University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies Cruise Past Louisiana Futures in Exhibition Opener
11/4/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
STORRS, CT – Freshman Denham Brown (Toronto, ONT) scored 21 points in his first collegiate action to pace five teammates in double figures as Connecticut routed Louisiana Futures 132-74 in the exhibition opener before 10,167 at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion.
Brown hit eight of 11 field goals, including a perfect four for four from three-point range as the Huskies shot a blistering 61% (51 of 84) from the field. UConn bolted out to a 63-32 halftime lead behind 13 points from Brown and sophomore Ben Gordon (Mt. Vernon, NY). Also reaching double digits in the opening half were junior point guard Taliek Brown (Queens, NY) and freshman Rashad Anderson (Lakeland, FL), who had 12 and 10 respectively.
Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun was able to substitute freely throughout the game as 10 Huskies saw at least 12 minutes of game action. UConn was able to pound the ball inside against Louisiana, notching 68 points in the paint and raced out to 45 fast break points.
Anderson finished with 19 points off the bench and Gordon added 17. Taliek Brown had 16 and added a game-high eight assists while sophomore center Emeka Okafor (Houston, TX) scored 16 on eight for 10 shooting and blocked 6 shots. Senior Tony Robertson (E. Providence, RI) came off the bench to score 14 and dish out seven assists. UConn outrebounded Louisiana 61-34, paced by freshman forward Hilton Armstrong (Peekskill, NY) who snared nine.
Mark Young led Louisiana with 23 points, while former Husky Nantambu Willingham added nine points and grabbed five rebounds.
The Huskies will conclude the exhibition portion of their 2002-2003 campaign when they play the Harlem Globetrotters on Saturday, November 16 at the Hartford Civic Center. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.
Player Quotes
Tony Robertson
We can just rebound a little bit better, and play a bit better on defense and we’ll be OK.
Everyone is scoring, so that’s good. We’ve got players, we’re real deep, so I think that’s going to work to our advantage.
We are a running team, we are a shooting team, we can shoot real well. We have some good big guys down low, even though we didn’t go to them as much as we should have tonight but I think we can do a lot of things. You never know what to expect with this team out there.
Taliek Brown
Confident with ball? Yeah, I feel real confident in my game right now. Coach is real confident in me and he is putting the ball in my hands and making me be the leader out there.
On Denham Brown…I think he came out on fire, hit some good shots. We got him the ball where he needed to get it. He knocked down some open shots. He came out with plenty of hype and ready to play.
Coach just said to pick it up on defense, keep the enthusiasm up, keep pressuring them, try not to let them in the game.
Denham Brown
Whatever he says, we are just going to do it hard because we want to win a National Championship this year…that’s what everyone is looking forward to.
Ben Gordon
It was good to get out there and play some different competition.
Coach is the most competitive person in Connecticut. He definitely coached us as if it was a real game. He just wanted us to work on the things that we’ve done in practice, and come out here ready to play.
On Denham Brown: The sky is the limit for him. He is only a freshman, I think he is a great addition to our team.
Emeka Okafor
We've been working hard all summer. We'll just take it one game at a time and see how it goes. ..
We scored a lot of points, but we really can't dwell on that. We need to look at the tape, see what we did well and what we did bad, and go back to the workshop.
On the up and down pace
That's the way we play. We got a little tired today – I don't know why – but that will be fixed tomorrow in practice.
On what to work on
Everybody was hitting their shots. We shot real well from the field. I guess our main focus would be just defense. Maybe on the offensive side, better ball movement.
Rashad Anderson
Did you make a conscious effort to show coach what you're capable of?
I just go out there and play, just play natural and let everything else fall into place.
What did you take out of this as a team and as an individual?
Just try to get better. Try to get better every game, every practice, every time I step out on the court I try and get better, as a team and as a player.
Hilton Armstrong
On the playing in front of such a big crowd
Playing in front of a big crowd like that, I was happy about that. I never had that experience before playing in front of that many people. And I had a couple of people I know from back home come up, so that made me even more happy.
Coach Calhoun Quotes
It was good for us to see other people, but I’m not sure the game told me an awful lot. It told me that our perimeter game has improved shooting-wise – we thought that coming in, that we would shoot the ball a little better. In the first half we were 9 for 15 from three, so we shot the ball exceptionally well. In the second half, at times, we really played very good defense and then we kind of let up and let the score dictate how we play, and we just can’t do that…We did try to fast break and we did fast break. Over all, it proved to me that we can beat Louisiana Futures.
On the negative side, I thought we didn’t get enough inside play. We’re going to have to develop an inside game. Guys were open, but we were shooting the ball so well we didn’t throw the ball there. But we’re not going to make jump shots every single night.
On Taliek Brown
I liked Taliek right off the bat getting the break going. I thought that was really good.
On Emeka Okafor
I thought that Emeka had an OK game at best. I thought he blocked some shots after I yelled at him. But he’s capable of more, obviously.
On Denham Brown
He’s a basketball player. The things he does, defensively and offensively, are the things that a junior or senior may do. He’s a very mature player.
On Justin Brown
I thought Justin had his moments. We’re going to need him….There are points during the season that we’re going to need him. Emeka’s going to pick up 2 quick ones and we’re going to need a big guy. I’m trying to have as much patience with Justin because I see every one of his mistakes. I do. Ben can make 6 mistakes and I won’t see any of them. Poor Justin, I see every mistake. It’s one of those things. But he showed some promise today.
On guard play
We are really good in that position.
