Gay, Johnson Lead No. 2 Huskies To Eighth-Straight Win

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HARTFORD, Conn. (Dec. 18, 2005) - The University of Connecticut men’s basketball team showed no signs of rust on Sunday afternoon after a 10-day break for final exams as the Huskies defeated New Hampshire by a score of 86-44 at the Hartford Civic Center before a sellout crowd of 16,294.

The second-ranked Huskies improve to 8-0 on the season while New Hampshire falls to 2-8.

The Huskies took quick control of the contest by going out to an 8-0 lead in the first 5:12 of the game. New Hampshire did not score its first point of the contest until there was 13:49 left in the first half as Blagoj Janev hit a three-point field goal. The Huskies continued their dominance in the first half and led 42-15 at the break.

UConn was led in scoring by sophomore Rudy Gay (Baltimore, Md.) with a game-high 22 points – the third time this season he has eclipsed the 20-point mark.

Freshman Marcus Johnson (Los Angeles, Calif.) made his first career start for the Huskies and scored a career-high 20 points, including a nine for 13 shooting performance from the field. Johnson had seen playing time in the first seven games of the season, but had scored just four points.  Johnson started in place of injured starter Denham Brown (Toronto, Ont.).

Junior Rashad Anderson (Lakeland, Fla.) came off the bench to score 15 points, including three three-pointers. Anderson has now scored in double figures in six straight games.  The Huskies made nine of 22 three-pointers during the contest.

Senior Ed Nelson (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) posted the first double-double of his UConn career with 12 points and 11 rebounds – both marks also representing UConn career highs for Nelson.

The Huskies shot 51% from the field (36 of 70), and enjoyed a 45-27 rebounding advantage.  Freshman point guard Craig Austrie (Stamford, Conn.) had five assists with no turnovers for UConn.

New Hampshire was led in scoring by Janev with 24 points, on nine of 15 shooting, including five of seven from three-point range.

UConn returns to action on Friday, Dec. 23, when it plays host to Morehead State at 2:00 p.m. at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs. The game will be televised by WTIC-TV.

POSTGAME QUOTES

UConn Head Coach Jim Calhoun

"The game wasn’t a very pretty game….I thought we did a really good job, to be very honest with you.  I’m actually coming away feeling pleased because we set a mode, as opposed to, like, Army where we tried to really force the issue… Today we didn’t do that.  We lived with grinding it out on defense, not allowing them to score, and then tried to do a good job of getting the ball to the guys on our team who could score." 

"Obviously, we were the better team."

"The press was better than it was against Army.  And we watched them beat the press against almost everybody.  Teams really couldn’t get them.  We matched up better, in the press.  I think we called it off with 17 minutes to go, but it had done all the damage it needed to do."

"It was a good game for us.  Not a great game, but a good game for us, given that we want to get out and run, we want to get out and do what we do."

"I think our defense was, overall, very, very good." 

"It’s hard for us to play a game that we’re not used to playing in." 

On Marcus Johnson

"Marcus Johnson had a very good starting debut.  It should help Denham’s knee a great deal." 

On starting Ed Nelson

"It was just a personal decision.  I wanted to see if Hilton would come off the bench better.  Hilton started the season off with four or five terrific games.  I don’t think he’s played as well since we’ve come back here…. Ed gave us a good spark.  It was just my decision to start him.  It doesn’t mean that’s what’s going to happen against next Friday against Morehead, but it does mean that’s what I felt like today."

Marcus Johnson

On starting

"I’m glad I had a chance to start today.  I was real focused.  Hard work does pay off…I’ve said that my whole life.  I proved that is true today and it feels great.  When you start you feel a little more comfortable, as if you have a little more leeway.

Everybody wants to be a starter, coming off the bench you have to be ready for that.  It is really all about confidence."

On confidence

"Coach started me and that shows that he has confidence in me."

On his touch

"I’m been working a lot on my jumpers.  I felt confident so I took more and the shots started falling.  I still need to get better, I’ve got a long way to go."

On Defense

"It’s about effort, and it’s been stressed since I was in high school.  Coach Calhoun wants every player to play defense."

On first Impressions of Coach Calhoun

He is a Hall of Fame coach and he is a great guy, that’s why I came here, we have a great coaching staff and they work hard to get everyone to be better.

On if he is homesick

"It is hard because I’m not used to the snow and cold, I can’t go home and be with my mother, but I’m not homesick."

Rudy Gay

On the strength of UNH

"They stayed in there and kept on playing.  They have a lot of good athletes and players.  We just got into them early with the press."

UNH Head Coach Bill Herrion

"Obviously, they’re a heck of a basketball team.  And we knew that coming in.  We just wanted to give ourselves a chance." 

"What we’re more concerned about with our basketball team is “how do we get better?”  We’re a very young team.  We don’t have a lot of experience.  We’re a very thin team with not a lot of depth and not a lot of strength in the front court." 

"We have to erase this quickly."

"We played all zone.  We’re typically a man-to-man defensive team….They’re just going to jam it right down your throat.  And we would have had no bodies left." 

"If you’re going to even stay close with a team like this, you have to make shots."