Spring Break
A NARROW ESCAPE
Men's Basketball: Huskies Extend Streak To 10 With Comeback Win Over DePaul; Adrien Posts Double-Double
Dan Olender
Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: Sports
HARTFORD - Maybe those gray uniforms do have some luck in them.
After falling behind by as many as 13 points in the second half to DePaul, the men's basketball team battled back and came away with a 65-60 victory Tuesday night in front of 14,858 at the XL Center.
The No. 13 Huskies, who say they will wear the gray alternate jerseys until they lose in them, battled to claim their 10th-consecutive victory (sixth-straight in the grays) in what turned out to be a tougher game than many had foreseen.
"I think the result might have been a product of where each team is in their season," said head coach Jim Calhoun.
DePaul (10-15, 6-8 Big East) came out firing in the second half as they went on a 14-0 run to start the final 20 minutes and pushed the score to 42-29. Jeff Adrien got the scoring in the second half started for the Huskies (21-5, 10-3) with a lay-up 3:09 in. Adrien would score UConn's next four points, but DePaul remained up nine points.
The Blue Demons controlled the game for the next 10 minutes, but during that time, the Huskies never doubted that they wouldn't come back.
"Personally I was there, I was real confident," said Craig Austrie, who scored 14 points in the game. "We had plenty of time on the clock and I just wanted to relay that to my teammates and tell them we had plenty of time to get this going."
"Sometimes habits develop because teams win and they believe they can still win," Calhoun said. "We tried to remind them we were only down four or five hoops; all they had to do was make a few stops."
DePaul didn't relinquish their large lead until shortly after Austrie hit a 3-pointer with 5:17 to go, which cut the score to 57-53.
Austrie, who hit the game-winning shot in overtime Saturday at South Florida, followed that 3 up with a scooping lay-up as he drove to the basket. That brought the Huskies to within two when A.J. Price, who had not made a basket from the floor all game, stepped up and knocked down a jumper to tie the game at 57.
After falling behind by as many as 13 points in the second half to DePaul, the men's basketball team battled back and came away with a 65-60 victory Tuesday night in front of 14,858 at the XL Center.
The No. 13 Huskies, who say they will wear the gray alternate jerseys until they lose in them, battled to claim their 10th-consecutive victory (sixth-straight in the grays) in what turned out to be a tougher game than many had foreseen.
"I think the result might have been a product of where each team is in their season," said head coach Jim Calhoun.
DePaul (10-15, 6-8 Big East) came out firing in the second half as they went on a 14-0 run to start the final 20 minutes and pushed the score to 42-29. Jeff Adrien got the scoring in the second half started for the Huskies (21-5, 10-3) with a lay-up 3:09 in. Adrien would score UConn's next four points, but DePaul remained up nine points.
The Blue Demons controlled the game for the next 10 minutes, but during that time, the Huskies never doubted that they wouldn't come back.
"Personally I was there, I was real confident," said Craig Austrie, who scored 14 points in the game. "We had plenty of time on the clock and I just wanted to relay that to my teammates and tell them we had plenty of time to get this going."
"Sometimes habits develop because teams win and they believe they can still win," Calhoun said. "We tried to remind them we were only down four or five hoops; all they had to do was make a few stops."
DePaul didn't relinquish their large lead until shortly after Austrie hit a 3-pointer with 5:17 to go, which cut the score to 57-53.
Austrie, who hit the game-winning shot in overtime Saturday at South Florida, followed that 3 up with a scooping lay-up as he drove to the basket. That brought the Huskies to within two when A.J. Price, who had not made a basket from the floor all game, stepped up and knocked down a jumper to tie the game at 57.
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