No. 17 Pitt Rallies to Defeat No. 13 Huskies, 76-66
Boxscore [.html]
Boxscore [.pdf]
 STORRS, Conn.
(January 22, 2005) – Chevon Troutman scored 25 of his game-high 29 points
after halftime as 17th-ranked Pittsburgh erased a 17-point deficit on
their way to a 76-66 victory over No. 13 Connecticut at the Harry A. Gampel
Pavilion on Saturday night. The defeat drops the Huskies’ record to 11-4, 3-2 in
the BIG EAST. The Panthers improve to 13-3, 3-2 in conference play.
UConn enjoyed a 17-point lead at 43-26 with 2:31 to play in
the opening half, and led by 15 at 49-34 with 17:26 to go in the contest before
Troutman led the Panther comeback. He scored 11 straight points for Pittsburgh
over a five-minute span, and scored 25 points in the game’s final 15:14.
Junior Rashad Anderson (Lakeland, Fla.)
broke out of his scoring slump, leading the Huskies with 19 points. He made a
season-best five three-pointers, and helped UConn take a 43-32 lead with 16
points before intermission. Sophomore Charlie Villanueva (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
recorded his fifth consecutive double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. He
added a game-high four blocked shots.
 Junior forward Hilton
Armstrong (Peekskill, N.Y.) gave the Huskies valuable minutes off of the
bench, scoring a season-best 11 points and grabbing six rebounds. Junior
Denham Brown (Toronto, Ont.) scored 10 points and snared five rebounds.
The Huskies were forced to play long stretches of the contest without starters
Josh Boone (Mt. Airy, Md.) and Rudy Gay (Baltimore, Md.) due to
foul trouble. Boone fouled out after scoring just six points and grabbing five
rebounds in just 13 minutes of action. Gay scored just two in 14 minutes of
play. Sophomore point guard Marcus Williams (Los Angeles, Calif.) had his
third double-digit assist effort of the season, passing out 11 helpers.
Field goal shooting told the story of the game
as UConn made just 28 percent of their attempts after halftime, after making 49
percent in the first half. Pittsburgh connected on 54 percent shooting in the
second half, after making just 37percent in the first half.
Carl Krauser added 15 points for Pittsburgh,
making 10 of 11 free throws.
 UConn returns to action
on Tuesday, January 25 when they travel to Morgantown, W.V., to play league foe
West Virginia. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m., and the contest will be televised
locally by WB-20.
POST GAME QUOTES
Connecticut Head Coach Jim Calhoun
"We lost 4 games this year and far and away this was the
most disappointing. I thought in the first half we ran our offense, we had
assists on 75% of our baskets, we made 3’s and set them up really well so they
just didn’t come off individual play…and for whatever reason, and I don’t have
the answer, I honestly don’t…In the second half we decided to shoot 1-10 from 3
point land. I have no idea why at the beginning of the second half we decided
that all of a sudden we had to take 3 pt shots. We are the second worst team in
the league in that position. I don’t care about individuals. Rashad Anderson is
going to make shots….I said it yesterday, I said it today, I’ll say it tomorrow,
because he has made shots before. But we completely got taken out of our
offense…shot 27%, scored 23 points, Troutman had 5 offensive rebounds and played
a magnificent game and quite frankly they did what we did not do. They executed
their offense, took their time, took the shots they wanted. We did not take the
shots we wanted."
"I’d probably have to go back quite a ways, even with some
of the Pittsburgh games that we’ve had, to think of a more disappointing
loss. We are 15 games in, we’re not young any more."
On Pittsburgh
"Give them credit, they played good defense. I don’t think their defense changed
quite frankly. They persevered and did a good job. Congratulations to them."
Rashad Anderson
“We have to pick it up we have to win two on
the road. We are capable of doing that. We just have to come tomorrow in
practice ready to go.”
“In the first half we played great. We played
20 minutes of basketball and in the second half we just let up. Now we need to
win two on the road. Shots just weren’t falling for us and we just made silly
mistakes.”
Charlie Villanueva
On the physical play of the game
“It was real physical. Troutman was throwing a lot of elbows, Taft was pushing.
It was real physical. We told the refs and they didn’t make the call but you
can’t blame the game on the refs. We had the game in our hands, we just let it
slip.”
On staying on the same page offensively
“Its hard. That’s what us being inexperienced, that’s where it comes from but
we’re going to be fine. We just have to keep working hard at it.”
Hilton Armstrong
“I felt like we just let up. They didn’t
change their game so much as we just let up.”
“We have to be a better team and just come together as one. We made a lot of
stupid mistakes, everybody did, we need to just get done what we did in the
first half.”
On Troutman
“It was pretty hard for me to get him. He was low to the ground. He’s pretty
strong and used his legs pretty good, his hands pretty well too. He played
smart.”
Pittsburgh Head Coach Jaime Dixon
About comeback win on the road
"It is obviously a hostile environment, it is a tough place to play, their
record speaks for itself. The guys just did an unbelievable job getting it done,
I really don’t know who to start with. But they battled and believed in each
other and to come back and do the things that they did. We are proud of them and
we will use this to get better. The guys are happy and looking forward to
getting back home."
About the Jamie Dixon type-defense in the second half
"The rotation was there and the team defense was there. We contested shots a
little bit better, we got through screens, it was something we had talked about
at halftime. They (UConn) are a team that goes on such runs, and we have to be
prepared to sustain that and then get through it and that’s what the guys did.
They kept sticking with stuff and when we get down in a situation like that, you
come together and you try to do things a little bit better, a little bit more
like we have been trying to do."
About Chevon Troutman’s and the rest of the team second
half play
"He battles and plays and he got through it. We had a number of guys step in
so many ways. Aaron (Gray) turned his ankle and still came back and gave us big
plays. We got some guys banged up…They all came in and gave us something in
their own sort of way. That’s what we really needed and the guys just keep
battling. It is a long year and we need to play our best basketball coming up.
That’s what we have been trying to do and that is what we are working on." |
