Huskies Hold Off Eagles

Turning Point

Both teams played a sluggish first half which resulted in a UConn three point lead at the break.

The Eagles quickly fell further behind early in the second half and UConn's lead grew to 11, 51-40, eight minutes into the half. DeAndre Daniels (23 points, 5 rebounds) was the catalyst of the run scoring 6 points during the stretch, while BC went ice cold shooting hitting only one field goal in the first 8:00 of the half.

The Eagles clawed their way back into the game only to see UConn pull away again. With just over 3:00 remaining, Shabazz Napier (20 points) hit a jumper to put his team up six. On BC's next possession, Alex Dragicevich got the ball stolen which led to a fast break layup by Daniels to put UConn back up 7.

BC responded with a little run of its own to make it a ball game in the final minutes. First Lonnie Jackson found Ryan Anderson (22 points 8 rebounds) on a cut to the hoop for a bucket. Then, Olivier Hanlan(19 points) squeezed through the UConn defense to the hoop and got a floater to go down to cut the lead to 68-65. After another defensive stop by the Eagles, Hanlan hit two free throws to bring BC back within one with 43 seconds remaining.

Napier was fouled by Hanlan on the next possession and went to the line for two shots, but only converted one. That gave BC a chance to tie the game or take the lead as it had the ball with 15 seconds left. Coach Donahue got just what he wanted out of a timeout, as Hanlan slipped by Napier and drove to the hoop for an open layup. Daniels came running through the paint to try and alter the shot and just might have, as Hanlan shot a layup hard off the backboard and missed.

Boatright hit two free throws to put UConn up 4 with 9 seconds remaining and the game looked over. Once again, BC just wouldn't go away Hanlan redeemed himself and buried a three to bring BC back within one. Napier hit one of two free throws, which gave BC one last chance to win or tie the game. The Eagles got the play they wanted as Garland Owens caught the ball at half court and quickly got the ball to Jackson. However, Jackson's three point attempt was blocked by Boatright at the buzzer.

What Went Right

BC came in with one of the best offenses in the country and they looked pretty stale most of the night, especially from long range. Overall, BC shot 8-of-26 from three which just wasn't good enough if it expected to knockoff a better team like UConn.

What Went Wrong

This game seemed like an opportunity for Boatright to really light it up. BC came into this game without any success of stopping opposing guards from penetrating to the hoop. It was a minor miracle that the Eagles held Boatright to 9 points, and for that matter, Napier to 6-of-18 shooting from the floor. Some of that had to do with UConn settling for jump shots, which was discouraging

Decisive Matchup

UConn really took care of the ball and didn't allow BC to get any cheap transition hoops. In fact, BC scored only two points off of turnovers the entire game. On the flip side, BC committed 10 turnovers which led to 16 UConn points.

Biggest Surprise

BC had no answer for DeAndre Daniels on the defensive end. Daniels has had very few dominating games like this offensively in his career. Going into this game you would've thought Boatright or Daniels would've carved up the unathletic BC defense.

Three Stars of the Game

1. DeAndre Daniels-Daniels had 23 points and scored in all kinds of ways throughout the game.

2.Shabazz Napier-Napier forced things early and had a pretty shaky 1st half. Napier settled down in the 2nd half through and helped UConn down the stretch.

3.Ryan Boatright- Boatright was a non-factor most of the game. However he came up huge in the final second with two free throws that gave UConn a three point lead, and a blocked shot at the buzzer.