|
 But the Huskies now have a great opportunity to get back in the
Top 25 after an 83-73 win over No. 17 Memphis on Thursday night at
the FedEXForum.
Connecticut has a home game against No. 18 Louisville on Saturday.
"Today was a good situation to get our first road kill in the
conference," said Connecticut point guard Shabazz Napier, who had 17
points and 10 assists. "We're not ranked. We don't think we're
better than nobody."
Memphis (12-4, 3-2) led 40-39 at hafltime as the Tigers hit 5-of-8
3-pointers (62.5 percent). Not bad for a team that came in shooting
29 percent from long range.
"I was about ready to kick Glen Miller (associate head coach) for
doing the scouting report wrong," UConn coach Kevin Ollie said.
But in the second half, the Tigers' outside shooting came back to
earth as they made just 2 of 9 3-pointers (22.2 percent) and
ultimately finished 7 of 17 (41.2 percent).
Meantime, the Huskies toughened up and slowed the game down. They
outrebounded the Tigers 20-8 in the second half and 34-27 overall.
The Huskies shot 57.1 percent from the field (32 of 56) and the
Tigers were at 44.3 percent (27 of 61).
"They were the more focused team. They were better than us today,"
Tigers guard Geron Johnson said.
"We wanted it more," said forward DeAndre Daniels, who had 23 points
and a career-best 11 rebounds.
Daniels scored 18 points in the second half and was 9 of 15 from the
floor and 4 of 5 from 3-point range.
"DeAndre's spectacular," Napier said. "He's so talented. Sometimes
he just gets in his way."
The Huskies (14-3, 2-2 AAC) limited Memphis to two fast-break points
on a night when they gave Memphis back-to-back home conference
defeats for the first time since the 2004-2005 season.
"They were not confident (playing a slowdown game)," Napier said of
the Tigers. "They're a super-fast team. You don't want to play their
speed."
Memphis got 16 points from reserve guard Michael Dixon before he
fouled out with 40 seconds to play. Freshman forward Austin Nichols
scored 13. Johnson finished with eight points, six rebounds and
seven assists.
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The score was tied 62-62 with 5:11 to play, but Connecticut
outscored Memphis 21-11 from there. A Daniels 3-pointer with
2:11 to play put the Huskies up 73-65.
Tigers coach Josh Pastner said his coaching staff had stressed
the importance of guarding the 3-point line, but as UConn rolled
to the basket for easy scores, the Memphis defenders strayed as
they tried to stop the drives.
"We got sucked in and didn't take the three out," Pastner said.
"They hit a couple of big shots."
Napier came in as the third-most accurate 3-point shooter in the
conference but suffered through a miserable shooting night,
making 1 of 8 from 3-point range.
"I was so proud of Shabazz for sticking with it" and making
other plays, Ollie said.
Napier said starting conference play with two road losses had
the players questioning themselves, even though earlier in the
year they beat a ranked Florida team.
"We were trying to figure out how good we really are," Napier
said. "Today, we came to play. In that second half, we proved
we're a good team."
But there's little time to enjoy the victory with Louisville
coming to UConn on Saturday.
"We go back home and we know the crowd will be jacked up," Ollie
said. "We can't get lost in this moment."
NOTES: Connecticut's victory over Central Florida last Saturday
was the 1,600th in program history. Dating to 1900-01, UConn
basketball has a record of 1,600-890 for a winning percentage of
.643. ... Entering Thursday night's game, the Huskies led the
American Athletic Conference in 3-point field-goal percentage
(41.4 percent) and blocks (7.2). ... No. 17 Memphis led the AAC
in assists per game (16.6). ... Former UConn player and
ex-Memphis Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay was in attendance. Gay's
Sacramento Kings play in Memphis on Friday night.
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