Men's Basketball Rallies to Top Indiana, 74-69

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HARTFORD, Conn. (December 4, 2004) -- Junior Rashad Anderson (Lakeland, Fla.) scored 17 points and Connecticut overcame a 13-point second half deficit as the sixth-ranked Huskies outscored Indiana, 74-69, before a sellout crowd of 16,294 at the Hartford Civic Center. The win improves the Husky record to 3-0, while the Hoosiers slip to 2-2.

Indiana led 54-41 after Robert Vaden made two free throws with 13:05 to play. Point guards Marcus Williams (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Antonio Kellogg (Oakland, Calif.) then started the Huskies on their game-winning comeback. UConn scored the game’s next 11 points as Kellogg scored five and Williams added four. The Huskies trailed 54-52 with 9:14 to play. 

After Indiana’s Bracey Wright, who scored a game-high 28 points, made one of two free throws, freshman Rudy Gay (Baltimore, Md.) dunked to cut the lead to one, and sophomore Josh Boone (Mt. Airy, Md.) had a lay-up to put UConn ahead for good. The Hoosiers could get no closer than two points the rest of the way.

Anderson paced the Huskies with his 17 points, while junior Denham Brown (Toronto, Ont.) added 13. Gay finished with his first double-double at Connecticut, with 11 points and a game-best 10 rebounds. Boone finished with 12 points and eight rebounds, gathering nine points and six rebounds in the second half.  Boone added five of UConn’s eight blocked shots. Williams scored six, running the point well with eight assists, and teamed with fellow point guard Kellogg to pace the big Husky scoring burst.

The first half saw both teams struggle from the field in the early going, as the game was tied at 23 with 5:00 to play before intermission. The Hoosiers appeared to take control of the game with a 15-6 run over the next 3:53, but Brown and Williams made jumpers in the half’s final minute to give the Huskies some much needed momentum entering halftime. Indiana led 38-33 at the half.

The Huskies attempted to wear down Indiana inside, and was successful, scoring 34 points in the paint and out rebounding their opponent, 53-38. 

The contest marked the 600^th at Connecticut for head coach Jim Calhoun, and with the win, improves his record to an impressive 435-165.

The Huskies return to action on Monday, Dec. 8, when they play host to Northeastern at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. and the game will broadcast by Fox-61.

POST GAME QUOTES

Connecticut Head Coach Jim Calhoun 

"First thing, I would like to congratulate Indiana. They did a terrific job.  For the first time all year…in nine games, we really haven’t had to make any kind of drastic adjustments. And we had to make adjustments today. They put four guards on the floor and spaced us out, and it took away our power game – which later became in play, because we rebounded really well. We were playing Rudy Gay at the four-spot, we were playing the two point guards together – something we haven’t done all year, but we’ve practiced a little bit recently – but they made us adjust. But that’s what you have to do."

"For our big kids, I would let them completely off the hook. It was going to be a hard game for them to dominate when the pace of the game wasn’t quite the way we wanted it to be, and that’s to Coach Davis’ credit. Defensively, they controlled tempo, spread the floor, tried to get isolation with four guards. We only could play one big guy at a time. That’s the first time for any extended period of time that we went with the small lineup."

"That’s the first time Rudy has played any four. I don’t think that’s going to be a habit, but you have to get him on the floor. You have to get him on the floor, and we were able to do that by playing him at the four."

"This was not a traditional game. We’re looking up, and they had four guards on the floor most of the game, and it did screw us up, quite frankly. Our counter-adjustment was to go small ourselves, and I think our small guys were good enough."

"We were eventually able to win the battle of the boards, go on a 17 to one run, stop them 11 straight times, hold them to 32 percent and do the things we needed to do to win."

"I thought that Mike’s team is really, really well-drilled. They came in here and moved the basketball, passed the basketball and took away some of our power. In the final analysis, most of it was one and done, though, by them, when it really counted. And that’s because of the size we had."

Indiana Head Coach Mike Davis

"I think today we played another outstanding basketball team. From an effort standpoint I think we did a great job. When you are fighting against grown men it seemed like everyone they put in was really good, it’s tough to win. Our defense, I thought we did a great job."

"We missed some free throws down the stretch but I thought we missed those because of the energy and effort we had to put out to get to that point."

"We got out to a lead because our offense for the first time this year executed.  With about 13 minutes left in the game we stopped doing that. They picked up their pressure out on the floor. We weren’t patient enough to play though and try to get open shots and open lay-ups. We forced a couple of shots. They got transition baskets."

"Offensive rebounds…That really hurt us down the stretch to give up those offensive rebounds."

"Give them credit. We stopped executing and there is always a reason and I think part of it is the way they picked up defensively. The other part is us being so young. This is a young basketball team. If you ask D.J. White, Robert Vaden and Patrick Ewing to come out and try to execute for 40 minutes it is tough."

"I thought we panicked earlier, we shot three 3’s that were bad shots, and I think they got layups at the other end off of our bad shots."

"When you are on the road, playing against a top-ten team, things can happen. We had a chance."

Connecticut Guard Antonio Kellogg

On what his emotions were during the spurt

"Defense. Stops. Just getting stops. That was the only thing that was going to get us the W.  We weren’t doing that too well in the first half. They came all the way here and think they were going to get a win…which they were on their way to…and then we just came together, settled down and played Connecticut basketball."

On tough matchups

"They had 4 guards in there which means we couldn’t put our big man in there and use our big men to our advantage. Their guards were quick, it was almost like playing against 5 guards. It was an ugly game but we came out with a win."

On Indiana’s offense

"It wasn’t confusing, we just weren’t playing team defense, we weren’t focused out there. We pulled it together, Coach showed us exactly what they were running and how to stop it and that’s what we went out there and executed."

Connecticut Center Josh Boone

On challenge of today

It was real good, we needed a game like this. We knew coming in that it was going to be a test, we didn’t know apparently how much of a test it was going to be but we knew coming in that they have been playing hard all year and that they were going to do the same thing when they came in here. We knew it was going to be a good gauge for us to see where we are at in the season. It proved that we have to be a team that plays 40 minutes. Today we probably played a total of 15-16 minutes real hard, other than that we didn’t play too well tonight. We really have to work on playing the whole game instead of just spurts."

On playing as individuals

"That is one thing that Coach mentioned that we really weren’t running our offense, we were just trying to make individual plays. We are not going to win games like that. We have to run our offense and execute in order to win games."

On spurt

"It was great, it really let us back into the game. It just shows how much defense has an effect on the game. The crowd was really good today, I really enjoyed playing in the arena today and that really helped us. The guys on the bench were great too, and all of that energy translates into good things on the floor.

On crowd silent early

"That’s what happens when a team is down at home. Indiana came out playing well and we were flat. That’s what happens."

On if the team is tired

"If you are tired now, you shouldn’t be playing at all. That’s what it is going to be like in March in the tournaments. We are going to be playing 2-3 games a week and we have to get used to that."

Connecticut Forward Charlie Villanueva

On not playing much today

"Coach felt like it wasn’t for me to be out there. I’m happy though, we got the win, I’m excited we’re 3-0. I’m looking forward to getting into the next game."

On his slump

"I had a great 10 days of practice, then I got into a little slump, injury, the situation with my mom. So I just have to get out of the slump, I’m fighting it right now and it is early in the season. We’ve got a long way to go." 

On if it is hard to concentrate?

"It is real tough, but I’ve got to fight it, eventually it will come."

Connecticut Forward Rudy Gay

"Coach made the right adjustments. It was really hard playing against a team like that being that we’re a big man team. We have pride in our big men, and they played 5 guards at times. So it was hard for us."

On the momentum shift after being down 13

"It was crazy to come back from that kind of deficit. The crowd helped us through it. They really cheered us on and helped us play defense like we’re capable of playing."

What caused the team problems?

"This was our first game against a team that really played defense and had a good scorer. I think that and the fact that they had a lot of versatility in their group. They had some guys who played from the one to the five and that was crazy for Josh and Charlie."

"Coach told us, ‘there are five people on the court and everyone has to play together to get out with this win.’ Everybody respects coach and we respect each other, so we just came out and passed the ball like we should."

What was the blueprint to come back?

"He just said, ‘defense, defense, defense.’ Coach’s pride is defense, so we just went out there and tried to stop them. I think we had a stretch where we stopped them like 11 straight times."

"Coach has been there before. He just showed us the way. He laid out the blueprint to come back in the game, and it worked."

What did you learn about each other by getting down 13 and coming back?

"It was a gut check. We found out how tough we were. We’re a tougher team that everybody thinks we are."

On your first half dunk

"I think I must blackout when I dunk because I don’t really remember." 

On playing the 4 (power forward) today

"It was a pretty big adjustment. Coach asked me where do I think I should play. I said, ‘wherever it helps us win.’ I’m out there trying to help get a win just like everyone else. I’d do anything from point to 4 to 5 – doesn’t matter."

On the play of Antonio Kellogg

"Antonio’s probably one of the fastest players I think I’ve seen in my life. He’s quick and can get at you from different ways on the court." 

Connecticut Guard Marcus Williams

On playing with Antonio Kellogg

"He sent me in for Rashad and I was kind of like, ‘Rashad?’ And then I thought back to practice. Everyone time me and AK play together we always win. We always run the other team. We’re always the better team. So I thought let’s do it out here.  Let’s D-up the guards, get out on the break, and run. And that’s what we did."

On the emotional nature of the team today

"You have to credit the crowd a lot. The crowd was into it. That’s the loudest I’ve heard it since I’ve been here. The coaches’ have been on us for being emotional, getting into the game, being alive. And that’s what we tried to do."

Were you worried at all being down 13?

No. I figured we’re at home and we have talented players. I guess we were going through a lapse right now. I kind of figured we were going to pick it up.  I just didn’t know when. When he put me and Antonio (both from California) in, two guards, I thought everybody says California’s soft. So I kind of looked at him (Antonio) like we have to pick this up."

Connecticut Guard Rashad Anderson

What did you learn about yourselves today? 

"It shows a lot of depth on our team.  In order to beat us, you’re going to have to beat us for 44 minutes." 

On the spark Antonio’s gave the team today

"It was just tremendous. I always told him coach was going to give him his shot soon, he just has to make the best of it."

Indiana Guard Marshall Strickland

"It was a great game for us to get better and find out how good we really are. We are a team that is going to fight until the end. And we are going to play as hard as we can. We believe we can win any basketball game. We’ve let two slip away that I think we could have won." 

Indiana Guard Bracey Wright

"It is the best we’ve ran into this season. We got a lot of open looks, everything was opening up for us. We had a lot of good opportunities to make a lot of good plays. You saw us execute for most of the game to a 'T', exactly how we want to do it. That is something we have to put together for 40 minutes."

"We got in a hurry and tried to press things more than just relaxing. They had that run and sped up the tempo up a little big more and we fell into that. That hurt us at the end."