The Daily Campus

Issue date: 1/22/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Megan Reynolds Jeff Adrien gets hounded by three Indiana players in the first half of the Huskies second straight loss.

HARTFORD - For the third consecutive season, the Huskies battled with Indiana. But unlike the last two games, it was the Hoosiers that found a way to break through and come away with a victory.

In front of 16,294 people at the Hartford Civic Center Saturday, Indiana came in and defeated a resilient UConn team, 77-73.

"It wasn't like it was one of those games where it's lop-sided shooting," said head coach Jim Calhoun. "We both shot [48] percent but we couldn't make a foul shot and we made some ill-advised plays."

Free throws would become the difference in the game, as Indiana (14-4) went 20-for-21 from the line, and the Huskies (13-5) shot just 60 percent on 17-of-28 shooting from the line.

"They are called free-throws for a reason," said forward Marcus Johnson who was 0-for-1 from the line. "We've had our slumps throughout games, not making free-throws, that's just [something] we have to correct."

Once Indiana took a 71-70 lead with 1:05 remaining, the Huskies began fouling and putting the Hoosiers on the line. Indiana was sent to the line six times in the final minute, and converted all six opportunities.

"Unfortunately they made foul shots, and we didn't," Calhoun said.

The two teams went back and forth for the final 10 minutes of the game. From 9:17 remaining until there were 34 seconds left, Indiana had a 4-point lead for 20 seconds, but beyond that, neither team had a lead greater than two points.

"If anyone questions our effort, I would 101 percent disagree," Calhoun said. "Our effort was good enough to beat an awful lot of basketball teams. It wasn't good enough to beat this team, yet I feel we should have."

The Huskies out-rebounded Indiana 38-22, and had 19 offensive rebounds. UConn also scored 46 points in the paint to Indiana's 20, and the Huskies had 21 second chance points, while Indiana had zero.

"I still think we have confidence," Calhoun said. "I just don't think we have execution and the ability to finish."

Thirty seconds after Roderick Wilmont, who had a game-high 23 points, gave Indiana a 71-70 lead, Doug Wiggins was called for a double-dribble. After the game, Calhoun said he looked at the tape and he felt the wrong call was made. Wiggins also objected with the referee's decision.

Continued...

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