Gordon, Anderson Lead Huskies Into Final Four

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PHOENIX --- Region Most Valuable Player Ben Gordon scored 36 points and sophomore guard Rashad Anderson added a career-high 28 as the University of Connecticut men’s basketball team defeated Alabama by an 87-71 score in the final of the Phoenix Regional in the 2004 NCAA Championship as the Huskies now advance to next weekend’s Final Four in San Antonio.

Gordon, who scored 20 points in UConn’s regional semifinal win over Vanderbilt on Thursday night, was named to the all-regional team along with Anderson and junior center Emeka Okafor. That team was rounded out by the Alabama duo of Chuck Davis and Kennedy Winston.

UConn will be makings its second-ever appearance in the Final Four as the ’98-99 Huskies won the national championship. Ironically, that team also won its regional championship at the America West Arena in Phoenix.

The Huskies (31-6) now play in the national semifinal against the winner of Sunday’s Duke vs. Xavier game in the Atlanta Regional final. The national semifinals are next Saturday, April 3, at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio with the NCAA championship game on April 5.

Anderson was six-of-nine from three-point field goal range in the game as his six treys – five of them in the first half – were a career high. Gordon was four-of-seven from three-point range and tied the UConn career record for three-pointers made, which is currently held by Chris Smith with 242 (1989-92).

The first six minutes of the game were evenly played as UConn, the second seed in the region, led by a 10-8 score with 14:04 left to go on a Gordon three-pointer. The Huskies opened up their first double-digit lead of the contest on an Anderson three-pointer that made it 23-13 UConn with 11:27 left in the half. Alabama was the eighth seed in the Phoenix region.

UConn dominated the rest of the first half as the Huskies closed with a 15-2 run that made it 53-29 Huskies at halftime – its largest lead of the game at that time. The 53 points were the most that the Crimson Tide had surrendered in a first half all season. Alabama could not put a run together in the second half as UConn led by as many as 25 points in the second stanza.

UConn is making its 25th trip to the NCAA tournament in 2004 dating back to the 1951 season. The Huskies are now 34-23 overall in NCAA action with 30 of those wins coming under head coach Jim Calhoun. Including three NCAA wins as the head coach of Northeastern, Calhoun now has 33 NCAA tournament victories – 12th all-time. UConn is now 26-0 in NCAA tournament history against teams seeded sixth or lower.

Alabama, which finishes the season with a 20-13 record, was led in scoring by Davis with 24 points and Winston with 21.

Connecticut Head Coach Postgame Press Conference Quotes

Connecticut Head Coach Jim Calhoun:

“First, I want to congratulate Mark on the job he has done at Alabama. I’ve got to know Mark on golf trips. He is a much better with the whistle than he is with the wedge. He has done a terrific job with that program and he got hit in the first half by probably the best basketball we could have played. Not only were we blocking shots, our perimeter defense was excellent. Then we were hitting threes, nine of 11 from the outside and they tried to go zone and we scored five out of five. I was thinking on the bench what is my next move. I knew Mark probably thought Rashad (Anderson) shot a couple of contested shots and that is what Rashad shoots. He shoots deep shots anyways.”

“I couldn’t have been prouder of our kids. There is probably not the jumping around the first time we went to Phoenix five years ago, but them sitting there when I came in and they just said this is unbelievable. I don’t think we had a rough season, but we have had some time where the expectations weighed heavily upon us. As the season closed down, we saw our window of opportunity start to become more limited. The greatest thing we did was we kicked the window out and we made the opportunity for ourselves.”

“We became a terrific basketball team. I’ve been in this tournament a couple of times before. Our average win margin is 17, 18 points a game and what all that means is that we have played great basketball at the right time of the year. I couldn’t be happier. I will tell you one thing if we would of loss, it would have been incredibly disappointing if we didn’t get to a Final Four with this group. This is as good of a group of kids I have ever been around. They are incredibly talented. I don’t know if this is the best team I have had, if they win a championship we will talk about that later, but I can tell you this much they are incredible people to be around. They are great credit to our university, our state and I would have been disappointed in myself if I couldn’t take this talent, these type of people who are so goal orientated to get there if we hadn’t made it to the Final Four. I know that kind of sounds funny, but it is very honest and truthful and I would have told you that if we had lost. That would have been the biggest disappointment I would have had, but I don’t have to tell you that. We are going to San Antonio and we couldn’t be happier”

(On win)

We are really enjoying it, but those moments was in doubt with 25 second to go until Khalid (El-Amin) made the couple of foul shot to put it away and there was a lot more emotion. God rest his soul, Joe MCGin who just died and I had an incredible emotional experience with him. So there were so many other factors involved. When we won a national championship in 1999, Mike S as he shook my hand, said you are not only going to like this, but you are going to want to get here even worse than you did when you first come here. For the last five years, those words have never rung so true. I’ve returned to the Final Four and to take your team there because you know what it is like. To take your staff there, to take all the people from our university. All the people who have been so helpful to us. I just look forward to taking all the kids there and I think Mike is right because it is even more special because you know how special of a week it can be and you know what can happen at the end of the rainbow on Monday which is incredible. When we played North Carolina on a neutral (Vince) Carter and that group and I had been to San Antonio once and there I went to the Final Four, I was so upset because it was one of the greatest places for a Final Four and I voted right there that every other year the Final Four must be in San Antonio. It is a perfect place and I felt bad for our fans. I always wanted to go back to San Antonio because there is no better place to have a Final Four. I didn’t do any designing when it was going to be there because that was the year we were going to win. We won because we have great kids, who play great. The young guy who was sitting here, number four, I have pushed him for the past three years and he has moved into that category of special players at Connecticut. The Ray Allens, the Caron Butlers who woke me up today and all the other great players we had in Connecticut.”

(On Emeka Okafor’s Injury)

“I have concerns only because Emeka is a deep thinker and he wants everything perfect like everything else in his life. The initial reports from the doctor in the game were that he could be used during the game. I went over to him when David scored 2 or 3 points and it got down to 15. I said I don’t need you now but I may need you. He said I’ll give it a go if I can. What he has got feels like when you hit your funny bone. He keeps getting numbness in his hand. The doctor said it could go away in a matter of minutes, a matter of hours but definitely should go away in a couple of days. We will do an MRI and right now from our two physicians that are here, he will fine by the end of the week.”

(On Ben Gordon’s Future)

“People are always questioning what he is. He is a great basketball player. He can pass. He is a magical passer. He is an incredible athlete as you saw tonight. He has got great range on his shot. And what all NBA guys want you to do. He can create his own shot any time he wants to. That is an incredible ability to have. If you think of some of the great guards that are pure points or combination types, there is no doubt in my mind that he can run a team. Or play off a big point guard. Let’s say he ends up with a team with Livingston when he comes out two or three years from now down the road. You can play with two guards who both could do a lot of things. He is a developing into a very special player. I have been watching the tournament. The Nelson kid is absolutely terrific. But there is not doubt in my mind there are not many better guards in the country than Ben Gordon.”

(On Not Playing with Okafor)

“Ben (Gordon) made a great point that helped the team more than anything. When it was official he was not going to play. We knew he would not play Thursday and most likely Friday. We said it was day-to-day because that is what Emeka (Okafor) said. We had already made a decision we were not going to play him in the Big East Tournament. We went to Hilton (Armstrong), went to Charlie (Villanueva) and Josh (Boone). We played without him and won two games. And I think, as the kid said. We played without him and we played with him in foul trouble. If you told me tonight we would have two points and five blocks, which I agree were a key part of the game, I would have told you we would not have had the kind of success we had. We certainly need him back for next weekend.”

(On Assistant George Blaney)

“There is probably not a greater gentlemen, discounting basketball, that I have met. There is probably not a greater mind, who is as young and as enthusiastic about the game of basketball. Our beat reporters see him at 8 o’clock. I know how much he loves the game. He loves all the things about college basketball. If anyone special, this after and along with bringing this team, bringing George Blaney is something. If that is a small thank you, I am more than happy to do it because he has meant so much to me over the last three years.”

(On First Half Tonight)

“I bet Mark said the same thing. What the hell is happening? What we are trying to so is rebound with them and then we get fast breaks. We are trying to get back and we get in the paint and they make 3’s. We try to take it to the basket and Emeka (Okafor) blocks, we think six or eight shots early. It said five but he was blocking everything it seemed and that ignited the fast breaks. We had as good a combination of offense and defense as we have had. When combining it, when you shoot the ball well you look 50 or 60 percent better. And we shot the ball incredible in the first half. The combination of the offense, defense and running. It was as good first half as we had all season. And one of the best first halves a team of mine has played in the NCAA Tournament.”

(On Playing Close Games)

“We played Pittsburgh and with seven minutes to go we were down 11. And we won. We were out of it with Villanova and we came back to win in overtime. And I could keep going. I would like as you a proposing that we win all of our games by 17 points and we have no close games. There is no sweating. Dick Enberg’s first words were, “Thanks for the exciting game”. I would like to help you out any time. It is a lot easier on my stomach. We are playing very well in this tournament. We are plus on the backboard and we are shooting 50 percent. We are doing all the right things to make us that dominating, quite frankly. I do not think tonight was the case because we were so good in the first half. When you get a 24-point lead and you are a really good team, you are going to win the basketball game. I don’t think we need life and death struggles to be a very good basketball team. Conversely, I think at times you can create confidence. And these kids have been through enough this year that a tight game is going to change anything.”

(On Kids Playing with Emotion)

“One of the members of the committee said to me, ‘Will you have fun’. I looked at him and said I am having fun. It just doesn’t look like I am having fun. When Rashad (Anderson) does that and Ben (Gordon) blew on his pistol. As long as it is not derogatory to an opponent, I love seeing kids having fun playing basketball. We want to make sure respect all of our opponents. I want to see our whole team jacked up before play no matter who we play that we have an awfully lot of fun playing basketball.”