies of life.  Those kind of things happen, then next thing I know…I had asked George to try to help me as much as he could tonight…and I think one time he got a good bruised shoulder as I knocked him out of the way and he said 'well, I guess we're back to normal!'

But it is great to be back with the kids.  I'm tired now but I feel good.  I'm going home to rest right away.  Don't know if I'll be at our one-hour practice tomorrow but I will be with the team, I will travel with the team tomorrow to Notre Dame.

I'm sure I'll be tired later, but I did not feel any fatigue at all during the game.   I was happy to be back and happy to see my kids.  I'm happy to be back and obviously I'm very comfortable and I thought the fans just made me feel very special to be quite honest with you. 

Learn anything from watching the team from a distance: I found out something that I already knew…it reaffirmed to me that George Blaney can really coach.  I only disagreed with about 3 of his decisions in 5 games. And I usually disagree with about 3 decisions a minute.  He was terrific handling the team, he has been a dear friend.  Unfortunately for him we talked 10 hours a day, and I initiated about 9.5 hours of that.   

Everything that has happened since then (when he announced that he had cancer) has been incredibly touching to me personally.   My priorities have always been:  My Family, My God, and then what I do for a living and I will continue to do that.

I learned how much I really like this basketball team.  I want them to be so good, so much, yet they're young and make a lot of mistakes.  It is fun to show up for these 2 hours with these kids.  I learned how much I miss them.  One of the toughest days for me was when the kids were leaving for Virginia Tech and they left…and I was sitting alone at my desk and looking around like where is everybody…I had an incredible sense of loneliness and loss   I was facing surgery a day later, and for whatever strange reason I  never felt any fear about the surgery I only felt anticipation, let's get this thing done, and let's get rid of it and march on.  If hopefully if anything good comes of it I will continue to be healthy and live my life with my loved ones, and continue to coach and secondly if anyone got the message that we, had no history of cancer in my family. This is something that kinda came…in my wildest dreams I never expected a phone call like that.

I felt terrific about the game, I loved being back in the competition.  I like being back and I love being with the kids.  I have to make some adjustments to give the kids my best and George makes it so much easier for me.  Not only is he terrific, but I trust everything he does. 

Pat (Calhoun)  has decided one thing after having me home for 2 weeks…she's not ready to have me retire.  And I'm definitely not ready to retire.  I'll walk away from basketball when I want to walk away, but one thing I definitely feel is that I miss the game, I miss the kids, I miss the camaraderie I miss sitting around the office.  I miss seeing the kids even more so than I though I would.  My kids are very important to me.

Connecticut Assistant Head Coach George Blaney

I think one of the things that happened in practice was that the team felt that everything was right because Jim was back and I think that we all felt the same way. He belongs on the Gampel floor at practice, he belongs at the games. I've said it before, he is Connecticut basketball. There wouldn't be anything here if he hadn't done what he's done over the years. I think that this is such a young team that they see him as a father figure, as a coach, as someone who cares for them, so when he comes back it is a relief for them. I think they played that way today. I thought they came out and played like gangbusters today.

St. John's is one of the toughest teams you'll ever play. It doesn't matter whether they are playing well or not, they are going to fight you and they cause you to turn the ball over. You can say all you want about 'take care of the ball' but when you get in the paint they are raking at you, digging at you, and they get pieces of the ball as well as any other team and he does it every year it is not something that just happens in one game, or just against Connecticut, they do it against all teams and they are really good at it.

I think we got terrific performances from our guards again in Ben (Gordon) and Tony (Robertson). Tony held Hatten to 16 points on 6-20 and gets to almost every loose ball you can think of. Tom Moore said that in the last couple of days Tony has chased down more loose balls that he had in his 4 years.

Denham Brown had a real solid game and did a real good job defensively against Willie Shaw.

Emeka (Okafor) is just awesome with the blocked shots and rebounds

The guy who gives us life, and is quickly becoming a crowd favorite, is Marcus (White). He just comes in and injects some real energy and more importantly keeps the ball alive for us. He gets an offensive rebound, gets a tip. He doesn't look very solid with the ball but he is. He is really doing a good job. He gave us 25 minutes. I

It was nice to have Taliek (Brown) back. He was really gasping for air that first trip he had, but once he got his legs he seemed OK. He said it (his finger) hurt a little when he put the hand in there and got it whacked around a little bit. But other than that he was fine.

Mike Hayes came in and did another good job for us. That's 2 games in a row where Mike h as been a factor in the game.

It was good to have Jim back. It was great to see them (the crowd) show the love and support that they have for him. More than anything I think he really appreciated that.

UConn Player Quotes v. St. John’s

Emeka Okafor

Surprised Coach Calhoun coached today?

Not really. Coach is a fighter. And I knew he’d come out as soon as possible, so it didn’t really surprise me.

Did his return help the team get off to such a great start?

We saw Coach was there – the general’s back – and it got us fired up and ready to go.

What does it say to you that Coach Calhoun returned after 16 days?

It just shows you his commitment. He had surgery 16 days ago and he’s already back in action.

Was Coach Calhoun more reserved on the bench?

I don’t think so. I think he was just the same old Coach Calhoun.

On passing Donyell Marshall’s record for blocked shots tonight?

I was just trying to hold down the paint. It’s a team and everyone has their part, and my part is to come in there and make the guards feels comfortable that if there guy goes by them I’ll be there.

On St. John’s late run

We just kept our composure. We’d been up the whole game and they were slowly creeping up to us. But we knew we couldn’t back down.

Can this game springboard you to Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and the Big East Tournament?

It’s all about momentum. Winning this game, the crowd getting into it – giving us confidence, coach coming back, it all just adds up to give us that boost that we need.

Ben Gordon

On Calhoun's Return

We got off to a real good start, everybody was energized, everybody was really happy to see him back.

Did Calhoun’s return help the team get off to such a great start?

It had a lot to do with it. The fans got everybody into it right away. As soon as he came in they gave him a standing ovation and that energized us and allowed us to get off to a good start..

Did the intensity wear off in the second half?

You have to give St. John's their credit, they're a real scrappy team, we played great defense on them, they didn't have a great percentage, but they got a lot of second chances and they forced the turnovers.

On not handling St. John’s press at times

You can’t get timid with the ball because it seems like St. John’s feeds off that. At times we were kind of unsure of our passes. We have to continue to attack with confidence. We have to have the attitude that we’re going to make them pay for pressing us.

Best start?

Definitely one of the best starts, we were running and getting some good baskets, we were doing just what we wanted to do, we didn't start off turning the ball over.

Concerned in the second half?

We were concerned, being up by 19 at one point and then the game getting down to as close as three, that definitely makes you concerned. We just have to focus more on the foul line.

This is definitely our time, we have to make a move now and try and get those road games and we have another one here so we have our work cut out for us but it's our time to make a push.

Tony Robertson

On the quick start

I think that was the best start we’ve had whole season. We just came and were making it happen. And the next thing you know we put up 15 points so quick.

Did Coach coming back inspire the team?

I believe so. The fans were great the whole game, but they gave us a lot of energy right off the jump.

It had a lot to do with it because when Coach came out, the fans went crazy. And we saw that and we got pumped up.

On guarding Marcus Hatten

It was hard chasing him around because he’s liable to do anything – any kind of dribble move, spin, and through up any kind of shot. So, I just tried to be there.

On losing the lead

We have to get that under control. Some teams, if you have a 17 point lead and let them come back, they’ll be up 17 before you know it. You have to put teams away when you’re in a position to finish them.

On problems with St. John‘s press

I don’t think we attacked it in the middle like we were supposed to.

Marcus White

On Calhoun's Return

I think he brought a lot more intensity, I think we had the best start we've had all year, as far as jumping out on the team early. He brought a lot to the table today.

Did the intensity wear off in the second half?

Yeah, but we found a way to put it back together. You can't ride that high all the time. You have to burn out at some time. We were fortunate that we had enough energy left to stay at a consistent level of play and come away with a win.

Concerned in the second half?

We were more disappointed than concerned because we work on a lot of things, to cut down on turnovers and making foul shots, but we always seem to have a category that we'd like to improve on in every game and that category seems to really affect the play of the game. We missed a lot of free throws and that would have made a big difference in the game. We could have had a comfortable win.

Was the comeback more about how UConn played rather than what St. John’s did?

Yeah, we made a lot of mental mistakes, as far as the turnovers and the free throws. Not to take anything away from St. John's, they're a great team.

Taliek Brown

On calling the plays the second half

I was just happy to be back on the court, my finger's not going to be 100% until the season's over, it's going to take a long time. Even if I'm not doing anything with the ball, I want to be involved.

On his rebound/pass to Okafor

Usually he's the one grabbing the rebound and passing it up to me. But I got the rebound and Emeka was wide open so I passed it up to him and he needed the confidence after those two free throws he shot.

On Calhoun's return

It was a real special moment for us, it was a big moment in Storrs and for UConn basketball for him to come back, he was battling something, we have all been battling something. It pumped everyone up to have him back and the crowd was really excited, and I think it really helped our team out because we came out strong, really sharp. It's hard to play that way for 40 minutes. St. John's was going to try to make a run, and they did. We just had to stay with it.

On his finger

It feels alright, it's sore. I got hit a couple of times and there's a sharp pain, it's kind of sore.

On the win

It gives us confidence, so when we go on the road, we know we have to play harder.