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UConn Slips Past BYU to Advance to NCAA Second Round
Boxscore(.html)
Boxscore(.pdf) SPOKANE, WA (March 20) -- Sophomore center Emeka Okafor (Houston,
TX) poured in 20 points, snatched eight rebounds and rejected seven
shots as the University of Connecticut men's basketball team defeated
Brigham Young University, 58-53, in the first round of the 2003 NCAA
Division I men's basketball championship.
UConn will play Stanford,
which is set to tip-off on Saturday at 3:20 ET. The victory improves Head
Coach Jim Calhoun's record in NCAA first round games to a remarkable
11-0 at UConn and enhances Connecticut's record to 22-9 on the year
while BYU finishes the season at 23-9.
With the game tied, 26-26, at the half, UConn looked to put BYU
away early in the second half. The Huskies scored the first four
points of the second half and mounted a 20-6 run capped off by a Ben
Gordon (Mt. Vernon, NY) three-pointer at the 11:50 mark to take their
largest lead of the game at 46-32. The Cougars answered the bell
as they held UConn scoreless for next 4:30 and put-together a 9-0 run
to shrink the Husky lead to five at 46-41. BYU stepped up the
defensive intensity, holding the Huskies without a field goal for
10:43 and crept to within two points, 50-48, with 2:16 left in the
contest. Gordon broke the drought with a floater in the lane at
the 1:07 mark to put the Huskies up six, and UConn was able to hold on
with solid free-throw shooting in the second half making 14-of-18
attempts in the final period.
Gordon was the other Husky in double figures with 14 points, and
freshman Marcus White (Chicago, IL) gave UConn a huge lift off the
bench, notching nine points and eight rebounds. UConn enjoyed an
excellent defensive stretch, limiting the Cougars to ten points in the
final 8:04 of the first half and the first 3:45 of the second half.
UConn's overall defensive effort was decisive, holding BYU to just
11.8% shooting from beyond the arc (2-for-17) and 31.3% for the game
(20-for-64).
Travis Hansen and Mark Bigelow led the way for BYU with 21 and 12
points respectively.
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