Huskies Dominate Bryant In Exhibition Action
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HARTFORD, Conn. (November 3, 2005) – Freshman
Jeff Adrien (Brookline, Mass.) scored 19 points to lead five
teammates in double figures as 2nd-ranked Connecticut opened
exhibition play with a 109-62 victory over Bryant College before a crowd of
14,130 at the Hartford Civic Center.
Adrien, seeing his first collegiate action, made six of
seven field goal attempts and was successful on seven of eight free throws in
pacing the Husky offensive onslaught. Junior center Josh Boone (Mt.
Airy, Md.) bounced back from a scoreless first half with 17 points after
intermission, making all eight shots from the field in the second half.
Sophomore Rudy Gay (Baltimore, Md.) was solid throughout the contest,
scoring 15 points, yanking down nine rebounds and he had five assists and five
blocks.
 Senior
center Hilton Armstrong (Peekskill, N.Y.) added 13 points while senior
guard Rashad Anderson (Lakeland, Fla.) chipped in with 11. Freshman
Craig Austrie (Stamford, Conn.) scored 10 points of five-of-five shooting.
Senior forward Denham Brown (Toronto, Ont.) had eight points, nine
rebounds and a game-high seven assists. Senior forward Ed Nelson (Ft.
Lauderdale, Fla.) had a game-high 10 rebounds for the Huskies.
The Huskies shot a sizzling 66% (46 of 70), including a
blistering 73% (24 of 33) after intermission. They enjoyed a 50-34 rebounding
advantage, and pounded the ball inside to the tune of 74 points in the paint.
UConn scored the game’s first four points, and led 10-1
just 3:43 into the contest, and were never seriously threatened after that.
They increased their lead at intermission to 53-26, and led by as many as 50
points in the contest. The Huskies blocked 16 shots in the contest.
The Bulldogs were led by Chris Burns, who scored 15
points. Bryant was held to just 35% shooting (28 of 80).
The Huskies will close out the exhibition portion of their
2005-2006 campaign on Wednesday, November 9 when they play host to Concordia
College at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
POST-GAME QUOTES
UConn Head Coach Jim Calhoun
For an exhibition game, hopefully we accomplished what we
tried to, which was make the game fast….(Bryant) tried to make the game into
more of a halfcourt game, and I think our pressure probably looked the best that
it has in 10 years. We are not used to playing quick, small people because we
don’t have many in practice everyday. I thought that match-up hurt us at
times.
Overall, it was a good performance by us, against a team
that we were able to overwhelm, in talent, size, quickness-wise, etcetera. But
sometimes, they’re difficult match-ups because we don’t have many people to go
against – we have wings, we don’t have a lot of guards that you have to defend.
So it made it a little difficult and we gave up some threes that we shouldn’t
have given up.
On quickness
I think this is the quickest team we’ve had in 10 years. It’s a very fast
team. There is not a kid here who isn’t fast and long.
On press
We had to work on our press (tonight), because I think it could be
something, if we want to speed games up, then we can. We didn’t quite have the
ability to do that last year.
On Denham Brown
I thought we had some terrific play from Denham Brown who, I thought, looked
like a guard for the first time in his career.
On Rudy Gay
I thought Rudy was whatever he wanted to be, and that’s good.
On Jeff Adrien
I thought that people will fall in love with Jeff Adrien. All he does is
come to work, put the hard hat on, and just keeps getting balls off the glass….I
think he’s the second or third leading rebounder we have.
On Craig Austrie
He getting better, and he’s a very confident kid, without being arrogant by
any stretch of the imagination – a very humble kid, as a matter of fact. I
thought he really looked like a point guard, with a great deal of composure.
UConn Player Quotes
Rudy Gay
Everybody worked really hard. Everybody came out there and did their job.
On Coach Calhoun using so many players
Coach is trying to find his team, the team that sticks for him. It’s really
going to be hard for him because we have a lot of players and a lot of people
who know the system. And everybody’s
On the new players
Jeff went out there and played his heart out. Craig, he ran the team very
well. Rob, he’s getting better at running the team. Marcus, he’s a great
defender. They added a lot of quickness to our team and that’s one of the
things that’s going to hurt people.
On Jeff Adrien
He’s a monster, really. You finally are going to see it because we’re
actually playing a game, but he’s been doing this everyday at practice. He’s
just doing what Coach asked him to do.
On pressing more
Coach mentioned that this is one of the quickest team’s he’s ever coached.
Denham Brown
On Jeff Adrien
He’s been working like that in practice. He’s really just turned it over
from practice. Jeff Adrien is really allowed to do what he wants in the post –
making plays, grabbing rebounds, and just being a monster down there.
On finally getting to play in a game against another
team
It came along real quick. I think guys are ready for it. I think overall
we did a good job.
Jeff Adrien
On being tenacious
It’s just hard work. I know the ball’s right there in play and why not go
after it? Just keep playing hard until the end of the game. Until the clock
hits triple zeros I’m still going to play hard.
When I go out there and play, I’m going to make a name for
myself. But there’s a lot of things I could have worked on today.
Craig Austrie
We just have to get guys the ball at the right time, the right second. You
can’t be late. That’s just what I’ve been working on, getting my timing down in
preseason and getting a feel for the guys on the team.
Josh Boone
What do you need to work on before Pepperdine
I think we need to execute better on offense. We were really good in the
full court today, but weren’t as good in the half court. We have to get back in
the gym and work on helping the point guards out.
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