Huskies Defeat Vermont; Advance to NCAA Tournament Second Round

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BUFFALO, NY (March 18, 2004) – Sophomore guard Rashad Anderson scored 18 of his game-high 22 points in the first half and connected for a career-high six three-point field goals – again all in the first half – as the second-seeded University of Connecticut men’s basketball team defeated 15th-seeded Vermont by a 70-53 score at HSBC Arena in the first round of the Phoenix Regional of the 2004 NCAA Championship.

Connecticut, now 28-6 on the season, advances to the second round of the tournament and plays DePaul on Saturday at a time to be announced.

UConn is now a spotless 12-0 in NCAA tournament first round games under head coach Jim Calhoun and is 21-2 all-time under Calhoun in NCAA first and second round games combined. UConn has now won 27 games in NCAA tournament play since the 1990 tournament, which is tops among all BIG EAST teams followed by Syracuse with 23.

Vermont, the America East Conference champion, got out to a quick start on the Huskies and scored the first seven points of the game. Anderson kept the Huskies in the game as he scored two three-point field goals in the first five minutes of the contest to make it 7-6, Catamounts. UConn eventually took the lead for good on another Anderson three-pointer with 11:05 to go in the half that made it 17-15, Huskies. Anderson’s six treys set a UConn school-record for three-pointers made in an NCAA Tournament contest.

Anderson connected on three more treys in the first half and the Huskies led at the intermission by a 37-27 count. UConn led by double digits the entire second half and opened up a 16-point lead, 49-33, with 13:49 left to play. Vermont cut the gap to 51-41 with 11:22 left to play but could get no closer.

Three other Husky players joined Anderson in double figures as junior center Emeka Okafor had 15 points and 14 rebounds for his 21st double-double of the season and the 50th of his career while senior guard Taliek Brown and junior guard Ben Gordon each added 14. With 4:12 to go in the game, Brown became the 36th player in Husky history to score 1,000 career points. He also recorded seven assists vs. Vermont to extend his school career record for assists to 696. Brown now has 37 assists in eight career NCAA Tournament games, good for fourth on the all-time UConn list.

With his 14 rebounds, Okafor now has grabbed 90 caroms in eight career appearances in NCAA play (11.3 rpg), which is good for second on the all-time UConn NCAA rebounding list. He trails only Toby Kimball, who snared 92 from 1963-65.

Vermont, which finishes the season at 22-9, was led in scoring by T.J. Sorrentine with 19 points while Taylor Coppenrath had 12.