University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn Defeats George Washington, 84-76
12/2/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
WASHINGTON (December 2) - Johnnie Selvie (Sr., Flint, MI) scored 20 points, and Ben Gordon (Fr., Mount Vernon, NY) added 19 in leading the University of Connecticut men’s basketball team past George Washington 84-76 in the BB&T Classic at the MCI Center on Sunday.
With the victory, the Huskies earned a trip into Monday’s championship game against Maryland, who survived a scare from Princeton earlier in the day
“I thought we played about eight good minutes of basketball, and if a team plays 20, it’s a lot,” said UC head coach Jim Calhoun. “For the rest of the time, I thought GW outworked us and the offensive rebounds were a good indication of that. Certainly they lacked some of the size we had. I thought George Washington competed incredibly hard. We could have lost, except for the fact that we made a couple one-minute or two-minute stops. We’re going to need to do an awful lot more work to get ready for Maryland."
The win pushed UConn’s record to 3-0, while GW dropped to 4-3. It was also the first-ever meeting between Calhoun, and first-year GW head coach Karl Hobbs, who was a former Husky player and assistant under Calhoun from 1994-2001.
Caron Butler (So., Racine, WI) reached double figures as he scored 14, while collecting eight rebounds for UConn. Tony Robertson (Junior, E. Providence, RI) chipped in 11 and led the team at the foul line by hitting 6-of-7.
Selvie hit the first two points of the game, finished 10-of-13 from the field and scored 16 of his game-high 20 in the first. UConn never trailed, and took advantage of a 14-6 run to get out to a 22-13 lead midway through the opening half. The Huskies led by as many as 18, but GW cut it to 49-36 at the break.
Late in the game, the lead was eight for the Huskies, but that was as close as GW would make it. Chris Monroe led the Colonials with 27 points and nine rebounds. Ten of Monroe's points came from the foul line, while UConn's defense collapsed on him every time he touched the ball resulting in an 8-for-19 game from the field.
UConn and Maryland will meet at 8 p.m. on Monday night. The Huskies have never lost to the Terrapins in the three previous meetings.
