Boone and Villanueva Team to
Lead Huskies Past Rutgers

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HARTFORD, CT (January 15, 2005) – Sophomore center Josh Boone (Mt. Airy, Md.) scored 20 points and led a suffocating defense as 11th-ranked Connecticut defeated league foe Rutgers, 78-64, Saturday afternoon before a sellout crowd of 16,294 at the Hartford Civic Center.

The win improves the UConn record to 10-3, 2-1 in conference play. The Scarlet Knights drop to 6-7, 0-3 in the BIG EAST.

The Huskies set the tone early in the contest, harassing Rutgers into missing their first eight shots en route to an 8-0 Husky lead. Freshman swingman Rudy Gay (Baltimore, Md.) was the offensive catalyst scoring nine points in the first 5:19 of the game, out scoring Rutgers on his own as UConn led 17-7. The Huskies continually pounded the ball inside, and increased their advantage to as many as 19 points, at 34-15 with 8:12 to play in the opening half. All three starting frontcourt players for UConn: Boone, Gay and Charlie Villanueva (Brooklyn, N.Y.) scored in double figures in the opening period. UConn led 46-35 at intermission, but Rutgers used a 27-14 run that bridged halftime to inch within six at 48-42 with 16:54 to play, but the Huskies interior play was too much for the Scarlet Knights.

Boone recorded his ninth double-double of the campaign by adding 12 rebounds to his game-high points total. Villanueva continued his solid play of late, finishing with 14 points and tying his career-high with 14 rebounds, which he set Monday at Oklahoma. Both Boone and Villanueva each had six of UConn’s 16 blocked shots in the game. Gay also finished with 14 points, while junior Denham Brown (Toronto, Ont.) scored 11 points off of the Husky bench. Sophomore point guard Marcus Williams (Los Angeles, Calif.) had eight points and a game-high eight assists for UConn.

UConn had 18 of their 53 rebounds off of the offensive glass, and converted those opportunities into 27 second-chance points. Additionally, the Huskies took excellent care of the ball, committing just nine turnovers, and they enjoyed a 15-2 edge in points off of turnovers. The contest marked the third game this year the Huskies had committed less than 10 turnovers in a game.

The Huskies finished the contest shooting 45% (35 of 78) from the field, while holding Rutgers to just 35% (26 of 74) accuracy.

Marquis Webb led the Scarlet Knights with 16 points.

The Huskies return to the hardwood on Monday, January 17, when they play Seton Hall at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and the contest will be televised nationally by ESPN as part of their Big Monday schedule.

Connecticut Head Coach Jim Calhoun

We came in fearful that we haven’t shot the ball very well – and we continue not to should the ball well – from the outside. I still believe we will. I still believe we have kids that can make shots. So, we tried to do some different things, and you can see….that the ball was going to get into the blue – we were going to get the ball into the paint.

For us to be good, we have to run – which we did a great job of in the first half – and, secondly, we have to get the ball into the paint. And, really, when we get the ball into Charlie’s hands – I think the four assists are a little deceptive. He just makes things happen. I think every one of his assists, even if he only did have four, are loud assists.

We had some tremendous ball movement. I thought the passing within the paint to beat their big to big double was just magnificent.

I thought we did a good job defensively. I have great respect for what Gary has done and I also have great respect for the fact that their guards are really, really good. Today, we were able to bottle them up for the most part. They did score a little bit more in the paint than I would have liked.

It took us a while to get into rhythm, particularly Josh. It’s funny, because I really got all over him, which I know you guys find hard to believe, because he felt bad for himself. He kept looking over at the bench. And then he puts in that hot-“stuff” shot that falls down, and starts laughing. I said to him “That’s why this is a crazy, stupid game.” If you keep working at it, because he worked on the floor to get that ball, crazy things happen….And good things did happen.

Charlie just continues to get better every game. He’s a very unusual kid in the sense that he enjoys, I think, the pass almost as much as he does the score….His conditioning and toughness, which have gone hand in hand – He never really and truly lack toughness. What he lacked is that nobody’s ever told him “you need your butt in shape.”…And if you do not defend and get yourself in the kind of shape we need, you will not play….He’s responded exceptionally well. He’s been killing them. He really has. He’s playing much better post defense. There will be nights, I’m sure, that people will get to him, but he’s been really good.

Marcus Williams continues to pass the test for point guards…. We really couldn’t take him out today in the sense of the way he was playing. He was running the game, he was defending exceptionally well. I was really happy with his play.

I consider this to be a very good win….I thought we were a little better defensively, particularly shot-blocking-wise. I’m happy. I’m going home and am going to be very please, because any win in this league…the league is tough.

Rutgers Head Coach Gary Waters Post Game Quotes

If you keep them off the glass you have a good chance of competing against them, but if you can’t keep them off the glass…they are as good as anyone in the country on the glass.

They also get out in transition and you have to stop that and that is something we didn’t do this afternoon.

(Josh) Boone was good, but I know that he is good, I recruited him, I know what type of person he is…he gets better and better every time he plays the game of basketball. When I recruited him he was 16 years old he was just finishing high school and didn’t realize how good he was going to be.

I’m going to tell you this…the game will be totally different at the RAC. It will be totally different type of game. Today they (UConn) played pretty freely and attacked the glass. I just think we’ll have more confidence, and I think by that time I will have gotten across that you have to rebound the ball in the BIG EAST to have any success at all.

I thought we fought, and went to the glass. I thought the started on a negative, and that’s what hurt us. We had 3 layups to start the game and if we make the 3 layups we’re fighting and they (UConn) are questioning themselves. But instead we missed the layups and it became tighter and tighter for our guys to score in the paint. That is something that I can correct, that is a correctable thing.

I don’t’ think them playing that hard will stop you from shooting the basketball. I think that they work hard on defense but I don’t think they can stop you from shooting, we just have to do a better job of concentrating.

On shooting inside: You have to, because if you back off and sit there and cock it from the outside the game is over…and this was our concern, if you miss the shot they get out and run as well as anyone in the country. But if you take it to their heart, the have to defend that, that’s all that Oklahoma did to them, took it straight to them and that’s what you have to do. But, you have to have some athletes to do that, because if you don’t they’ll be very athletic on you.

On Rudy Gay: The player I thought did an outstanding job in there was Rudy Gay. He made it hard for us to go in and rebound the basketball. We were trying to fight off people like Boone and Villanueva then all of a sudden there’s Gay flying in there.

Connecticut Player Post Game Quotes

Rudy Gay

On good bounce back game: Last game we didn’t play as well as we should have and today we had a chance to go out there and blow them out and that’s what we did.

On dominance inside: that’s how we start our offense, we have one of the best front courts in the nation, why not use it, why not use it to open up our game.

On Villanueva and Boone: With them overpowering the other big men it definitely opens it up for our guards. People want to help and I can tell there is no way that they can stop.

We are getting better as a team. There is a lot of team unity, this past break we had a lot of time to bond. We have learned from our losses and have gotten better as a team.

The BIG EAST is a really strong conference and we can’t take anyone for granted

Charlie Villanueva

That is our game play, play for 40 minutes and spend 35 seconds on each play, we’re still not there yet, but we are getting better at it. As the games go by we are getting better and coming together as a team. If we play like that we’ll be on top.

Coach Blaney has always told me that when a shot goes up, my way to score is off the rebound and I think I am definitely doing that.

Interior passing: That is something I have always had in my game but I just never had really showcased it.

If I get the opportunity to play and I stay on the court I have an opportunity to showcase my whole game.

This was a really important game for us. The Oklahoma game was real tough on us. We have been practicing real hard and real well. We carried what we did in practice to this game.

Marcus Williams

On playing at the RAC: Last year it was crazy. The have a great fan base.

Josh Boone

On frontcourt: We saw before the game had started that was going to be important to us, getting the ball inside. It wasn’t just me it was basically getting the ball inside.

As soon as I made a mistake I tried not to let it get to my head. Tonight I tried to play through every possession and work hard no matter what happens.

On playing hard to the end: That was our way of saying that this is our home floor and you’re not going to get anything easy on us whether there are 6 seconds or 20 minutes left.