Spring Break
Desert duel in the Sweet 16
Huskies, Boilermakers battle for spot in Elite Eight
Max Jabbonsky
Issue date: 3/26/09 Section: Sports
While the rest of the country has been swept away in an alleged recruiting scandal, Jim Calhoun and the men's basketball team only have one thing on their minds: beating Purdue.
The Huskies and the Boilermakers will take the court at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., tonight in the NCAA West region semifinal at 7:07 p.m. The winner will meet the winner of Thursday night's Memphis-Missouri game Saturday night in the regional final. The winner of that game, of course, advances to next weekend's Final Four in Detroit.
For a team that has fought through more than its fair share of distractions - from Jerome Dyson's season-ending injury to playing without a hospitalized Calhoun in the first round - this just seems to be the latest in a series of issues, none of which have made a negative impact on the players.
"We are just mentally tough," Jeff Adrien said. "It starts with our coach. We don't let stuff like that bother us or whatever. We have been through a lot of ups and downs in our lives and everything. We just know how to block it off. We are mentally tough."
"We just focus on the thing we know how to do, which is play basketball," said A.J. Price, whose 23.5 points per game has led the team in the tournament. "We have come here and are focused on Purdue and take it one game at a time. Everything else is just talk right now."
Despite being regarded as the weakest No. 1 seed by some in the national media, the Huskies have left little doubt in regard to their ability on the court after crushing No. 16 Chattanooga by 56 points in the opening round, and handing Texas A&M a 26-point loss in the field of 32. Now, in the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in the past eight years, they meet the Big 10 champions in what should be their first true test of the tournament.
"They are one of the better teams you face," Calhoun said of the Boilermakers. "I don't know if we have played more united teams in a single style of basketball, which is to come at you for 40 minutes both defensively and offensively."
The Huskies and the Boilermakers will take the court at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., tonight in the NCAA West region semifinal at 7:07 p.m. The winner will meet the winner of Thursday night's Memphis-Missouri game Saturday night in the regional final. The winner of that game, of course, advances to next weekend's Final Four in Detroit.
For a team that has fought through more than its fair share of distractions - from Jerome Dyson's season-ending injury to playing without a hospitalized Calhoun in the first round - this just seems to be the latest in a series of issues, none of which have made a negative impact on the players.
"We are just mentally tough," Jeff Adrien said. "It starts with our coach. We don't let stuff like that bother us or whatever. We have been through a lot of ups and downs in our lives and everything. We just know how to block it off. We are mentally tough."
"We just focus on the thing we know how to do, which is play basketball," said A.J. Price, whose 23.5 points per game has led the team in the tournament. "We have come here and are focused on Purdue and take it one game at a time. Everything else is just talk right now."
Despite being regarded as the weakest No. 1 seed by some in the national media, the Huskies have left little doubt in regard to their ability on the court after crushing No. 16 Chattanooga by 56 points in the opening round, and handing Texas A&M a 26-point loss in the field of 32. Now, in the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in the past eight years, they meet the Big 10 champions in what should be their first true test of the tournament.
"They are one of the better teams you face," Calhoun said of the Boilermakers. "I don't know if we have played more united teams in a single style of basketball, which is to come at you for 40 minutes both defensively and offensively."
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