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UConn Drops New Hampshire, 110-58
[Boxscore]
Hartford, CT -- Freshman guard Ben Gordon (Mt.
Vernon, NY) scored 23 points to pace hot-shooting Connecticut to a
110-58 victory over New Hampshire before a crowd of 15,953 at the
Hartford Civic Center on Monday.
“I think Phil (Rowe) does a good job with that team,” said UConn head
coach Jim Calhoun. “They hung with us. The thing that probably got to
them the most was the explosion right near the end of the first half.
We locked up the kid who killed us in the first half. It took us 30
minutes to really get the game where we wanted to get it. That’s a
credit to them certainly. We talked to the people from Boston College,
they said they just kind of hung around and didn’t let up. They hung
around with us legitimately for the first half, and we just started to
play better.”
New Hampshire actually led 33-32 with 2:42 to play in the first half
when Marcus Bullock hit his sixth three-pointer of the half.
Connecticut finished the half with a 12-0 run paced by Tony Robertson
(Jr., E. Providence, RI), who hit two three pointers in the key run.
Bullock had 20 points at the half for the Wildcats, but was held
scoreless in the second half.
New Hampshire head coach Phil Rowe was happy with the effort given by
his Wildcats, but acknowledged that they were hard pressed to keep up
with the fast-breaking Huskies. "Power and strength will get you
every time when you try and take it to somebody. I thought our guys
did a great job for the first 18 minutes. I thought we did a super
job of attacking after we hit a couple of threes. I was really
pleased with the way our guys played in the first half and I thought
for the first five to seven minutes in the second half, we were
competitive."
UConn, now 2-0 on the season, blew the game open with a 16-2 run
midway through the second half, opening up a 67-40 lead with 11:05 to
play. The Huskies shot a sizzling 64% for the game (43 of 67) from
the field, including a blistering 68% (23 of 34) in the second half.
Gordon had plenty of company in double figures as five teammates
notched at least 10 points. Robertson had 19, while Caron Butler
(So., Racine, WI) had 12 and Johnnie Selvie (Sr., Flint, MI) added
11. Taliek Brown (So., Queens, NY) had 10 points and a game-high
eight assists while Scott Hazelton (RFr., Reading, MA) chipped in with
10 off the bench.
In just his second collegiate game, Gordon made a significant impact.
"The coach (Jim Calhoun) and the rest of the staff, and the older
players have been encouraging me to do stuff like this in games. And
today was my breakout game."
The Huskies enjoyed a 48-24 advantage on the boards, paced by six
apiece by Gordon, Brown and Emeka Okafor (Fr., Houston, TX). The
Huskies were able to dominate inside, scoring 64 points in the paint
and converted 18 offensive rebounds into 27 second chance points.
Assane Faye added 17 points for UNH, now 0-4. The Wildcats leading
scorer, Austin Ganly, who entered the game with a 23.7 average, was
held to just 2 points, scoring his only basket with 15:10 to play.
The Huskies return to action on Sunday, December 2 when they travel to
Washington, D.C. to play George Washington in the BB&T Classic at the
MCI Center. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m. UConn will play on
Monday, December 3 against either Princeton or Maryland in the
tournament's second day.
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