No. 17 UConn Tames Bulls In Overtime, 74-73

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TAMPA, Fla. (February 16, 2008) - Craig Austrie (Stamford, Conn.) hit the game-winning field goal with two-tenths of a second remaining in overtime as the 17th-ranked University of Connecticut men’s basketball team defeated South Florida, 74-73, at the Sun Dome.

With the win, UConn captures its ninth straight victory and improves to 20-5 on the season and 9-3 in the BIG EAST. The Bulls fall to 11-15 overall and 2-11 in the conference.

A.J. Price (Amityville, N.Y.) led the Huskies with 23 points, while Doug Wiggins (East Hartford, Conn.) added a career-high 20 points, including an 11-11 performance from the free throw line. Jeff Adrien (Brookline, Mass.) added 12 and Austrie finished with eight, including his game-winning bucket.

The win over USF marks the 22nd time in his career and 17th time in 22 seasons at UConn that head coach Jim Calhoun has reached the 20-win mark. This is now the 16th time in the last 19 years that UConn has won 20 or more games in a season. UConn had compiled eight 20-win seasons in 84 seasons before Coach Calhoun came to Storrs.

Hasheem Thabeet (Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania) ecorded eight blocks on the day and moved into third place on the all-time UConn career blocked shots list with 225, passing Josh Boone (222 career blocks). Thabeet now trails only Emeka Okafor (441) and Donyell Marshall (245) in career blocked shots.

The Bulls dominated the first two minutes of the overtime, jumping ahead by four, 71-67, with 2:44 to play. UConn got a pair of stops and Price went to the other end and hit a hanging jumper in the lane and got fouled. He made the free throw and UConn trailed, 71-70, with 1:45 to go. UConn got another stop as USF’s Jesus Verdejo missed a three and UConn ran the clock down under a minute to play.

Price missed a shot in the lane, but UConn forced a tie up after a loose ball and got the ball back with 50 seconds left in the game. Price missed another drive to the hoop, but Stanley Robinson (Birmingham, Ala.) slammed home the miss to put UConn up, 72-71, with 37 seconds left. USF called a timeout with 20 seconds remaining and Dominique Jones scored on a lay-up to give the Bulls a 73-72 lead with 13 seconds to go. Austrie then hit his jumper on the other end to earn the win for UConn.

UConn led 63-60 with less than two minutes to play in regulation when Price lost the ball attempting to drive to the basket and then fouled Verdejo, who made both free throws at the other end. Leading by just a point, the Huskies ran the clock down to under a minute and Austrie made his second floater in the lane in the final two and a half minutes to make the score 65-62 with 42 seconds left.

Following a timeout by USF, UConn forced a miss by Dominique Jones, but could not secure the rebound. Verdejo then hit his three from the top of the key. USF got the ball back after an UConn inbounds violation and Jones missed a jumper from 16 feet and the game went to overtime.

The Huskies led 56-52 with less than five to play. Gransberry completed a conventional three-point play to cut the lead to one, but Adrien turned the trick himself after a huge offensive rebound by Wiggins on the next trip to put the Huskies back in front by four, 59-55. USF cut the lead to two and Wiggins made a pair to make the score 61-57, Huskies, with 3:31 left in the game. After another USF bucket cut the deficit to two, Austrie responded with a floater as the shot clock expired to make it 63-59 with 2:19 left.

UConn led 52-51 with 5:47 to play when Thabeet committed his fourth foul and went to the bench. After USF made one free throw to tie the score, Price made an acrobatic shot at the other end and was fouled. He made the free throw and UConn led, 55-52, with 5:30 to go. Adrien made one free throw on the next trip down and the lead was four with less than five minutes to play.

The Huskies led by as many as five in the early minutes of the second half, but the Bulls responded with an inspired stretch and took the lead, 42-41, with 11:29 to play in the game. The lead changed hands three times over the next two minutes and the Bulls notched back-to-back buckets to lead 48-45 and force a Husky timeout with 9:25 left to play. After a UConn miss out of the timeout, USF scored another fastbreak hoop to go ahead by five, 50-45, with 8:45 to play. Price responded with a three on the next trip down to cut the Husky deficit to two, 50-48. Wiggins streaked down the floor on the next UConn possession and laid the ball in to tie the score, 50-50, and that is where things stood with 7:16 to play at the media timeout.

UConn led 27-26 at the half despite shooting 32.0% from the field and trailing by as many as seven points and only holding the lead twice in the first 20 minutes. The Huskies continued an early pattern of falling behind on the road, trailing 9-3 after six minutes of play, but also continued a trend of erasing those deficits in short order, scoring six straight points to tie the score at 9-9. The Bulls responded with a 10-3 run to open a 19-12 advantage with under seven minutes to go until halftime. The Huskies bounced back with a 10-3 run of their own to tie the score at 22-22.

Gransberry paced the Bulls with a game-high 26 points.

UConn returns to action on Tuesday, February 19 when it hosts DePaul at the XL Center in Hartford. Game time is 7:00 p.m. and the contest will be televised nationally on ESPNU.