After defeating Washington last night in the semi-finals of the 2K Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden, the IU men's basketball team will have to survive round two against the Huskies - the Connecticut Huskies, that is - this evening to take home the team's second tournament title in New York City over the past two seasons.
In the night's first game, UConn narrowly took down Boston College in a game much closer than was expected by most. The Huskies led by as many as 11 in the first half but went into the locker room with just a three-point lead, 37-34.
Out of the gates in the second half, the Huskies' stifling defense held Boston College to just six points in the first 7:09 while stretching the team's lead to 11 points, but the Eagles hung around and slowly chipped away at UConn's lead.
With 1:40 left in the game, Boston College had finally gotten it within a single possession (68-65) and got within a single point twice, including with just four second left after Olivier Hanlan nailed a 3-pointer, but a free throw from UConn's Shabazz Napier and a block by Ryan Boatright on Boston College's desperation 3-pointer attempt by Lonnie Jackson at the buzzer sealed the win.
UConn's Deandre Daniels and Napier were UConn's only players in double figures, scoring 23 and 20 points respectively. The duo combined to go 13-for-15 from the charity stripe while amassing just two turnovers in a combined 72 minutes of play.
Even more impressive, as a team, UConn only turned the ball over three times the entire game.
Some notes on UConn's season thus far:
- The Huskies are currently a perfect 5-0 along with the Hoosiers. After a narrow 78-77 opening-night win against Maryland, UConn has cruised to easy victories against Yale, Detroit and Boston University before grinding out a win Thursday night against Boston College.
- UConn leads the all-time series against IU 5-3. The teams last met jan 26, 2008 in Bloomington, where the Hoosiers lost 68-63.
- Napier leads UConn in scoring this season, dishing in 14.8 points per game. The senior guard also leads his squad in rebounds, pulling down 8.4 per game.
Crean on Napier's skills as a rebounding guard: "I can't think of a guard rebounder in recent memory that is like Napier...Whoever is on Napier, you are responsible for him...I can't point to anybody we've played against recently that rebounds the ball like he does."
- This season, Napier has also excelled from beyond the arc, shooting 6-for-10 from outside. As a team, the Huskies shoot 47.8 percent from 3-point range and average making nearly nine outside shots per game. Three players on UConn's roster (Napier, Ryan Boatright and Niels Giffey) have put up at least 10 3-point attempts this season and have made more than half of their attempts.
Crean on UConn's outside shooting presence: "They put all kinds of people on the court that can make baskets, so the rebounding and the points in the paint and the transition defense and all the things that were big tonight are going to be equally as big tomorrow night."
- Tonight's game is set to tipoff at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2 and will be called by John Saunders, Fran Fraschilla and Jeff Goodman on TV and on the IU Radio Network by Don Fischer, Royce Waltman and Joe Smith. The Hoosiers will work to keep Crean's perfect 4-0 record in games played in NYC/Brooklyn since he took over at IU in 2008. Additionally, the Hoosiers will try to add a 58th regular season tournament title to the team's resume.
