After bouncing back from one from the worst season’s in Jim Calhoun’s tenure and re-establishing the program amongst the nation’s elite, the Huskies were shown they’re still a long way from where they need to be Friday.
Poor defense and a lack of direction without their leader, A.J. Price, led to the Huskies falling to San Diego 70-69 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday.
The loss was the first time Calhoun has lost in the first round of the big dance in 15 appearances
Price Injured, To Have MRI
A.J. Price was excited to finally get his first taste of the NCAA Tournament after missing out the opportunity his first three years at UConn because of a medical condition, suspension and the team’s futility.
But his wait was prolonged Friday, as he was forced out of the game after suffering what team officials are calling a sprained left knee at the 9:39 mark in the first half.
Price was scheduled to have an MRI as soon as the game ended, and wasn’t around for post-game interviews.
Details on the injury should materialize in the next few days.
Individul Stats Leaders
Points: UC — Jeff Adrien, 18; SD– Gyno Pomare, 22
Rebounds: UC –Adrien, 12; SD — Rob Jones, 6
Made 3-pointers: UC — Three tied with 3 (Adrien, Jerome Dyson, Doug Wiggins); SD — Brandon Johnson, 4
Blocks: UC — Hasheem Thabeet, 4; SD — Clinton Houston, 2
Steals: UC — Five tied with 1 (Adrien, Robinson, Thabeet, Craig Austrie, Dyson), SD — Three tied with three (Pomare, B. Johnson, De’Jon Jackson)
Assists: UC — Wiggins, 5; SD — Trumaine Johnson, 5
Turnovers: UC — Dyson and Adrien, 4; SD — B. Johnson, 4
Minutes: UC — Robinson, 42; B. Johnson, 45
Team Stats (UConn-San Diego)
Shooting Percentage: 43.1 percent(25-58); 47.7 percent (31-65)
3-point percentage: 50 percent (3-6); 33.3 percent (4-12)
Free Throw Percentage: 80 percent (16-20); 57.1 percent (4-7)
Points in the paint: 42-26
Points off tunrovers: 12-19
Second Chance Points: 15-15
Fast Break Points: 2-0
Bench Points: 21-4
Post-game Quotes (courtesy ASAP Sports):
UConn:COACH JIM CALHOUN: My opening statement is rather simple: You simply saw it, San Diego outplayed us. Our kids did fight back, but we gave up 48%. We’ve given up 38 for the year, and quite frankly for the second consecutive game in tournament play, we didn’t play defense. We did fight hard and came back, and we had a chance, certainly more than a chance, to win the game.
Give credit to San Diego for taking the big lead and then we really started to play hard and get ahead. But even when we got ahead, we gave up a couple easy baskets. Then, of course, Jackson makes a great, great play at the end, and all the credit to him and Coach Grier. They did a terrific job of managing the clock, keeping the tempo where they wanted it to. Quite frankly, won just about every battles on the bench, and on the floor.
I’m proud of the kids the season the kids had. I’m not proud of the ending that we had. But we’ve made great progress from last year’s team. I remember the Duke team, I was there when they were 9 and whatever they were, 20, and next year we were there and they get beat by Eastern Michigan. And maybe it’s going to take us that time to get back to being the team we’re more used to at Connecticut.
But give all the credit to San Diego and Coach Grier. They did a terrific job of fighting us. For most of the game they led us in rebounding until we really played hard in the last 8 or 9 minutes of the game.
Q. Can you just talk about, you lose A.J. early in that game, the responsibilities on everyone else and how you were able to step up and keep things operating offensively.
JEROME DYSON: It was tough. We knew that A.J. primarily just runs our offense for us. It was just something that was kind of devastating for us. Because we really were trying to push the tempo, and he goes out, and we really were kind of stuck there for a minute. Then we had to go in and pick it up where he left off and just try to carry the team from there.
Q. Do you guys think you overlooked maybe a little bit San Diego?
JEFF ADRIEN: I don’t think so. We knew this team beat some good teams this year, like Gonzaga twice, St. Mary’s and Kentucky. I don’t think we overlooked them at all.
Q. Can you just talk about what you were trying to do at the end of regulation and the end of overtime with those two drives and about going to the line.
JEROME DYSON: Coach just told us to get the ball to the basket as quick as we can, and just to go for the two. And we just tried to play defense on the other end. And we were just trying to foul there at the end to get the ball back in our possession and hope they miss free throws.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, gentlemen. Questions for Coach Calhoun.
Q. If you could put in perspective the loss of A.J., and what his injury is as you know it? And he obviously wasn’t able to come back.
COACH JIM CALHOUN: They’re looking into an ACL. Obviously, it was done early in the game and it certainly affected our offense. But it didn’t have a lick to do with our 48% field goal percentage defense. So, therefore, we may have scored more points. There’s that possibility. He is as good a point guard as there is. In my opinion, the best point guard in the Big East. But that’s not the reason we lost the game. We lost the game because we didn’t play very good defense.
But I am really concerned about A.J. I mean, obviously you don’t like to see a kid go down. Particularly with all the things that he’s been through and the comeback he’s made to have something like that happen. I’m sure that in his dreams when he was in ICU or coming out of some of the things that he’s come out of, and then to go down early in an NCAA Tournament game, I feel very badly for him certainly.
Q. What did they do to get the open shots they got when they were building the lead? If you could elaborate on your defensive effort and what they may have done offensively.
COACH JIM CALHOUN: Our defensive effort wasn’t much different than it was against West Virginia, except we started picking up earlier in the second half. But by that time I thought San Diego, what they needed, which is what most teams do need who haven’t played in the tournament, particularly against a team that they feel is from a big time conference, I guess, if you want to use that word, is confidence. And I think we gave them confidence. I don’t think we played up to people. We were trying to stop to get different people, and quite frankly our bench didn’t play very good defense either.
So I think the defensive end of the court, if we could have at least had them feel us physically. They didn’t outwork us, we just didn’t — we just were going on top, underneath screens, on top of screens, at the wrong time. Just did not put a good defensive effort in. And when a team shoots 47% against you and you give up 38% for the year, you kind of know you’re probably going to be in some form of trouble.
I will give our kids credit. It is their first NCAA Tournament game, as it was San Diego’s. And they were down 10 or 11 maybe more, I’m not sure, 13, and came back to go ahead with 5 seconds to go. And we needed 5 seconds of defense, and we had a breakdown and they made a shot.
But I can’t explain the West Virginia game defensively, and I can’t explain this game defensively. Because both teams ended up having, they had more people. I mean, the big kid scored 22 points, and I thought that was really critical in the first half when Hasheem was not playing the kind of defense he’s capable of. And we as a team, in fairness to him, we as a team weren’t playing very good defensively.
Q. I was going to ask you about the problems and challenges of covering Gyno. You know, he got open a lot, I know on pick-and-rolls and things in the first half.
COACH JIM CALHOUN: Yeah, but he didn’t get open in the second half, which shows it’s possible to play him. And that was my concern. My concern was that when you have an hour chalk talk and you walk through everything yesterday at practice, maybe I should have done what Oliver did, and that is throw his team out of practice and we would have won the game. But Oliver Purnell from Clemson.
But my point being that we walked through all that stuff and he’s going to set that screen. And he’s not going to roll to the post, he’s going to step back for his jumpshot. In the second half he couldn’t get it off. In the first half he got it off at will.
So that was disappointing. We prepared for it. Knew it was coming. I thought actually overall we did a pretty good job on Brandon Johnson. He had to take 19 shots to get 18 points. And percentage-wise, that plays well for us. But Gyno, I thought, he was the key player in the game for us because he gave them confidence early when they needed confidence. And we didn’t look like we’re a step behind, and I don’t really have the answer for that.
I haven’t been here since we’ve lost to I think Illinois in 1984, coaching Northeastern. So I don’t know what it’s like to be one and done in the NCAA Tournament. I didn’t expect this year that would happen. Therefore, I can’t explain how you come into a tournament as a 4 seed and I’m just so excited.
We just watched an incredible game before us, Western Kentucky and Drake. An incredible basketball game. Then got beat in a similar sort of fashion, and I don’t know why we weren’t excited to go on the floor. But we didn’t seem to be as excited as we should have been. You’ve got to be excited in this tournament. If you’re excited, I think, the results might have been different.
Once again, Coach Grier did a tremendous, tremendous job. He got his team prepared. They played hard. They eventually controlled tempo when they had the lead. Our kids, that’s when we were the toughest. We stayed in defense for long periods of time. Couple times we left some late buckets because we relaxed with 5 seconds to go on the shot clock. But beyond that I wouldn’t complain on my team defensively in the last five, ten minutes.
Stanley Robinson didn’t lose the game because a kid got a tough shot over him. I would like to have him on him a little closer. But we lost it when the kid went to the rim, and he drove right down to the rim, and Hasheem fouled him. It wasn’t Sheem’s fault, I can give you three or four different reasons why we lost the game. It all comes down mainly to defense. The loss of A.J., we would have put more points on the board. Most likely. We have any ways.
I mean, we were really tenacious in the last ten minutes. Made some mistakes, they made some good plays, and that’s why they should be very proud of not winning the game but how they won it. They won it because they were tough to hang in there and maintain the lead and not come apart. We got ahead, they went back ahead. So give all the credit to San Diego.
Quite frankly, I’m a little bit mystified by the fact we waited until it was ten minutes to go to say, okay, now we’re going to beat you. But you’ve already made San Diego into a different team in the opening tip.
The kid laughed. I don’t know if you noticed; I did. On the opening introductions when the kid went out to shake his hand, the little point guard and looked up at Hasheem, he started laughing. And I saw it as a comical moment. So they were going to try us out. When they tried us out, they didn’t maybe find what they probably expected. In the last ten minutes that’s what they expected. A tough team, and a tough game. But we had given them too much confidence by that time.
Q. How important was the opening of the game? Coach Grier talked about how it gave them belief in the first four, five minutes, how was that?
COACH JIM CALHOUN: I didn’t talk to Coach Grier. But I said to Jeff the exact same thing. We gave them confidence. We made things easy for them. We didn’t take good shots couldn’t get into offense. But particularly we didn’t guard them. We didn’t play really good defense. So they didn’t feel us. They didn’t feel our presence, and that’s everybody.
Had Gyno run off with I think he had 16 or 18 points at halftime. Then to show how defensible it was in the second half, we’re guarding the board and showing, and all of a sudden we did that for the past two days. And then for ten minutes during halftime, we showed all of a sudden we can play. I think Coach Grier is 100% right.
The thing I put on the board, don’t let them think, and don’t let them get a sniff that we’re two equal teams. Whether we are or not, I put that down about a lot of teams. But we allowed them to believe that it wasn’t going to be what everybody said it was going to be. Maybe it became that down the stretch when we took away the lead. But by that time now you take a chance of a kid making a shot like he made, which he should be given all kinds of credit for. And I’m sure he’s going to remember that the rest of his life, as well he should. It’s a hell of a play.
Q. Can you talk about Jerome’s play down the stretch kind of filling in for A.J.?
COACH JIM CALHOUN: I thought that’s the first time we’ve had Jerome back, truly back. I said to you guys it’s a 40-minute season, and unfortunately, we proved that. And we’re going home tomorrow morning. I said I will go to any lengths, you know, not worry about the future during this game and that you might see Jerome Dyson more. And I think Jerome down the stretch was fearless. Those are hard things when you have a lead and a guy is coming at you as hard and physical as Jerome did. Obviously, he was terrific. And that is a Jerome that we certainly would have liked to have had for a lot of games. But this is the first time I’ve seen him. When he got the playing time to great advantage. He’s a good foul shooter, but in the clutch he made six out of six, which shows you a lot more about Jerome Dyson.
Q. You guys had one stated goal in the preseason, which was to get back here and you did. Based on that, maybe it’s too early for this, but I would think you would consider this a successful season. Also can you describe some of the growth you’ve seen from kids you’ll be getting back next year?
COACH JIM CALHOUN: Well, we grew a lot but we didn’t finish the job, so I would rate it as a good season, very good season, but not a terrific season. I really, truly believe that we had an opportunity. I watched the first game, which was one of the better games I’ve ever seen. Just an incredible basketball game. By both teams. I would love to have the opportunity to go against either one of those teams on Sunday and get to Phoenix. I think we were good enough to get to Sunday at least. So I guess I’m very proud of what we did. I’m proud of the fact we won 24 games and were 13-5 in the league. But I’m disappointed down the stretch we weren’t quite the same team that won 10 games in a row and beat some of the best teams in the country. But I am proud we’re back. Now it’s where we go from here.
I saw that Duke team, and I’ll always remember that. The year that Mike had his back situation. Next year they lost in the first round to Eastern Michigan. We beat Eastern Michigan in the next game. And I still remember that. I think a year or two later they won a National Championship. So I’m not predicting any of those kind of things. But what I am saying to you simply is we made great progress from last year. We made terrific progress. I’m just a little disappointed in the last week or two when we haven’t been the team that got to this particular point. That’s disappointing. 47% at this stage of the season with a guy like Hasheem Thabeet in the middle, that shouldn’t be happening.
Otherwise we had a very, very good season, but not a great season because you got to finish off. Just like you got to finish games off and we did during that ten-game win streak, you’ve got to finish off. We had a very good season, but it’s not a great season for us. A great season would have been to get to Phoenix, and then I would have said we’re back on track.
But we’re here. It is what it is. San Diego goes to play on Sunday, and we go back to Storrs, and quite frankly they’ve got more confidence, played better, and they deserve to win. Either team you could say deserved to win. But they built the lead and we had to come back to them, and that probably took something out of us.
Q. You touched upon the fact that you’re not used to the one and done, but does it add to the shock or feeling that this is something you’ve never done either?
COACH JIM CALHOUN: Well, I have done it at Northeastern, but last time was against Illinois. And the year was, I believe, 1985 or ‘86 or something like that. So it’s been 20-something years since this has happened to us. So 15, 16 NCAA Tournaments that we’ve been one and done. It’s not a very good feeling, I can tell you that right now. It certainly, we like to think it wouldn’t happen again. Because quite frankly we’re a 4 seed for a reason of what we accomplished. We didn’t play like a 4 seed, yet we had a very, very good season. Thank you.
San Diego: COACH BILL GRIER: I apologize if I start coughing. I’ve been a little sick. This will I’m sure make me feel a lot better.
You know, I really felt that a big key to this game was how we came out in the opening minutes, whether or not we’d come out aggressive and not be afraid of going at them. I thought our team did a really good job of coming out and executing the game plan that we had put together with them, and being an aggressive team.
You know, I thought being even on the glass at halftime and being able to do the things offensively that we had talked about going into this game was a tremendous effort by them. Certainly we knew in the second half that they were going to turn up the pressure, and they certainly did, but they also turned up the heat with their guards on penetration. And they also did a good job on the glass, and we didn’t handle that as well as we had in the first half.
But this group has been very tough here this last two months. We’ve won a lot of close games, and they know how to win. Even with our two juniors and top scorers out of the lineup, this group found a way to get it done.
You know, I’ve been saying this all year about De’Jon Jackson, he’s the glue guy and he’s a winner. You know, he does the little things that help us win games that don’t necessarily show up in stats. Yet I knew when the ball was in his hands there at the end he was going to make a play to win the game for us and he certainly stepped up and did that.
So just like we drew it up, I guess.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.
Q. Obviously, going up against Thabeet, a guy who is significantly bigger, can you talk about, one, just the banging going on on the inside and how you made your impact on the boards and the scoring?
GYNO POMARE: Yeah, that guy, he’s a beast in there. He’s the biggest guy I’ve ever played against. He’s a great player, great shot blocker. I wish I would find other ways to get me to score and get the ball. We did that. The guards found me on the pick-and-roll. He’s a great player. He’s going to go on to do things next year and the years to come.
Q. Can you walk us through the last play from getting the ball inbounds to taking the shot. Was that your intention when you broke the huddle to go in that direction? And did you have any doubt?
DE’JON JACKSON: Yeah, that’s the way coach drew the play up for me, to come off the double. And while I was under the rim, I think it was Rob who said, he’s coming out the top. I was like dang, ain’t no play, so I was like whatever, I’ll just do it. So I went off the double and saw the opening, and Coach said, just drive it to the right. I drove it to the right, stepped back and it went in.
COACH BILL GRIER: Just like we drew it up.
Q. Did you see the big guy coming when you were going in there for the game-winner? What did you see when you went up?
DE’JON JACKSON: Well, I kind of saw him like dropping, and, like, I was like, I can’t go in there because he’s been blocking everything. So I said, I need to step back. So I needed a step back and that was the play.
Q. For Brandon, you’re on the bench, Gyno’s on the bench, what are you thinking? Who is going to get the ball? Realistically what were you thinking of your chances at that time?
BRANDON JOHNSON: Actually, I thought the game was tied when he hit the shot. I didn’t even get off the bench when he hit it. A lot went through my mind. I was just praying on it. I hoped De’Jon can make the play. I saw it in the huddle, and De’Jon went out there and executed it great.
Q. San Diego teams, whether it’s San Diego State or USD have not been known for winning close games, and never won a NCAA Tournament game before. How did you guys do it? And what is it that makes this team win these close games like the coach said?
GYNO POMARE: Well, we just stuck together and stuck to the plan that coach drew up. We knew if we kept it close we could finish it out. We’ve been doing that the last part of the year. We just really started playing hard and kept the guys off the boards, because those guys are kind of taller and bigger than we are. But just sticking to the plan and doing what we know we can do. We just executed.
BRANDON JOHNSON: Yeah, like Gyno said, just sticking to the plan. Just knowing that we can do it. And believing, Coach talked about us believing. I think our team right now is playing the best ball they ever have. You’ve just got to believe. You go out there with the same confidence you do every game, and you’ve just got to step up and make shots.
DE’JON JACKSON: Yeah, to go along with what Gyno and B.J. said, all that stuff. But also our team is real small. We’ve got big heart. And every time we come on the floor we show it. It’s our heart.
Q. When you’re sitting there on the bench after you foul out, what are you thinking when you see four freshmen teammates on the floor?
GYNO POMARE: I mean, I have faith in our teammates. These guys don’t play like freshmen; they play like seniors. They go out there and play hard. They do what they’re coached to do whether it is set a screen, or Clinton went out there and gave us great minutes on the defensive end. Rob’s being aggressive, Trumaine making great plays out there. Everyone on the court knows they can play, and they played, like De’Jon said, with heart.
Q. Could you describe the feeling and what it is like to make a shot like you made in a game like this? And have you ever made a game-winning, buzzer-beater kind of shot before?
DE’JON JACKSON: Yeah, in high school I did from half court, and it was to go to the championship. But this is on a way bigger stage. So this feeling right now, I can’t even explain right now. It’s like the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life. It’s a good feeling.
Q. Do you think they overlooked you a little bit, UCONN?
BRANDON JOHNSON: No, I saw in the paper a couple of days back where the coach had kind of respected us, our talent. So I think he knew this game was going to be tough. But at the same time, I think some of the players did. I know the coach respected us. But that’s any team.
If you’re UCONN, they’re a historical program. This is our first time in the tournament, we’re young. That’s just a natural attitude to overlook us.
Q. With the minutes that were required of him today, do you think Ginty has earned a scholarship?
GYNO POMARE: I thought that he deserved a scholarship a long time ago back in Kentucky. But that’s not up to me. Devin, he plays hard. He does everything we ask him to do. He’s going to be a player. He’s a great, great player.
BRANDON JOHNSON: Yeah, I believe he needs a scholarship, but if it don’t happen, I’ll try to start a little charity for a scholarship (smiling).
But, yeah, Devin stepped up big in big games this year. He’s done so much. In practice he pushes hard. Even when we’re tired, he keeps going. He’s like a practice All American, really. But he’s just helped us a lot on our team.
Q. What was bugging you at the end there? Were you cramping up? Were your legs shot? You looked like you were fighting it a little bit?
BRANDON JOHNSON: Yeah, I was cramping up. I think both of my legs were just tight. I was trying to fight through it. But I don’t feel it no more. After that shot De’Jon hit, I was cool then (smiling).
Q. And do you think Coach Calhoun knows how to spell your name now?
GYNO POMARE: He might. He might not. Doesn’t matter to me. He’s a big time coach. I respect him. He’s going to do a lot coming in, these next years anyways.
Q. Was there any point where you kind of saw in their eyes that they realized you guys were for real and weren’t going away? That this wasn’t just a little run?
BRANDON JOHNSON: I think the first half. The way they came out, they were kind of cocky. But at the same time, they’re a good ballclub and you’ve got to stay cocky out there and confident in whoever you’re playing. I think that just goes with the game.
I think at halftime they came out a little more aggressive. They started going at us way more. So I think that’s when they realized and they started picking up their game at the same time.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Grier.
Q. Can you talk about Rob Jones in the first half. I think he went in there and looked like he was going to take a shot and kicked it out and came out of the game. Talk about his first half versus his second half and his aggressiveness.
COACH BILL GRIER: Well, I thought that, and he’s played like this in a few games down the stretch, where he comes out and a couple things don’t go his way. He had a silly turnover, then he went over the back when he didn’t need to to pick up his second foul. That is the reason we took him out.
He and I have a love-hate relationship at times. I got on him pretty hard. And to his credit, he responded. I talked to him at halftime about it, about settling down and, you know, we need him to play well in the second half to win this game. We can’t have him out there with a deer-in-the-headlight look. And to his credit, he responded back and really played a great second half for us. And he had — I’ll tell you what, he had a huge basket down the stretch there. Missed his free throw, but that was a huge play.
Q. I know you had a lot on your plate going into your game. Not sure you were aware beforehand that both Gonzaga and St. Mary’s had lost. And if so, what does your victory mean for your conference to be able to keep away from an 0-3 today?
COACH BILL GRIER: Well, I was aware of that. I’m disappointed for both those teams because I have felt certainly all year long that they’re both two of the top 25 teams in the country. But things happen in the tournament, and it’s too bad that they weren’t able to win today for the conference. But they deservedly were in the tournament. I think both of them, the resumes that they put together this year spoke for themselves.
I didn’t feel like there was pressure on us now that they were out. But certainly it’s great for our league that we won, but bigger than that I think it’s great for our university. To never have won a game in the NCAA Tournament, I’m really excited for our university, the community of San Diego.
You know, it’s been great these last couple of weeks to see a city that has so much going on because of the great weather and those kind of things. And it’s tough in southern California to get interest on a regular basis. But to see the buzz that’s been around this campus and this community the last couple of weeks has been unbelievable. Although it’s great for our league, it’s really great for our school. I’m excited for the university.
Q. A.J. Price is a big part of their team. When he went down or looked like he was going to be out for the game, what changes did you make offensively and defensively?
COACH BILL GRIER: We didn’t change anything. And you know, you’re right, he is a big part of their team. I really felt coming in everyone wanted to talk about Thabeet’s size and side and certainly Adrien. And because I was on the staff at Gonzaga so long, I had been on the staff and played him in Maui, so I knew Jeff’s game and his presence inside.
But I think so much attention gets put on their size and things get a little lost, I think, in how quality a player A.J. Price is. I think that kid’s a future pro. His quickness, his decision making, and his ability to score, I think he’s the guy that makes them go. It’s unfortunate that he sprained his ankle, but we didn’t change our game plan.
Q. What did you draw for the final play? And is it a play that you practiced?
COACH BILL GRIER: Well, it is. I wanted it in De’Jon’s hands. And it is kind of a set that we do run. Essentially it’s a clear-out with our two bigs getting opposite and a guy in the corner. I was hoping he could get it to the rim and maybe both their bigs would be concerned about the guy coming off the double. But they were just sitting in the paint, and I’m pretty sure that’s what he saw, and that’s why he went to the step-back. I think it was Robinson that was guarding him. And you get it up over a long, athletic player like him, it’s a heck of a play.
Q. UCONN’s a very physical team, what did you think about the way our guys came out today?
COACH BILL GRIER: I thought we had a great approach. I felt that, like I said in my opening statement, I felt a big key was how we came out the first four minutes of the game. I thought coming in that UCONN would come after us with a haymaker and try to get us on our heels and covered up back in the corner. You know, I kind of used all the boxing analogies with these guys the last couple days, but that we had to come out swinging. We couldn’t cover up. We had to come out swinging.
I think the way we came out and got off to such a good start gave these kids such a belief that they could play with this team and beat them. And that’s really what happened at Kentucky. We got off to a good start there, and I think at the first media timeout you could see it in their eyes that they believed they could beat them. So that was certainly the case today. You know, we executed the things we really wanted to especially early in the game, the way that we had talked about the last few days.
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