UCONN raised their record to 2-0 with a 78-66 win over Wagner last night at the on-campus Gampel Pavillion. The frontcourt came to life and Freshmen Deandre Daniels and Andre Drummond showed flashes of why they were the #10 and #2 ranked recruits in the country. Despite this, in what I think will be a season long trend more than 1/2 the points came from the Huskies talented back-court of Sophomores Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier. It was clear that between last Friday's win over Columbia and last night the Husky brain trust has the team working on getting the ball inside more; there were more shots inside but still I am sure Calhoun wants more points from his very big, strong and talented front court.
The Huskies pulled away about 12 minutes into the game and their lead varied from between 10-17 points although Wagner, coached by Danny and Bobby Hurley ( The former Duke pt. guard who led the Blue Devils to 2 National Championships back in their glory days). Oriaki, Drummond and Daniels were more active on offense and had 8,11, and 8 pts respectively. Drummond showed some flashes of awesome speed and strength and why he will be a force. Daniels hit 2 threes and think is one of those players who will be able to come off the bench and score points in a hurry. I continue to really like the improvement in Tyler Olander; the local E.O. Smith product is an excellent interior passer, good shooter and has fine court sense.
However, the big points came from Lamb and Shabazz; despite an off shooting night, Lamb had 20 and Napier, looking sensational in the early going added 21 with 2 treys. The Huskies appear to be on track as they garner the early season wins prior to Big East play. Great interview with Calhoun before the game on SNY. He looks more relaxed and healthy than I have seen him in five years. Also, there is a great article about the UCONN defensive philosophy in this weeks Sports Illustrated College Basketball Issue where the Huskies are also ranked 4th.
You heard it here first.
Steve
So Steve, I guess I'm the first follower this season. Does that give me any latitude for touting my Bisons? While we lost our first game at Minnesota, we were up by 5 with 6 minutes to go when they closed with a 22-5 run. Tonight we play #7 Vandy & next week we play Syracuse, all on the road, so we don't start out with any patsies. I watched the Huiskies last night & while a win is a win, I wasn't impressed wth the performance against a pretty bad Wagner team.
ReplyDeleteMike, congratulations on being the first follower. That's quite a schedule for Bucknell.
ReplyDeleteI understand what you're saying about the game against Wagner but i would not make too much of it. First of all some of these small NY area teams are pretty good and scrappy. Second Calhoun was experimenting with his line-up and often better teams play down to the competition. Duke beat Belmont by 1 in their opener and UNC, Pitt, Kentucky also had close wins. By late December, Drummond and Daniels will be adding a lot more to the team.
Steve