University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn Begins Exhibition Play with a Win Over Team Nike
11/3/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
STORRS, CT (November 3, 2003) -- Junior shooting guard Ben Gordon (Mt. Vernon, NY) scored 21 points and senior point guard Taliek Brown (Queens, NY) had 14 points and nine assists as top-ranked Connecticut opened up exhibition play with a 96-78 victory over Team Nike before a sellout crowd of 10,167 at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion.
Senior All-America candidate Emeka Okafor (Houston, TX) scored 16 points and sophomore forward Denham Brown (Toronto, ON) added 13. Sophomores Rashad Anderson (Lakeland, FL) and Marcus White (Chicago, IL) had 11 and 10 respectively off the bench.
Freshman forward Charlie Villanueva (Brooklyn, NY) did not play as UConn is working jointly with the NCAA to determine his eligibility status. As a precaution, he was held out tonight’s game.
The Huskies tried to push the pace of the game and to pound the ball inside to take advantage of their height mismatch. They were successful on both counts, reeling off 34 fast break points and amassing 62 points in the paint. UConn won the battle of the boards, 59-41, led by underclassmen White and Josh Boone (Mt. Airy, MD). White had a game-high 14 rebounds, while Boone snagged 12 in his collegiate debut.
The Huskies shot 47% (41 of 88) from the field for the game and dished out 27 assists on their 41 made field goals. Team Nike was held to just 39% shooting (30 of 76).
Wayland White scored 15 to lead five Team Nike players in double figures.
The Huskies will conclude the exhibition portion of their schedule on Thursday, November 13, when they play host to the Beltway Ballers at the Hartford Civic Center. Tip-off is slated for 7:00 p.m.
GAME QUOTES
UConn Head Coach Jim Calhoun
I thought it was one of Sarge’s better teams because their young. I thought that made a difference. I thought between Boschee and Armstead and those guys, they had pretty good guards. Normally, we could wear you out. We almost did in the first half and then we let up with 5 minutes to go and got outscored 14 to 6, which made the game closer than it should have been.
We got some pretty good performances. The second half...we kind of got stuck a little bit, although we still got 96 points on the board. Hopefully down the line, with the addition of Charlie, we can go to the bench a little more.
I was disappointed in Marcus Williams. I thought he was not very good.
I thought Hilton gave us a line from last year. He could have said “Play me more,” and inevitably he would have fouled out in the next minute and 30 seconds based upon his stats, so I couldn’t have played him much more. And I think Hilton is really improved, but unfortunately when the game came tonight, that was close to his line from Texas. I’m disappointed in him and for him because he’s worked hard.
I thought Denham was pretty good. He forced a couple of shots.
Emeka had a very subpar night. He was a jumpshooter and not a rebounder or a shotblocker… Jumpshots aren’t going to do the trick because that takes him out of rebounding position. To end up with 4 rebounds in the game, I told him, is unacceptable.
And Ben was happy because I yelled at Emeka tonight. I want you to know that Ben’s night was made because I yelled at Emeka for the first time in 3 years. I yelled at him pretty good, as a matter of fact, during the game.
Ben was terrific. Taliek was more than terrific.
Josh Boone was a really nice key for us. With Hilton being in foul trouble, both Josh and Marcus – and Marcus continues to amaze – came off the bench and did some special things, rebounding-wise, with 26 between the two of them and 17 points. That’s pretty good production of your bench. Josh, who has missed half of the preseason with injuries, has a chance to be a really, really good player. He’s got great hands, has good feel for the game and takes up space.
I thought Rashad was OK. The problem with him is that he either makes shots or he doesn’t. But he passes the ball a little better tonight.
Overall, I give us a C+. I thought at times – the first 10 minutes – we were brilliant. The last 5 minutes of the first half we were awful. We were semi-brilliant in the second half and then we hit that lull between 12 and 8. At the timeout, Taliek turned to Ben and said “Let’s get it going, the 2 of us.” And Taliek made 4 great, great plays to get us going.
On Charlie Villanueva
We’re doing that for precautionary measures. Hopefully within the next 10 to 15 days we’ll have the completion of the look into him as he went around to a couple of NBA camps, just to make sure that it’s all certified. We decided, because once you know there’s an investigation going, NCAA rules say…it’s your job sit a student athlete down for his own protection. And that’s what we did.
Emeka Okafor
I was working out the kinks, I got a good start and mellowed out. It was our first game, we will go back as a team and work out the kinks. What are the kinks? Holding onto a lead
On the running game: That is coach’s style. That is what he wants, so that is what we’ll do.
Taliek Brown
We played really well in the first half. In the second half we slowed up a bit. We have to keep pushing. We let down a bit. When we play better teams we have to make sure we fix that.
On what to work on? We need to lockup on defense and we need to get all of the loose balls.
On pushing the ball? We wanted a lot of fast break points. We’ve been working on that a lot in practice…getting easy baskets.
Josh Boone
On his 12 rebounds: That is nothing…the big thing is that we won tonight. We let up, but we came back and pushed.
Hopefully I let Coach know that I can come in and play. I was trying to be comfortable out there on the floor.
On the strength of the front court: All of us can play, all have skills, all can run the floor.
On if he looks forward to playing on a team that runs: I love to run. The thing that did it (convinced me to come to Connecticut) was watching practice. That sold it for me.
Marcus White
Those first few minutes off of the bench can make it or break it for you. Just to get into the game here at Connecticut is big. I’ve heard them say that we have 6 or 7 potential future NBA players here on this team. I’m happy to get the opportunity to play.
Ben Gordon
We really stressed our defensive effort and our rebounding tonight.
On the scoring spread out between many players: Coach wanted to see if we could use as many players as we could….everyone contributed. Coach did a good job of bringing a lot of talented players to us…that is going to make us more efficient.
Everyone just has to know their role and we’ll be successful.
