Spring Break
Big East Champions
UConn downs Louisville 75-36 in Big East Championship Game Tuesday night
Mike Northup
Issue date: 3/11/09 Section: Big East Championship
HARTFORD - If there were any doubt as to who the top player or team was in the Big East before the finals showdown between No. 1 seed UConn and No. 2 seed Louisville, Maya Moore and the Huskies made sure to erase it Tuesday night.
Moore turned in a dominating 28-point performance that propelled the Huskies to a 75-36 rout of the Cardinals as the Huskies won their 15th Big East Championship in front of 10,030 at the XL Center.
It was the fourth Big East Championship in the last five seasons and the 15th overall for UConn (33-0). Their only loss in the title game during that span was a 55-47 loss to Rutgers in the 2007 finals. This also marks the second straight year that the Huskies have won both the Big East Regular Season and Championship titles in the same season. After the game, the Huskies soaked in the applause from the XL Center crowd as the team received the championship trophy.
"I loved the way they celebrated it tonight," said UConn coach Geno Auriemma. "Because they're not taking it for granted. They had a great time celebrating it."
For the Cardinals (29-4), it was the second straight year that the team finished runner-up to the Huskies in the Big East Championship.
Moore, the 2009 Big East Regular Season Player of the Year, torched the Cardinals in the first half, scoring 19 points and hitting four 3-pointers. Her total of 28 was the most in the Big East Championship's title game since 1995 when Kara Wolters scored 32 against Seton Hall. Moore credited the team's defense, which has held opponents to 40 points per game over the span of the tournament, for getting her the opportunities to put up the shots that she did.
"I was just trying to stay active, try to keep moving and be aggressive and my shots will follow that," Moore said.
Five-and-a-half minutes into the second half, Moore, who was being guarded one-on-one by Angel McCoughtry, blew past the Louisville forward to her right and sank the running layup. That basket pushed the score to 59-24 and gave her a total number of points equal to that of the entire Louisville team up to that point. A 3-pointer from the top of the arc a few minutes later made the score Maya Moore 27, Louisville 25. Moore left the game for good with 7:52 left in the second half with 28 points to Louisville's 27.
For her efforts, which included averages of 19.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game, Moore was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
"Somebody like Maya just kind of makes plays and does things that just take the life out of the other team," Auriemma said. "Some players inspire their teammates. She inspires her teammates and at the same time she takes the life completely out of the other team. And that's a unique individual that we're dealing with."
Center Tina Charles turned in a dominating performance of her own, with 21 points and 15 rebounds. Charles scored in double digits in each of UConn's three games in the tournament and averaged 17.3 points and 10 rebounds per game during the tournament.
It was "just posting up hard, just doing things that coach always, you know, elaborates on with post players," Charles said. "Just keep posting hard, rebound and getting on the offensive boards."
As was the case during the first three games of the tournament for UConn, the Huskies' defense shut down the opposing team for long stretches of the game. For the second time in three games, the Huskies held their opponents to under 30 percent shooting for the entire game. The Huskies held the Cardinals scoreless during the first eight minutes of the second half as they pulled away, upping their lead to 65-24 during that span.
"I said it to the team in the locker room, I said, 'One of the things I'm proudest of is that all the big games that we've had to play this year, our defense has really been solid - it's been really good,'" Auriemma said. "And these three games have been no exception."
McCoughtry was frustrated all night, held to just nine points on 3-of-16 shooting. No Louisville player scored 10 or more points in the game.
"We had some good shots early, we had some really good shots that did not fall for us," said Louisville coach Jeff Walz. "It's like I explained to our kids, when you get some layups, you have to make them. When you play a team like this, they make theirs."
The Huskies' defense keyed in on McCoughtry, who came into the game leading the Cardinals with 24 points per game, all game and held her without a single point in the second half as UConn continued to pull away, leading by as many as 43 points.
"They were just everywhere," McCoughtry said. "Everywhere you went they had somebody there. They were very active and aggressive. That's the type of defense you need to win championships."
The Huskies led by as many as 31 points in the first half, before the Cardinals closed the half on a 5-0 run with 2:11 left in the half to pull the score to 50-24 entering the break. The 39-point blowout was three points shy of the biggest ever in the championship game, set in 2002 when the Huskies beat Boston College by 42 points, 96-54.
2009 Big East All-Tournament Team
Angel McCoughtry - Forward, Louisville
Tina Charles - Center, UConn
Candyce Bingham - Forward, Louisville
Kalana Greene - Guard, UConn
Shavonte Zellous - Guard, Pittsburgh
2009 Big East Championship Most Outstanding Player
Maya Moore - Forward, UConn
Moore turned in a dominating 28-point performance that propelled the Huskies to a 75-36 rout of the Cardinals as the Huskies won their 15th Big East Championship in front of 10,030 at the XL Center.
It was the fourth Big East Championship in the last five seasons and the 15th overall for UConn (33-0). Their only loss in the title game during that span was a 55-47 loss to Rutgers in the 2007 finals. This also marks the second straight year that the Huskies have won both the Big East Regular Season and Championship titles in the same season. After the game, the Huskies soaked in the applause from the XL Center crowd as the team received the championship trophy.
"I loved the way they celebrated it tonight," said UConn coach Geno Auriemma. "Because they're not taking it for granted. They had a great time celebrating it."
For the Cardinals (29-4), it was the second straight year that the team finished runner-up to the Huskies in the Big East Championship.
Moore, the 2009 Big East Regular Season Player of the Year, torched the Cardinals in the first half, scoring 19 points and hitting four 3-pointers. Her total of 28 was the most in the Big East Championship's title game since 1995 when Kara Wolters scored 32 against Seton Hall. Moore credited the team's defense, which has held opponents to 40 points per game over the span of the tournament, for getting her the opportunities to put up the shots that she did.
"I was just trying to stay active, try to keep moving and be aggressive and my shots will follow that," Moore said.
Five-and-a-half minutes into the second half, Moore, who was being guarded one-on-one by Angel McCoughtry, blew past the Louisville forward to her right and sank the running layup. That basket pushed the score to 59-24 and gave her a total number of points equal to that of the entire Louisville team up to that point. A 3-pointer from the top of the arc a few minutes later made the score Maya Moore 27, Louisville 25. Moore left the game for good with 7:52 left in the second half with 28 points to Louisville's 27.
For her efforts, which included averages of 19.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game, Moore was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
"Somebody like Maya just kind of makes plays and does things that just take the life out of the other team," Auriemma said. "Some players inspire their teammates. She inspires her teammates and at the same time she takes the life completely out of the other team. And that's a unique individual that we're dealing with."
Center Tina Charles turned in a dominating performance of her own, with 21 points and 15 rebounds. Charles scored in double digits in each of UConn's three games in the tournament and averaged 17.3 points and 10 rebounds per game during the tournament.
It was "just posting up hard, just doing things that coach always, you know, elaborates on with post players," Charles said. "Just keep posting hard, rebound and getting on the offensive boards."
As was the case during the first three games of the tournament for UConn, the Huskies' defense shut down the opposing team for long stretches of the game. For the second time in three games, the Huskies held their opponents to under 30 percent shooting for the entire game. The Huskies held the Cardinals scoreless during the first eight minutes of the second half as they pulled away, upping their lead to 65-24 during that span.
"I said it to the team in the locker room, I said, 'One of the things I'm proudest of is that all the big games that we've had to play this year, our defense has really been solid - it's been really good,'" Auriemma said. "And these three games have been no exception."
McCoughtry was frustrated all night, held to just nine points on 3-of-16 shooting. No Louisville player scored 10 or more points in the game.
"We had some good shots early, we had some really good shots that did not fall for us," said Louisville coach Jeff Walz. "It's like I explained to our kids, when you get some layups, you have to make them. When you play a team like this, they make theirs."
The Huskies' defense keyed in on McCoughtry, who came into the game leading the Cardinals with 24 points per game, all game and held her without a single point in the second half as UConn continued to pull away, leading by as many as 43 points.
"They were just everywhere," McCoughtry said. "Everywhere you went they had somebody there. They were very active and aggressive. That's the type of defense you need to win championships."
The Huskies led by as many as 31 points in the first half, before the Cardinals closed the half on a 5-0 run with 2:11 left in the half to pull the score to 50-24 entering the break. The 39-point blowout was three points shy of the biggest ever in the championship game, set in 2002 when the Huskies beat Boston College by 42 points, 96-54.
2009 Big East All-Tournament Team
Angel McCoughtry - Forward, Louisville
Tina Charles - Center, UConn
Candyce Bingham - Forward, Louisville
Kalana Greene - Guard, UConn
Shavonte Zellous - Guard, Pittsburgh
2009 Big East Championship Most Outstanding Player
Maya Moore - Forward, UConn
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
BR CLINTON
posted 3/11/09 @ 8:12 AM EST
I cant believe Renee M is not on the first team .
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