Huskies Too Much
March 01, 2008 02:43 PM | General
March 1, 2008
BOX SCORE
HARTFORD, Conn. – A.J. Price scored 24 points and made 5 of 8 3-pointers to lead No. 15 Connecticut to a 79-71 victory over West Virginia Saturday afternoon in Hartford.
 |
||
| West Virginia's Joe Alexander scored a career-high 32 points to go with 10 rebounds in Saturday's 79-71 loss to Connecticut.
AP photo |
Price was one of four double figure scorers for the Huskies, now 23-6, 12-4. Jeff Adrien had 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Craig Austrie and Stanley Robinson scored 12 points each.
After trailing early by six, 10-4, Connecticut used a 25-9 run to take a 10-point lead following a stick-back basket by Gavin Edwards.
UConn led the Mountaineers at halftime 42-29.
“We didn’t do a very good job in the first half and to me it’s kind of similar to Tennessee in that I’m not sure we came out with the idea that we could win,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. “That baffles me. I don’t know why we would come out that tentative.”
Connecticut’s biggest lead was 17 after a Doug Wiggins 3, but West Virginia used a 20-6 run to whittle its deficit down to three, 66-63, with 4:16 remaining.
Joe Alexander and John Flowers keyed the run by combining to score 17 of the 20 points. Alexander finished with a career-high 32 points on 14 of 24 shooting. Alexander also pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds.
“We had a heart-to-heart at halftime because Joe didn’t come out the way Joe needs to come out,” Huggins said. “If we’re going to be a premiere team in this league you have to have a premiere player. I’ve told Joe, I’ve told Joe and honestly I’m getting tired of telling him.
“The great teams that I’ve been associated with had a great player,” Huggins said. “We had a guy that we knew, ‘We’re missing some shots here hop on my back. If there is a rebound, I’ll go get the rebound. We need a stop, I’ll make the play.’ Joe is talented enough to do that.”
Flowers provided a big spark off the bench scoring 9 on 4 of 5 shooting while also grabbing three rebounds.
“John Flowers gave us great minutes in the second half,” Huggins said. “I thought he was the key to us getting back into the game defensively, and I never thought I would be sitting here saying John Flowers was the key to us defensively.”
Once WVU cut Connecticut’s lead to three, the Huskies responded by scoring five straight points to push the lead back to eight, and the lead got back to nine after Austrie’s prayer on the paint went in off the glass.
“They score a couple of times and we had our hands on the ball that we maybe could have got a leak out and get a little closer,” Huggins said.
Connecticut shot 51.1 percent for the game (24 of 47) after shooting 62.5 percent in the first half. The Huskies were 9 of 15 from 3-point distance for 60 percent and also cashed in at the free throw line, making 22 of 29 for 75.9 percent.
“That’s the most talented team in our league – I don’t think there is any question,” Huggins said. “Man for man they are the most talented team in our league and we’re sitting in there saying if we play both halves we win.”
West Virginia was 29 of 70 overall for 41.4 percent and was just 6 of 11 from the line. WVU committed just one second-half turnover and finished the game with five.
The two teams were even on the glass at 34.
Alex Ruoff was the only other West Virginia player to reach double figures with 12, hitting 4 of 8 from behind the arc.
West Virginia is 0-7 in games played at Connecticut and 0-2 in Hartford.
“We’ve got to get our heads up,” Huggins said. “At this point in time honestly it’s not about anybody else but us. If we go do what we’re supposed to do and we win two games then I’m pretty relaxed on selection Sunday.”
The loss drops the Mountaineers to 20-9, 9-7 and sets up a key Big East game on Monday night against Pitt at the WVU Coliseum. Both teams are 9-7 in conference play following Pitt’s come-from-behind win at Syracuse on Saturday.
