Brown and Okafor Lead UConn to a BIG EAST Win Over Georgetown

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STORRS, CT (January 14, 2004) – Junior center Emeka Okafor matched his career-high with 27 points and senior point guard Taliek Brown came within one of his career-best with 20 points as top-ranked Connecticut outscored Georgetown, 94-70, before a sellout crowd of 10,167 at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion.

With the win, UConn’s 11th straight, the Huskies’ record improves to 14-1, 2-0 in BIG EAST play. The Hoyas drop to 10-3, 1-3 in conference play.

UConn stormed out of the locker room, making 12 of their first 16 shots from the field, in opening up a 25-15 lead just 7:21 into the game. Ben Gordon and Denham Brown each scored six points to key the spurt. The Huskies never allowed Georgetown into the contest, as they stretched their lead to 56-30 at intermission. The 56 points represented the most points scored in a half for the Huskies in a BIG EAST game since scoring 56 points in the second half against Virginia Tech on January 10, 2002. The Huskies shot a blistering 63% (24 of 38) from the field in the opening stanza, as Denham Brown scored all 15 of his points and Okafor tallied 10.

The second half saw more of the same as Okafor asserted himself in the paint and Taliek Brown ran the offense flawlessly. Okafor scored 17 of his game-high 27 points in the second half, and with his 11 rebounds, recorded the 39th double-double of his career. It was the 15th time he achieved that feat in BIG EAST play. Okafor also blocked five shots. The 27-points represented his career-best in BIG EAST play. The story of the game however was Taliek Brown. He scored his 20 points on nine of 13 shooting, and added seven rebounds and seven assists. He added a career-high three blocks for good measure.

Also in double figures for the Huskies was Gordon, who scored 11 points and added seven rebounds and five assists. The Huskies finished the contest shooting 53% (38 of 72), the ninth time this season UConn shot over 50%. UConn enjoyed a 47-31 rebounding advantage, and took excellent care of the ball, turning it over just 10 times.

Gerald Riley and Brandon Bowman each scored 17 points for Georgetown. Bowman grabbed 11 rebounds, the first time this season that the Huskies have allowed an opposing player to register at least 10 rebounds.

The Huskies return to action on Saturday, January 17, when they travel to Chapel Hill, NC to play the University of North Carolina. Tip-off at the Smith Center is set for 3:30 p.m., and the game will be televised nationally by CBS.

POST GAME QUOTES

UConn Head Coach Jim Calhoun
Except for the start of the game, the first 4 or 5 minutes, I thought that we played better in the first half than we did in either half against Oklahoma. I thought we were brilliant when we moved the basketball. The pass by Ben was symbolic of the way we were playing defense, the way we were locking them down. They had 30 points, but that was partly due to the fact that we didn’t have the ball for very long.

In the second half, we relaxed a little bit. It really wasn’t what we wanted to happen, because we put together close to 60 really good minutes heading into Carolina. The problem is that they’re kids, who read the scoreboard. They see the situation and they feel sometimes that they can just do anything they want.

On Georgetown
They have good players, but they got caught at Gampel Pavilion. We put a flash on them that only so many teams that I’ve had can do. Only so many teams can put that kind of two time-out deal where the third time-out doesn’t make any difference. We’re coming at you with so many numbers, we’re locking you down, we’re stealing the basketball, we’re blocking your shots, we’re doing all those kind of things.

On Taliek Brown
For those who love him so much, you should. When he plays with that kind of energy, particularly in the second half when we needed a little bit of an energy boost, because they are kids still, and they’re going through a tough four-game stretch – he was just brilliant…He was really special tonight.

On Denham Brown
Denham was really, really special tonight. In the first half he really put the game away with rebounding, with passing, making shots, etc.

On Emeka Okafor
I thought Emeka played very well in the second half. He got a little bit too concerned about fouls. He gave up a couple of layups early in the first half….He doesn’t want to sit with me on the bench…he’s trying to do everything to avoid that. But he was awfully good.

Taliek Brown
On Feeling better?
Yes, I’ve been a lot more aggressive out there, getting the players involved, scoring when I have to score.

On 3 blocked shots…on trying to take over Emeka’s lead
If I can, that is a hard lead to get to though.

On playing against the pressure
We just tried to be real aggressive and push it down their throat when they try to press us. The press is really just to slow us down, so we just try to keep up the pace and keep pushing it and go right past the press.

On fast break points
That is our game, we don’t really play the ½ court set. We like to get a lot of easy baskets, a lot of fast break, spot up 3 pointers…that is our game. When we get in a ½ court offense we do have the offense, but mostly we try to run.

I feel that it always starts with the point guard. If your point guard is really aggressive, getting everybody the ball, getting into the lane, scoring…I think that really helps the team out a lot.

On being 3rd on All-Time Assists
I’m trying to be #1.

This is the best we’ve ever played in the 4 years I’ve been here. I think this is the best team,. The best altogether team. We have so many versatile players, and everyone is on the same pace right now, playing defense, offense, we are just doing what we have to do out there.

On if UNC coming up was a distraction today
We just try to take it game by game to get where we want to get. We are trying to get really far, so we know we can’t put anybody ahead of us. We’ve just got to take it game by game.

On his flashy passes
I’m just trying to add a little funk to the game, just have a little fun out there, get the crowd involved. No one wants to come see an old boring game with regular offense, so I try to add a little more to it.

Emeka Okafor
On so many players (9) scoring in the 1st half
We’re Connecticut, that’s what we do. We have a lot of talent, a great coaching staff, and we work hard in practice to get everyone the ball and it shows on the court. It was a team effort. Everybody’s out there having fun. We can all do things and that’s what you saw in the first half.

Does it wear on teams when you can sub I 4 players at a time without a drop off in talent?
That’s the objective – have a deep bench and be able to run, run, run, sub in fresh guys and have equal talent on the court, and then run, run, run again. That wears you down physically, mentally, and emotionally. It does great things.

On Taliek Brown’s play
Taliek is the engine of this team. He keeps everything going. He drives us. You saw it tonight, he was just out there having fun. He was sparking everything, throwing passes, rebounding, scoring and that’s why we won by the margin we did.

When he plays like that, you all saw the results, we can’t lose. It’s like a recipe for an instant win, easy.

On Taliek just missing a career high (by one point)
That last point to make your career high is the hardest one to make.

Will you be able to bottle the momentum from the last few games and bring it down to North Carolina?
I think so…We’re feeling good right now. We’re feeling confident. We’re on a nice 11 game winning streak. Everybody’s playing well. Everybody’s feeling good. We’re going to take it to Tar Heel land and have some fun.

Denham Brown
On his technical foul
It was in the heat of the moment. I don’t want to say anymore about that.

On looking ahead to UNC
We just take it game by game. Every game counts, every game is just as important as the other one.

On depth of team
Everybody is used to playing with each other. Everyone uses their strengths to do good things out there…like rebounding, defense, offense…all of the things that people see.

On 0 points in 2nd half
I took my shots, they weren’t dropping.

On UNC
They are a good team, they played and beat us last year. They have some weapons too. They’ll be up for a challenge, especially in their own house. We are concentrating and getting focused on playing them Saturday.

Georgetown Head Coach Craig Esherick
I’m going to try and say something good about my team first before I talk about Jim’s team. I thought we played a great second half. I thought we came out there and I thought we did a much better job, other than the first couple of minutes, controlling their break and competing. Needless to say, and I said this when I watched the Oklahoma game, and I certainly had a front row seat today…Connecticut is the best team I’ve seen this year. They can beat you in an awful lot of different ways. We made a decision going into the game to try to help off of (Taliek) Brown, and Brown killed us. I think that Brown played as well as I’ve seen him play in a while. He is a really good point guard, he knows how to take advantage of space if you give him space. I thought he got the ball to Okafor real well, and got the ball to shooters. As good as Okafor is, as good as Gordon is, I thought today, the best player on the floor for them was Taliek Brown. I really thought that he played well. They can hurt you on the break, they can hurt you inside with Okafor, and they can hurt you from the 3pt line. They hurt us in all 3 areas. In the second half they hurt us much more on the inside and they certainly killed us on the boards. That is something we’re going to have to take a look at. I don’t know what I’m going to be able to do in relation to that this year. Certainly when you are playing a team like this, I think it is instructive to a lot of guys in relation to how to play and level of play. They came out in the beginning of that game…and I told the freshman at halftime I said you can’t catch the balls light, you can’t make easy passes. This team is athletic, they play hard, they play hard on defense, they are not going to let you catch the ball. From that standpoint, I’m hoping that a lot of our younger guys picked up some things from them. It was not enjoyable to sit where I sat, I can tell you that. Connecticut has got a good team…they got a very good team.

I thought we started off on a foot that made me think that if we kept it up, then it would have been a little different.