University of Connecticut Athletics
Men's Hoop Beats UML in Final Exhibition
11/9/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Box Score [] []
HARTFORD, CONN. (November 9, 2008) -- Junior Jerome Dyson (Bethesda, Md.) scored 18 points to lead four teammates in double figure scoring as the No. 2-nationally ranked University of Connecticut men’s basketball team concluded exhibition play with an 82-63 victory over Massachusetts-Lowell Sunday afternoon before a crowd of 11,113 at the XL Center.
Dyson made six of 11 field goals and made all six of his free throws in bouncing back from a sluggish offensive performance in the Huskies exhibition opener against American International College. He also tied teammate Kemba Walker (Bronx, N.Y.) for game-high assist honors with five. Senior Jeff Adrien (Brookline, Mass.) had a solid game for the Huskies from his power forward position. He scored 13 points (11 after intermission), making six of seven shots and grabbing a game-high eight rebounds. He also took game-high honors with six blocked shots.
A.J. Price (Amityville, N.Y.) had 13 points, four rebounds and three assists, while Walker added 11 points. Hasheem Thabeet (Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania) added 11 points as well.
The Huskies made their first seven shots from the field capped off by a three-pointer by Price to give the Huskies a 17-9 lead five minutes in. Connecticut ended the first half by shooting 68 percent from the field, making 17 of 25 field goals. The Huskies led 46-33, as the River Hawks made six three-pointers to keep things close.
UMass-Lowell actually cut the Connecticut lead to single digits, at 48-39 on a three-pointer by Kyle Caiola early in the second half. Connecticut scored seven of the game’s next nine points to open up a 57-41 lead and the Huskies never led by less than 13 the rest of the way.
The Huskies finished the contest shooting 62 percent from the field, connecting on 29 of 47 field goal attempts. However the Huskies only won the rebounding battle over the smaller River Hawks 32-31, and were able to grab only two offensive rebounds, which led to just one second-chance point.
The River Hawks shot just 32 percent from the field, but did make 12 of 38 three-point attempts. Caiola led UMass-Lowell with 17 points, while Victor Colon added 15 points.
The Huskies will open up the regular season portion of their 2008-2009 season on Friday, November 14 when they entertain Western Carolina at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs. Tip-off is set for 7:30 and the game will be available for on-line viewing at ESPN360.com. The contest can be heard on the stations of the UConn Radio Network.
POST-GAME QUOTES
Connecticut Head Coach Jim Calhoun
Overall, I thought we were better than we were five days ago.
They made threes early, and yet we came out the gate playing defense, which I was really happy with. Sometimes we have to get in to these games. Sometimes the name on the jersey – it certainly doesn’t change my way of thinking, but it changes the kids way of thinking. If you put Louisville across the jersey they would just be more geared up.
On Jeff Adrien-- He played really good defense. He really gave great help-side defense, blocked six shots…. I thought it was one of the better games that he has approached. That’s a leadership role that, really, we haven’t seen all of the time….I thought he was really, really good.
On Jerome Dyson-- He was very good in the sense that he gave the ball up, yet scored 18.
On Kemba Walker-- He has a right to be upset on assist totals, because he gives you the ball. And we had two travels and an offensive charge on what should have been relatively simple plays. I’ll keep looking at playing him and A.J. more together. Kemba is out “push guy.” No question who our push guard is.
On A.J. Price-- Except for the foul line, he’s shooting the ball well. I don’t know where that came from. He’s an 80 percent lifetime shooter and I’m sure he’ll be back.
Overall, I was relatively pleased as you can be in an exhibition game where you come in knowing you have superior talent and size. I thought they scrapped at us and got to some loose balls. We’re going to have to work a little bit harder at that. We’re only five days away now from opening the season, when it does count. Then the rules of the game change a tad.
On having so much depth at guard-- It allows us to go full all out because we know we have people who can come in off the bench and keep that momentum up and that tempo that we’re trying to achieve.
I was shooting it well from the outside but not the foul line. I don’t know what it was today. It was probably a mental thing. Once I missed a couple in a row, I didn’t get it on track. I’ll work on that throughout the week.
What improved today?-- I think we ran much better today. We got the ball off the glass, pushed it quickly, and made good decisions in the open court.
On Kemba Walker’s play-- If I position myself in the right place to score, Kemba will find me. It’s a really good thing to add to our team.
Are you ready to go this season? I’m excited. I’m ready to continue playing right now, start the game tomorrow.
What improved today?-- We’re moving the ball really well. The fast break was better than Wednesday.
This has been a big jump for me – school, time commitment, everything.
