Huskies Halt Losing Skid With Overtime
Win Against Rutgers, 61-50

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Hartford, Conn. (February 3, 2007) – The University of Connecticut men’s basketball team made 14-of-16 free throws in the extra period as the Huskies defeated Rutgers University, 61-50, in overtime, Saturday afternoon before a sellout crowd of 16,294 at the Hartford Civic Center.

The win, which stops the Huskies’ five-game losing streak, improves the UConn record to 14-8, 3-6 in the BIG EAST Conference. The Scarlet Knights slip to 9-14, 2-8 in the league.

UConn did not make a field goal in the overtime period, but scored on eight of 10 possessions, continually converting from the line after struggling from the charity stripe in the end of regulation. Jerome Dyson (Rockville, Md.) made all six of his overtime free throws, while Jeff Adrien (Brookline, Mass.) and Craig Austrie (Stamford, Conn.) each were four-for-four.

Connecticut seemed to have the contest in hand, leading by seven, at 44-37, with 50 seconds to play in regulation after Adrien made two free throws. But Marquis Webb brought Rutgers to within two on a lay-up with 42 seconds to go. After Dyson made one of two free throws, Adrian Hill made another lay-up for Rutgers, and the UConn lead was four, at 45-41 with 29 seconds to go.

Stanley Robinson (Birmingham, Ala.) made one of two free throws to put the Huskies back up by five, but Anthony Farmer responded with a three-pointer with 11 seconds remaining to cut the UConn lead to two. Austrie made one of two free throws with nine seconds to go and Robinson missed a pair with seven seconds left, leaving the door open for the Scarlet Knights. Farmer made the most of the opportunity by drilling a running three-pointer at the buzzer to force the extra session.

Adrien led the Huskies with 19 points and seven rebounds. Also in double figures were starting backcourt mates Dyson and Austrie, who each scored 13 points. Austrie added four assists against no turnovers, while putting up a season-high point total. Hasheem Thabeet (Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania) played very effectively for UConn, scoring eight points, grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds and blocking a game-best five shots.

Jaron Griffin led Rutgers with 18 points, while Farmer chipped in with 13. Adrian Hill had eight points and a game-high 13 rebounds. The Scarlet Knights played without leading scorer J.R. Inman, who missed the contest to attend his grandmother’s funeral.

The Huskies took excellent care of the basketball, committing just 11 turnovers, and they converted 15 Rutgers miscues into 18 points.

The Huskies will return to the hardwood on Monday, February 5 when they play host to Syracuse at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. and the game will be nationally-televised by ESPN. At Monday’s game, the University will honor its first class of men’s basketball Huskies of Honor inductees. The honorees will be recognized during first half timeouts and the entire class will be presented at halftime.

POSTGAME QUOTES

UConn Head Coach Jim Calhoun

I congratulate Freddy Hill.  With Inman down, with them fouling people out…I told them right after the game, not that we’re a juggernaut, but there’s no way they should have been able to compete with us physically.  And they more then did that.  They just kept playing, they stuck to his game plan of trying to shorten the clock.

I told our kids, I didn’t know how it was going to be.  It could be ugly, it could be pretty, it could be anything, but we needed any kind of win.

I still maintain that we have a champion’s heart.

We can’t control a contested three-pointer that goes off the backboard.  That changes a game.  We cannot control a runner from about 20-something feet.  That happens. 

We were going to have to dig out a win.  It was much more difficult than I would have liked.

I would like to have seen us play prettier offense, more than playing pretty offense, we needed to get a win.  And we got one. 

On Thabeet

Hasheem was on his way to a major, major game, but when they went with three to four people outside it became difficult to play him.

On Adrien

I thought that Jeff was terrific.

On Austrie

I thought Craig Austrie was really, really clutch, defensively and offensively. 

Unfortunately we were missing foul shots down the stretch, but we found ways to win a basketball game.  Some years when we’ve had experienced, powerful teams here, that has not been the case.  We’ve been able to get through these days differently.

With eight to play, we need wins. 

Rutgers Head Coach Fred Hill 

We don’t believe in moral victories.  There’s never a moral victory.  You either win or you lose.  Unfortunately today, we lost.

We played well in stretches.  We played hard, they played hard.  We defended extremely well in stretches.  We knocked some big shots down.

I don’t think this was an artistic thing of beauty on either side, but it was a tough, hard-nosed, Big East basketball game.  I think it was a great game. 

They made more big plays down the stretch than we did. 

They did what they’re supposed to do.  They knocked down free throws.  That’s what big time players and big time teams do.

On missing Inman

I don’t look at things like that.  You play the games, you play the guys you have, and you go out and win the game.  That was our intent coming up, and I think we did that right to the end. 

On Farmer

Anthony made big plays, and I have confidence to put the ball in his hands at the end of the games, no matter how he has shot.  I always tell the guys, it’s not about just making big shots, it’s about making big plays.  Big plays win games. … He made two big shots.

UConn Freshman Jerome Dyson

On the win:

It feels good, the excitement is back and everyone is feeling good.  Everybody is lifted; there is a better feeling in the locker room, everybody is happy.  We know that we can win now and we can go forward

On the OT:

We knew that they were in a lot of foul trouble, both of their bigs were out and so we knew we just needed to get the ball inside and that’s what we tried to do,   Jeff was able to make free throws and we came down an d got stops and they had to foul us and then everybody was able to make free throws.

On showing relief at the end of the game:

We just kind of knew at that point that we finally got a win for ourselves; it gave us the go ahead that we can know now that we can win. 

On the lull, and how they came out of it:

We just stayed focused, we knew that things happen and we just have to get over that and play basketball.

On Adrien’s role:

He played really good. H e was able to make free throws and he played tremendous on the boards and he stopped the other team from scoring as well.

On if they sensed that the game was ugly:

We started off slow in the first half, we really didn’t put many points on the board, but we knew if we stopped them than the game would not get out of control.  If we play defense we can be in every game.

UConn Sophomore Jeff Adrien

On Craig Austrie

Craig was awesome.  Before the game I told him, ‘we’re roommates nopw on the road, we have to lead these guys.’  And that’s what we did.

How much easier did you guys make it on each other?

I made it easy for him just by finding him when he’s open on the double teams.  He knocked it down.  He’s been doing it very well the last couple of games.  I set picks for him and screens for him and for him to get off.  And their guys really didn’t hedge that much so he could go to the basket and score.

Are you determined not to let this season slip away?

We talked about being leaders before the game, scoring out there, and just leading these guys to victory and show them the way to get it done.

On the last shot going in regulation going in for Rutgers

It was shocking.  It was just the way the ball bounces. 

What was your feeling going into overtime?

Just get it done.  We were out there waiting for them to get on the court.  We were ready.  We did by playing defense and hitting our foul shots.

UConn Freshman Craig Austrie

How much does this win mean?

It’s real important.  We had to get one somewhere.  I don’t care who we play.  To get it now, with a bunch of games left, that’s big.  We’re not out of anything yet.  All we have to do is just win.

On the foul shooting in overtime

Everybody’s been putting hard work into the foul shots.  Coach is always on us to get in extra shots, and everybody’s been doing that.  So, it’s been paying off.

On the Syracuse game

After a win I just want to get back on the court again and carry this momentum over.  I’m sure everybody else is too.

Have you had to take on more of a scorer’s role?

Kind of.  I passed on a shot at the beginning of the game and he kind of got on me about that.  Coach knows that I can score because I do it in practice all the time.  I just transferred it over to the game.