UConn 79, West Virginia, 71

A.J. Price had 24 points as No.15 UConn defeated unranked West Virginia 79-71 Saturday at the XL Center.

[johnW]

lets get to the big east tourney!!!!

[gagged]

Joe D on 1080 says UConn has the final say on who does the play-by-play of his radio station's broadcast of basketball games. Do Courant reporters who write up the games have a similar gun at their heads? The writeups have a sameness about them. They read like they were written before hand. Sometimes I wonder if the writer was at the same game I was watching. You can read the box scores and get more info than from a writeup. In Sat.'s game against WVU, the team came apart in the second half. I looked forward to the game writeup for an explanation. No such thing happened on the paper's Web page. I'm hoping Sun.'s printed sports section will tell more. But I'm not betting the farm on that happening.

[Mike]

I am not sure that came apart is a great discription. Lost focus for sure. It has been the only real complaint I have for the last 18 years. The team plays good D. The team runs well. The team plays good half court when it is close. The second that they are up they run that same stale offense were nobody moves. If you are going to run shot clock than you need to move to the ball. Too much dribbling at the top of the key. This was the same with so many other teams that were great in every other way. I remember Kevin Ollie and T. Brown doing the same thing that Austrie and Price were doing in that strech. Put teams away or else it can bite you. I was at the game and when it got close again they again played Uconn basketball.

[twomiler]

I thought UConn put the stamp on the game with its defense in the first half, particularly a 12-possession stretch when West Virginia missed six of eight shots, some forced and off-balance, had one offensive rebound and three turnovers. During that stretch UConn outscored West Va. 16-5 for a 37-21 lead. UConn got lazy in the second half but West Va. never had the lead. ...With Thabeet out in the first half for 14:52 UConn outscored West Va. 34-19. ...Note to gagged: UConn has no say in who covers its teams. The Courant is independent of UConn and at times is criticized for not being a cheerleader. That's not its job.

[Joh Cavanaugh]

I think Mike from Meriden is spot on with his comments.UCONN has over the years run a poor halfcourt set.As he said little movement and too much dribbling have characterized other UCONN teams as well.I would also add poor passing,especially when trying to feed the post,poor offensive post moves and ill advised shots.

Who is to blame.Calhoun of course.Why doesn't he teach it better? Hard to say.He's a great coach.Perhaps it isn't given the priority it needs in practice as compared to defense,pushing the ball and rebounding.Teams of the past were successful in spite of this shortcoming.Great players,perhaps can compensate for the deficiency but this year, A J Price notwithstanding,we don't have such a player.It is probably the thing that limits their chances the most

[Will]

Team looks ready for a quality BET and NCAA tourney run.

[Ernie DiGregorio]

You need to read the game reports on www.InsideCTSports.com . You tend to get a much better (and accurate) accounting of what actually happened during the games.