Men's Basketball Races Past Central Connecticut, 87-59 as Williams Sets
School Mark for Assists
Box
Score [.html]
Box Score [.pdf] HARTFORD, CT (December 22, 2004) -- Sophomores Josh
Boone (Mt. Airy, Md.) and Charlie Villanueva (Brooklyn, N.Y.) each
scored 20 points and Marcus Williams (Los Angeles, Calif.) had a
school-record 16 assists as Connecticut used a 21-0 run that bridged halftime as
the 11th-ranked Huskies drilled Central Connecticut, 87-59, Wednesday
evening before a sellout crowd of 16,294 at the Hartford Civic Center.
The win improves the Husky record to 6-1, while the Blue Devils drop to 2-5.
UConn led 37-32 with 4:04 to play in the first half, before Boone and freshman
Rudy Gay (Baltimore, Md.) combined to score the final 10 points of the
opening half, and junior Rashad Anderson hit three three-pointers to start off
the second half as UConn wrestled control of the contest as Central could get no
closer than 21 points the rest of the way.
Boone’s 20 points tied his career-best, which was set in the Huskies’ last game
against Rice. He also yanked down a game-high 11 rebounds, recording his fifth
double-double in seven games this campaign. Villanueva’s 20 points were his
season high, only eclipsed by the 25 he scored last season at Rice. Anderson
and Gay each scored 16 points, for Gay it was a career-high.
Williams ran the point for UConn to perfection, dishing out 10 assists in the
first half en route to his school record mark. The previous mark was 14, set
three times, most recently by Kevin Ollie, who went to the same high school as
Williams. He finished with just two turnovers, and on the season he has
recorded 54 assists against just 18 turnovers. The Huskies took excellent care
of the ball, committing just seven turnovers, which was clearly their season low
total.
 The Huskies tried to pound the ball inside and were very successful, recording
54 points in the paint as Villanueva and Boone combined to shoot a stellar 19 of
27 from the field. Gay and Boone each had four blocks for UConn.
DeMario Anderson led the Blue Devils with 23 points.
The Huskies return to the hardwood on Tuesday, December 28, when they entertain
Sacred Heart at the Hartford Civic Center. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. and
there will be no local television of that contest.
Central Connecticut Head Coach Howie Dickenman Post-Game Quotes
We knew we were going to have problems with their front-court and that was
certainly something that created a lot of havoc for us. We gave them what they
earned, I’m not sure there were too many easy baskets. We did a very poor job of
defending in and around the basket. We knew they were big, we knew we were
outsized. I didn’t think they would get as much as they did. But then again,
give credit to those players; they are very good basketball players in the front
court for the University of Connecticut.
I thought our team went into one of those lulls that we had at the end of the
first half and at the beginning of the second half.
You tell the kids that this kid, Anderson, #31 is a pretty good shooter. And
I don’t know, I guess they don’t believe you. He lit us up once, he lit us up
twice, he lit us up three times. I looked at the clock and it said 18:08 and my
assistants say “call a time out” and I said, “Yeah, That’s a good idea. We
changed some defenses in the 2nd half.
I thought we scrapped for 40 minutes. We didn’t win the game but I think we
showed some signs of doing some good things.
Before the game I said “guys…we have 10 blocked shots for the whole
season….UConn averages 11 a game….let that sink in a little bit please. Which
means, if the ball goes inside, pretty good chance the shot is going to get
blocked.” And that proved to be true. UConn hit their average of 11 blocked
shots.
Some of our players I thought played well offensively. Lenny Jefferson had
his best offensive game Demario Anderson had his career high.
It slipped away from us, and when you are playing a team like the University
of Connecticut it can slip away in a hurry and that’s what happened. We walk out
of here a better basketball team.
Give a lot to UConn because when you have 30 assists, that’s a whole lot of
unselfishness. Tip of the hat to them.
I’d also like to say that our guys played hard, one thing I did promise was
that we would play hard to the final gun. Score wasn’t what we had hoped, but we
did play hard, we did scrap. I was happy to see that Jim had to run on the court
there one time to, that made me feel good, because that means that we got him
upset at least once tonight.
UConn Coach Jim Calhoun Quotes
Howie’s team came out with a good game plan to space us and try and get us to
bring our big guys out defensively. Part of that is that he did a terrific job
of not taking away from his own team. He has an aggressive, running team and he
wasn’t going to take that away and hold onto the basketball. He attacked us. And
they made six of their first ten 3 pointers and kept themselves in the game.
Then, I think our size, and as encouraging, was the fact that we recognized our
size and got the ball inside. I think our kids inside can score points. And when
they do, it is going to open up guys and it did staring the second half. They
packed the zone in and three times in a row Rashad came down – nine points – and
that ended up being the game.
We didn’t make foul shots and early we didn’t play defense. The biggest thing
missing from this team right now is that Denham (Brown) has scored three points
in the past 70 minutes of basketball he’s played. He needs to make shots for us
to be good. And secondly, the team focus needs to be focused. I can think of
years past, we would just lock you down and you wouldn’t score for 40 minutes.
That’s not happening as much. We are scoring points. Tonight we shot the best we
have and felt a little liberated, but some of that had to do with the fact that
we overwhelmed them with our pure size.
Overall, I was relatively pleased. I think we took care of a situation that
can sometimes be difficult, especially with that three and four man weave
outside.
On Marcus Williams
I thought Marcus Williams played very good defense, and I thought obviously
he distributed the ball – sixteen assists is an awful lot. I guess that’s the
school record. I told him the pass he threw to Rudy for the dunk is much more
spectacular than always trying to throw the ball upstairs. We keep having that
discussion all the time. It’s actually a monologue that you don’t have to throw
the ball up to have a good, effective pass.
Can a game like this jumpstart Charlie Villanueva?
I asked that question right off the bat to Tommy (Moore). It doesn’t make any
difference sometimes to kids whether it’s North Carolina, Central Connecticut or
Buffalo. If they have a good game, they feel better about themselves. He was
very good in the post. He passed the ball well. He rebounded well. And, quite
frankly, he played better defense. And that’s harder defense for him to play –
he had to hedge a lot on 3 point shots. I thought that was his most complete
game because he allowed himself to stay in the game defensively.
On Rashad Anderson
Our first goal tonight was to get the ball inside. But we’ve talked before
about trying to get Rashad off shooting. And those three shots in that span of
time takes a 16 or 17 point game and all the sudden it’s 25, and it’s a long way
home for the opponent.
Connecticut Players Post-Game Quotes
Rashad Anderson
On he and Marcus Williams connecting: You can look in my eyes and know that
I’m looking for the ball. It is just a look up; we already know by the flow of
the game, if I hit one or two in a row, he always knows to dribble/hand off.
On Charlie Villanueva: I’m glad to see him go out and have a good game. It is
a building stone to how good he needs to be and how good he can play every game
to get his confidence back to where it needs to be. I think this is the first
step.
On Marcus Williams assists: I think he can get more. I think he can get 20 in
a game easily. Especially in a game where I’m just really feeling it, I think he
can get 20. Because my best game is yet to come this year.
Marcus Williams
On Charlie Villanueva: I tried to get him the ball early, try to get him
involved and he had 20 points.
On getting pleasure more out of an assist or a basket: It depends. An alley-oop
I’d be more excited than just a regular pass to Rashad.
On assist record: I wasn’t paying attention. I think at half-time I had 11
and I thought I had like 5 or 6.
On size differential: On a lot of alleyoops you could just throw it over the
top of them and Charlie and Josh did a good job of finishing.
Charlie Villanueva
On going home: At the beginning of the game I was thinking, just play 40
minutes and I can go home. It has been a while since I’ve been home since my mom
got into that accident. I’m excited that I’m going to be able to see her and
spend time with my family. She is going really well, she’s recovering well and
she is fighting.
On solid performance: With games like this you can lose focus easily. We just
tried to pound it inside. Marcus distributed the ball well and Rashad shot the
ball well. It was a solid game for us.
On Marcus getting him the ball: I have a good relationship with him. I just
told him to look for me, just try to get me the ball in a certain position and
he did that.
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