Monday, February 20, 2006
No. 1 Huskies Outlast Mountaineers
West Virginia made shots, but Connecticut made more, and as a result, the No. 1-ranked Huskies left the WVU Coliseum with an 81-75 victory Saturday afternoon.
A sellout crowd of 14,684, the ninth largest in Coliseum history, watched as two of the top three teams in the Big East Conference battled back and forth, but the size and inside strength of the Huskies were just too much for the Mountaineers to counter with their perimeter shooting. UConn outrebounded WVU by 20 (39-19) and outscored West Virginia by 18 in the paint (46-28) and by 18 in second chance points (20-2). The Mountaineers never let Connecticut run away and hide, as UConn’s largest lead was eight. And while WVU kept battling, it could never get that big shot to fall or the defensive stop it needed down the stretch. West Virginia had the UConn lead down to one or two a number of times in the last 10 minutes of the game, but each time it was the Huskies that made the big play to give them a little breathing room, and eventually the victory.
Connecticut (23-2/10-2) now moves back into a tie with Villanova for the top spot in the Big East Conference, while WVU (18-7/9-3) falls back into a tie for third with Pitt. UConn and ‘Nova still have a regular season game left against each other, as do the Panthers and Mountaineers.
The Huskies had four players in double figures Saturday, led by Josh Boone, who had 18 points. Hilton Armstrong added 15, and Rudy Gay checked in with a double-double, 14 points and 12 rebounds. Mike Gansey topped four Mountaineers who also scored in double figures, as the senior forward had 25 points. Kevin Pittsnogle had 15, followed by 14 from Jo Herber and 12 from Frank Young.
West Virginia shot 50 percent from the field (28 of 56) and 35.7 percent from three-point range (10 of 28). Connecticut hit 57.9 percent of its field goal attempts (33 of 57) and 38.5 from three (five of 13).
WVU will have a quick turnaround, as it heads to Syracuse for a Big Monday match-up with the Orange
A sellout crowd of 14,684, the ninth largest in Coliseum history, watched as two of the top three teams in the Big East Conference battled back and forth, but the size and inside strength of the Huskies were just too much for the Mountaineers to counter with their perimeter shooting. UConn outrebounded WVU by 20 (39-19) and outscored West Virginia by 18 in the paint (46-28) and by 18 in second chance points (20-2). The Mountaineers never let Connecticut run away and hide, as UConn’s largest lead was eight. And while WVU kept battling, it could never get that big shot to fall or the defensive stop it needed down the stretch. West Virginia had the UConn lead down to one or two a number of times in the last 10 minutes of the game, but each time it was the Huskies that made the big play to give them a little breathing room, and eventually the victory.
Connecticut (23-2/10-2) now moves back into a tie with Villanova for the top spot in the Big East Conference, while WVU (18-7/9-3) falls back into a tie for third with Pitt. UConn and ‘Nova still have a regular season game left against each other, as do the Panthers and Mountaineers.
The Huskies had four players in double figures Saturday, led by Josh Boone, who had 18 points. Hilton Armstrong added 15, and Rudy Gay checked in with a double-double, 14 points and 12 rebounds. Mike Gansey topped four Mountaineers who also scored in double figures, as the senior forward had 25 points. Kevin Pittsnogle had 15, followed by 14 from Jo Herber and 12 from Frank Young.
West Virginia shot 50 percent from the field (28 of 56) and 35.7 percent from three-point range (10 of 28). Connecticut hit 57.9 percent of its field goal attempts (33 of 57) and 38.5 from three (five of 13).
WVU will have a quick turnaround, as it heads to Syracuse for a Big Monday match-up with the Orange
