University of Connecticut Athletics
Connecticut 71, Maine 54
12/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 23, 2009
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HARTFORD, Conn. - Connecticut Head Coach Jim Calhoun "We continue to struggle offensively early in games...we turn the ball over, we don't make shots. The good news is the fact that we did rebound a little better today, and in the second half we played exceptional defense.
"I thought Ted's team ran out of gas in the second half. They got to the rim, but when they got to the rim they found us, and we blocked a lot of shots."
"Stanley [Robinson] just kind of laid back a little bit early, but still game up with a 14/12 game."
"Alex [Oriakhi] has got to be better offensively, but it's hard to look away from 14 rebounds."
"Jerome [Dyson], obviously, came up big time when we needed him."
"Kemba [Walker] probably had one of his poorer games of the year. He just couldn't get himself in motion, couldn't get himself connected to the game. We really can't afford that, and neither can Kemba. He's just a great kid - or leader."
"We say `don't let it all happen at one.' And that's exactly what we tried to do."
"The last thing that I wanted to happen, particularly against a good 2-3 zone, with a little bit of size and muscle inside, is to allow ourselves to just make one pass, shot. And we did a lot of that. And we threw the ball away a lot. We're just not really as good on the fast break as we once have been. And this team can be."
"I think Ater [Majok] got a little more comfortable. He looked more like I thought he would look in the first game, where he would get himself into some foul trouble because of his aggressiveness. But I will take that, I think he was a presence in there. He did a nice job on defense, besides blocking shots, he just did a nice job...I was please with the way he got through it."
Jerome Dyson "We have to know that we're going to be having a lot of hard games where we're not going to be able to come out the way we did tonight."
How do you explain your increased production in the second half? "Better shots. They gave me a lot of open shots that I was able to knock down."
Was it tough with Kemba shooting poorly? "Not really. As a team we had a rough time shooting the ball in the first half. He really got Stanley [Robinson] and me going."
"We couldn't play any worse than we did in the first half."
Alex Oriakhi On Ater Majok's second game "He was really motivated during shoot-around. I knew he wasn't going to have the same type of game as last time."
"I'm probably the last scoring option, so I've got to find my role down there which is rebounding and blocking shots."
Maine Head Coach Ted Woodward "I was very pleased with our effort in the first half, and in the second half, as well. We knew this was a game that we couldn't take away everything that they did. We knew we really had to do a great job not allowing them to get to the rim, and really kept some pressure on the basketball."
"I give them a lot of credit. They stepped up in the second half for the second consecutive game. They had enough balance at the arc that's going to carry them where they want to go. From an offensive standpoint, they did a very good job in the second half. Once they made a little run it was going to be very difficult to catch them...I think they're going to be a very good basketball team."
