Spring Break
All aboard the blowout train
UConn notches third-biggest victory in tournament history
Kevin Duffy
Issue date: 3/20/09 Section: Sports
Senior forward Jeff Adrien registered 13 points and 16 rebounds and, according to Robinson, "got to all the loose balls," but for the third consecutive game, Adrien struggled to get into an offensive rhythm. He missed his first seven free throw attempts and didn't score until the 2:17 mark of the first half. Adrien finished the game 5-for-13 from the line.
Adrien and Chattanooga forward Nicchaeus Doaks started getting chippy with one another early in the second half, which Adrien said only got the Huskies more amped to deliver the knockout blow.
"They talked a little too much out there," Adrien said. "We can talk back and play basketball, but they couldn't talk back and play basketball. We're just that much better than the guys who were talking."
Adrien and Doaks' one-on-one duel reached a pinnacle at the 9:40 mark of the second half when the 6-foot-7, 235-pound Chattanooga forward blatantly shoved Adrien and tried to provoke a reaction.
"It was a dumb foul on him and everyone in the world saw it and he looked like an idiot," Adrien said. "They're going home and I'm not, so I feel good."
Price added that the Mocs didn't exactly better their situation by talking trash when they were down 40 points.
"Their talking didn't do anything but hurt them, I think," Price said. "It got us a little more fired up."
According to Blaney, UConn played one of its best defensive games of the season, particularly on the perimeter. The Huskies shut down the Mocs' best player, guard Stephen McDowell. McDowell finished with just two points for the game, a season-low, and was blanketed for most of the afternoon by Price, Kemba Walker and Craig Austrie.
Austrie led the Huskies with seven assists and four steals, but struggled shooting the ball once again. He was 0-for-8 from the field and 0-for-6 from 3-point range, which makes him 3-for-27 from long range since UConn's Feb. 14 victory over Seton Hall.
"We're going to need him to make shots, and I'm confident that he will," Price said. "It's hard to make shots in blowouts because you're expected to. That's what I said to him today, I think he just missed a lot of them because he was too wide open."
Adrien and Chattanooga forward Nicchaeus Doaks started getting chippy with one another early in the second half, which Adrien said only got the Huskies more amped to deliver the knockout blow.
"They talked a little too much out there," Adrien said. "We can talk back and play basketball, but they couldn't talk back and play basketball. We're just that much better than the guys who were talking."
Adrien and Doaks' one-on-one duel reached a pinnacle at the 9:40 mark of the second half when the 6-foot-7, 235-pound Chattanooga forward blatantly shoved Adrien and tried to provoke a reaction.
"It was a dumb foul on him and everyone in the world saw it and he looked like an idiot," Adrien said. "They're going home and I'm not, so I feel good."
Price added that the Mocs didn't exactly better their situation by talking trash when they were down 40 points.
"Their talking didn't do anything but hurt them, I think," Price said. "It got us a little more fired up."
According to Blaney, UConn played one of its best defensive games of the season, particularly on the perimeter. The Huskies shut down the Mocs' best player, guard Stephen McDowell. McDowell finished with just two points for the game, a season-low, and was blanketed for most of the afternoon by Price, Kemba Walker and Craig Austrie.
Austrie led the Huskies with seven assists and four steals, but struggled shooting the ball once again. He was 0-for-8 from the field and 0-for-6 from 3-point range, which makes him 3-for-27 from long range since UConn's Feb. 14 victory over Seton Hall.
"We're going to need him to make shots, and I'm confident that he will," Price said. "It's hard to make shots in blowouts because you're expected to. That's what I said to him today, I think he just missed a lot of them because he was too wide open."
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