Spring Break
Huskies cream Irish on Senior Day
UConn holds off Notre Dame during final seconds of game
Marc Gauthier
Issue date: 3/2/09 Section: Sports
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His shot clanked off the back rim and was heading to a crowd of UConn and Notre Dame players. Almost out of nowhere, Jeff Adrien skied to the air, grabbing the ball out of flight and pulling down his ninth rebound of the game. After a small tussle with Luke Harangody, Adrien put the ball down and made his way to the foul line.
He knew the game was over. He knew his team had won.
"It was just a big moment, you know?" Adrien said. "Big players make big plays in big games and I felt like I did that today."
There were a lot of emotions before Saturday's 72-65 victory over the Fighting Irish. Some players shed a few tears in the locker room, while others managed to hold them in until the Senior Day celebration at mid-court.
When the game started, the Huskies came out a little flat, scoring their first field goal after three minutes had gone by.
"It was very emotional, the whole ceremony and everything," said A.J. Price. "I do have to admit that it's kind of a hard transition to go from that to then playing at such a high level and being competitive. It's something you can't really prepare yourself for."
Eventually, the Huskies found their rhythm behind an offensive surge by Adrien and a defensive lockdown led by Hasheem Thabeet.
When UConn got the ball to the low-post guys, the Irish weren't playing man-up, giving Adrien and Thabeet open looks at the basket from only eight feet out.
On the defensive end, the Huskies were pressuring all of Notre Dame's 3-point shooters, making sure they didn't have any open looks at the basket. In addition to that, the Huskies perimeter defenders were forcing the Irish to take 3-pointers about two feet behind the college 3-point line.
"We wanted to get them out of their comfort zone and push them back a little bit further," said Craig Austrie. "Those guys have deep range, but as long as we were contesting those shots, we made it tough for them."
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