No. 3 Huskies Defeat Louisville, 71-58, In UConn's First-Ever Trip To
Freedom Hall
Box Score [pdf]
Box Score [html]
 LOUISVILLE,
Ky. (Jan . 21, 2006) – Junior guard Marcus Williams (Los Angeles,
Calif.) scored 15 points and led four Husky players in double figures
to lead the University of Connecticut men’s basketball team to a 71-58
win over Louisville on Saturday night.
Sophomore Rudy Gay (Baltimore, Md.) added 12 points for the
Huskies while seniors Rashad Anderson (Lakeland, Fla.) and Josh Boone (Mt. Airy,
Md.) each had 10. Freshman Jeff Adrien (Brookline, Mass.) enjoyed an outstanding
game with nine points and led the Huskies in rebounding with a career-high 12
boards.
UConn, ranked No. 3 in the country, improves to 16-1 overall
and 4-1 in the BIG EAST while the Cardinals, who are ranked 15th in
the ESPN/USA Today poll, fall to 13-5 overall and 1-4 in the BIG EAST. The game
marked the first-ever appearance by UConn at historic Freedom Hall.
The Huskies limited Louisville to a two for 20 performance
from three-point field goal range. Louisville shot just 36.4 percent from the
field in the game, marking the third-straight game that the Cardinals failed to
hit better than 40.0 percent of its field goals.
 The
Huskies led 30-27 at halftime, but Louisville took a 33-32 lead with 17:48 on a
Terrence Williams dunk. The game remained a one-point affair either way until
Anderson hit a jump shot with 14:22 left to play to make it 40-37 UConn. Adrien
gave UConn a five-point lead (44-39) on a dunk and the lead opened up to nine on
a Hilton Armstrong dunk with 9:26 to play (50-41).
Louisville made the game tight the rest of the way and got
a close as four points (50-46) with 8:04 to go and at 4:10 when it was a 59-55
score. Marcus Williams hit a lay-up with 3:43 to go to make it 61-55 UConn and
the Cardinals could get no closer.
Louisville was led in scoring by David Padgett with 27
points while Terrence Williams had 10.
Connecticut limited the Cardinals to a 30.6 shooting
percentage (11 of 36) as Louisville missed all nine of its first half three
point field goal attempts.
 UConn
led by a 15-14 score with 10:57 left to go in the first half. The Huskies then
went on a 11-0 run to take 26-14 lead with 5:33 left in the half. Five different
Husky players scored during that run.
When it appeared that UConn was taking control of the game,
the Cardinals came right back and had a 11-1 run to end the first half. UConn
led 28-16 with 4:33 left in the half, but Louisville scored 11 of the half’s 13
final points for a 30-27 Husky halftime lead. The only points UConn scored in
the final 4:33 of the half were a pair of free throws by senior Josh Boone (Mt.
Airy, Md.) with 1:00 left.
The Huskies return to action on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. when
they play host to St. John’s at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. The game will be
televised by WTXX-TV 20 in Connecticut. |
