The Daily Campus

Issue date: 3/21/08 Section: March Madness

Media Credit: Erik Kong Stanley Robinson and Jerome Dyson somberly walk off the St. Pete Times Forum court as San Diego celebrates behind them.

Media Credit: Erik Kong The Toreros' Trumaine Johnson rises above three UConn defenders in the first half.

TAMPA, Fla. - With the score tied at 60, De'Jon Jackson almost beat the Huskies at the end of regulation.

But what he failed to do in the game's 40th minute - put an end to UConn's 2008 season - he did with 1.2 seconds remaining in overtime with a step-back jumper over Stanley Robinson.

"I knew when the ball was in his hands there at the end he was going to make a play to win the game for us and he certainly stepped up and did that," said San Diego head coach Bill Grier.

The play he made gave the No. 13-seeded Toreros (22-13) a 70-69 upset overtime win over the No. 4 Huskies in front of 15,920 at the St. Pete Times Forum. While this may have been a closer, more gut-wrenching loss for the Huskies (24-9), for head coach Jim Calhoun, this game was too similar to their Big East quarterfinal game against West Virginia last week.

"Our defensive effort wasn't much different than it was against West Virginia, except we started picking up earlier in the second half," he said.

UConn's poor defensive showing enabled San Diego to take and hold the lead for the majority of the game. The Toreros took a 10-8 lead 3:14 into the first half and didn't relinquish that until Doug Wiggins hit a 3-pointer with 3:39 remaining in the second half, putting UConn up 55-54.

Being down for most of the game meant UConn needed a late-game push just to force overtime. Jeff Adrien followed a Jerome Dyson missed layup to get them within one of San Diego, 59-58, with 20 seconds left in regulation.

Devin Ginty drew a blocking foul on Dyson as the Toreros were trying to inbound the ball, but he made just the front end of a one-and-one. Dyson then drove the ball to the basket on the ensuing possession, drew a foul and was sent to the line with a chance to tie the game.

Dyson nailed both free throws and after Jackson's layup rimmed out on the other end, the Huskies were headed to overtime with the belief that they now had the game in hand.

"Once I hit those free throws to send it to overtime I really thought that we had it," Dyson said. "We just gave up big plays down the stretch."

"Jerome made some big free throws for us," Wiggins said. "Once he made those two free throws we really thought it was our game. I mean, San Diego came down and made some big plays at the end and that's what cost us the game."
Dyson actually hit two more free throws with nine seconds left in overtime to give the Huskies a 69-68 lead, but he would not be the hero of the game, thanks to Jackson's game-winning fadeaway.

San Diego was able to make tough shots late, but maybe the most important event of the game came early. As San Diego began to establish itself, things went from bad to worse for the Huskies, as A.J. Price hit the floor near the 10-minute mark of the first half, and didn't get up.

Soon after that, Thabeet and walk-on John Lindner were carrying the team's point guard off the court to the end of the bench. Price eventually limped off to the locker room and later came back with a bag of ice on his left knee, which was diagnosed as a sprain.

"It was tough," Dyson said about Price leaving the game. "We knew that A.J. primarily just runs our offense for us. It was just something that was kind of devastating for us."

As devastating as it was to lose their leader and his 14.9 points per game, Calhoun didn't want to hear that as the main reason for this loss.

"He is as good a point guard as there is," Calhoun said. "In my opinion, the best point guard in the Big East, but that's not why we lost this game. We lost the game because we didn't play very good defense."

Calhoun said that despite the Toreros' numerous big shots - like Rob Jones' and-one layup over Hasheem Thabeet while falling away to put San Diego up 68-67 - it was how well the Huskies allowed the Toreros to shoot throughout the game that cost his team.

"Our kids did fight back, but we gave up 48 percent [shooting]," he said. "We've given up 38 [percent] for the year, and quite frankly for the second consecutive game in tournament play, we didn't play defense."

San Diego's Gyno Pomare took advantage of UConn's poor defensive effort in the first half to the tune of 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting. His early efforts did for San Diego exactly what Calhoun was trying to avoid.

"The thing I put on the board, don't let them think, and don't let them get a sniff that we're two equal teams," Calhoun said about what he emphasized before the game. "Whether we are or not. I put that down about a lot of teams.

"But Gyno, I thought, he was the key player in the game for [them] because he gave them confidence early when they needed confidence."

Pomare finished the game with 22 points.

This was UConn's first-ever loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament under Calhoun and such a loss wasn't sitting well with the players after the game.

"It's real disappointing," Wiggins said. "We should be embarrassed. We're making history for the wrong things."

Contact Dan Olender at Daniel.Olender@UConn.edu.

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