University of Connecticut Athletics
Gordon Notches Triple-Double to Lead Huskies Over Iona
12/20/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
HARTFORD, CT (December 20, 2003) -- Ben Gordon notched the first triple-double in his career and Denham Brown matched his career high with 22 points as top-ranked Connecticut drubbed Iona, 104-54, before a sellout crowd of 16,294 at the Hartford Civic Center Saturday afternoon.
The win, the Huskies’ fifth in a row, improves UConn record on the season to 8-1. The Gaels fall to 2-5.
Gordon hit a three-pointer for the first points of the game and the Huskies were never headed in a game they dominated from start to finish. Gordon finished the game with 17 points, and career-best totals of 16 rebounds and 11 assists in a virtuoso performance. He added five steals for good measure. Gordon had plenty of company among teammates who had big games against the Gaels. Brown tied his career-high by nailing a career-best six three pointers, while junior center Emeka Okafor had a season-high 24 points to go along with 10 rebounds. His figures generated the 33rd double-double of his illustrious UConn career. Freshman Charlie Villanueva continued to put up big stats by registering the first double-double of his career, with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore guard Rashad Anderson came off the bench to score 15 points on five three-pointers. Senior point guard Taliek Brown had six points, seven assists and committed only one turnover. Okafor added six blocks, giving him 39 in eight games this season, a 4.9 per game average.
The Huskies were never seriously threatened in the game, leading 49-28 at the half. They finished shooting 51% (38 of 75) from the field while holding Iona to just 29% (22 of 75) shooting. They made a season-best 14 three-pointers in 28 attempts and scored 31 points off of 23 Gael turnovers. UConn was very unselfish throughout the contest, amassing 27 assists on 38 made field goals.
The Huskies will take the next week off for the Christmas holiday, returning to action next Sunday, December 28, when they entertain Ball State at the Hartford Civic Center. Tip-off is slated for 2:00 p.m. and the game will be televised locally by WTXX-TV 20.
POST GAME QUOTES
UConn Head Coach Jim Calhoun
My fears of us not being on top of our game – particularly defensively – went awry. I thought that the three guys outside, and then later Emeka – Denham, Taliek and Ben – just suffocated Iona, which eventually led to easy baskets for us. And they did a great job on DeShaun Williams who had scored points against us before when he played at Syracuse. I was really happy. We are getting better defensively, and that’s what we continue to practice. I don’t try to take the score and look at it that way. I take 29 percent….That’s the third team in a row that we’ve held under 30 percent. It’s hard to do that in a game.
We ran well. When we scheduled Iona, Jeff’s teams have always been very competitive. I thought we really just beat them up, defensively, and really discouraged them a great deal because they couldn’t get good shots off. Every they tried to spin to the middle, we had people there waiting for them. I think that that’s a great sign for us.
Overall, it’s a good way for us to go on our break. Hopefully, the bangs and bruises we have will be better when we come back. We’ll have 2 ½ days to prepare for Ball State, UMass and then we’re on the road to Houston.
I think we’re getting better. I really believe we’re getting better. We are not selfish. I know it’s easier when you have a 20 or 30 point lead….I’m really happy with the way the kids played. I think that Jeff’s problem – and he knew it coming into the season, when he saw a team with our kind of size – he was going to have problems in the paint. Obviously, they had problems in the paint with us today.
On Ben Gordon
Obviously, I thought Ben was sensational. I think his maturity level, of not really worrying…he really wasn’t worried about his scoring…. Ben had one of his best week’s of practice since coming to UConn and carried it right into the game. He never got looking for shots, and he could have had any shot he wanted to, but instead he deferred to throwing great passes. And his rebounds were just sensational.
On Denham Brown
Denham just broke their backs with the threes. You could tell that they sent three guys at Emeka every time he touched the ball, and then Denham makes his first six threes. That’s very discouraging to play against.
On Taliek Brown
Taliek was much quicker. He really gave us a boost, really fire-powered some things.
Denham Brown
On his good shooting
I’ve had some time to work on my shot.
On if this is a good way to go home for break
Win #8, ranked #1 in the country…that is a great Christmas gift.
On how the people home will react
People are going to congratulate me for being on the #1 team, and for being a successful player on this team. Back home, this is what people expect. That is what I expect of myself…I expect even more from myself.
On Iona
They are a pretty good team. It took us a while to realize the fact that basically this is our game whenever we want it. We said that earlier in the first half. They are slow, so why don’t we pick it up so we can get a good gap going.
Ben Gordon
We continued to run and I think that wore them down as the game went on…It’s good to go into the break with this kind of game for the team. It gives us a lot of confidence so when we get back we kind of have that confidence for our next game.
On it being a good team effort today
I was just happy for everyone: Denham, Charlie, Emeka, Rashad, Taliek. Everyone contributed today and that’s something we need to do throughout the season to be successful and go as far as we can..
On his terrific rebounding game
I just did a good job of staying around the basket, diving for losoe balls, and getting a lot of long rebounds. I just credit my teammates for boxing out, allowing me to get open and get those rebounds…I told Emeka he better watch out because I like getting rebounds now.
On Denham Brown
He was great…He pretty much carried us on his back. While other guys rebounded and played defense, he just carried the offensive load.
He’s a warrior. He’s out there playing through injuries and not complaining about it or anything. When we get him back 100%, he’s one of the best point guards in the country…He’s the best fast-break point guard I’ve played with and I’ve seen in a while. When he’s in the game, he sparks us. He gets our fast-break running and he’s our general out there.
Can you assess where the team is right now?
We’re pretty happy because over the last couple of games we’ve been getting better in certain aspects, like defense, our cohesiveness, and playing together as a team. Hopefully we can build off that and continue to do those things as the season progresses.
On the Holiday break
It can be good, but it can also hurt us too – if guys go home and don’t do anything over the 4 or 5 days…I’m definitely going to work out so I don’t get out of shape or lose my edge.
Emeka Okafor
On Ben Gordon’s rebounding performance
He was kind of greedy. He was trying to do everything. It’s alright, though, I’ll get him next game. He was just possessed today. He just came out making assists, grabbing rebounds. At times it wasn’t like I was even needed. At times I just wanted to watch him do his thing.
How did your back feel?
I felt alright. No pain. It felt good. The pain part is gone right now. Now I’m just building the strength back up. It started to get kind of tired.
Can you assess where the team is right now?
So far, so good. Today, everybody did a little of everything. Everybody was out there having fun. Everybody was relaxed. We were into it. The crowd was into it. Hopefully we can keep it up and keep on building.
There have been only 5 triple doubles in UConn history and you and Ben have two of them
There’s more coming. It’s early in the season.
Taliek Brown
Good way to go into the break?
Definitely. We wanted to come in with a good positive attitude. This is a great gift to go home with…That we are working hard and getting better every game.
I’m just out there having fun, it’s exciting. My injuries are slowing up, they still bother me here and there, but I’m just out there playing. I’m bringing a lot more energy since I’m not that hurt any more.
On his plans for the holiday
Go home and chill out with my family. Chill with my little son. When you have kids it is good to see them get gifts to open….I’m too old for that now, so it is great to see the smiles on their face.
I think it was real good for us…get us going before the holidays and showing that we’re working hard and improving every single game.
On Ben
I don’t know what he ate today. He was getting rebounds and everything…we were calling him Wilt Chamberlain at half time.
Iona Head Coach Jeff Ruland
I’d just like to congratulate Coach Calhoun….there is a reason they are #1. I’d like to apologize for our teams’ performance. I know they played hard and tried but they just didn’t believe enough tonight. We’ve got practice tomorrow and we’ll start the process of turning this around.
On Greg Jenkins and his Ben Gordon connection
That’s part of the reason we are up here, was because of his relationship with Ben, and to play the #1 team , get some experience that would help us in the league. I thought he played real well in the first half, didn’t make anything happen in the 2nd half…but he competes…we need more guys like him.
There is a reason why they are both candidates for player of the year. I thought we had a chance in the first half, but we had just too many careless turnovers and it just buried us. I thought it could have been maybe a 4 or 6 point game at halftime if we had any regard at all for the basketball.
When you give up a dunk off of a free throw then you don’t have 5 guys on the floor that are totally focused. That’s something that we’ve had problems with this year.
You try to stop the flow, try different combinations…They are a very good basketball team. I feel bad. We didn’t show how good we are capable of being, but we haven’t shown that all year yet, so we have some work ahead. I still feel like we can be a NCAA (tourney) team. So who knows, maybe we can get on a nice roll again, and maybe have another shot at attending the tournament…stranger things have happened.
