Without Jalen Adams, UConn Drops Conference Opener to Houston, 62-46
HARTFORD – UConn opened conference play with a thud Wednesday afternoon, falling to Houston 62-46 in front of 11,538 fans at the XL Center.
Rob Gray scored 20 points and the Cougars (10-3, 1-0 AAC) shot 52.2 percent for the game to dominate the Huskies (5-7, 0-1). Danrad Knowles and Damyean Dotson each added 10 for Houston, which has won two straight and three of four against the Huskies.
Freshman guard Christian Vital scored 15 points, while Rodney Purvis and freshman Vance Jackson each added 12 for UConn, which played without point guard Jalen Adams (concussion).
“Obviously, Kevin (Ollie’s) team missed Jalen Adams – he’s one of the best point guards in our league,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said.
The Huskies never led in the game, and after tying it 5-5 on two foul shots from Kentan Facey at 17:22 of the first half, the Cougars decided the game with a 31-7 spurt up to the break.
The Huskies’ scoring in a 36-12 first half was their worst output since trailing UMass 30-9 at the break on Dec. 9, 2002 when Jim Calhoun was the coach.
WHAT WENT RIGHT
Nothing! - Kevin Ollie was not in the mood to find silver linings in a blowout loss, and there really were none. The Huskies failed to show up in the first, got buried by 11-0 and 15-0 Houston runs. UConn’s staple – tough defense – never surfaced and the front court – which played well the last two games – was a bust. Facey, Amida Brimah and Steve Enoch combined for seven points as UConn was outscored 26-12 in the paint.
Ollie: “First half was a bad shooting half and we just couldn’t make shots. … I felt the defensive effort wasn’t there. We have to get back to the drawing board, keep people in front of us on defense. But that is the first game that I thought we didn’t have any enthusiasm on the defensive end. Effort and attention to detail wasn’t there because there were way too many blow bys.”
Christian Vital: “I thought my teammates and I could have done better today.”
WHAT NEEDS WORK
Big Men, Little Effort: The last two games Ollie was singing the praises of the Husky front line (67 points), but Brimah, Enoch and Facey (team-high seven rebounds) were non-factors with a combined seven points and no blocks. It’s the second time this season (Ohio State) that UConn has failed to record a block. Brimah battled foul trouble all game and Houston was success in working around the 7-footer when he was on the floor for all of 14 minutes.
Kelvin Sampson: “Our rule today is we did an edit on just how many shots Brimah blocked. I think I scared the bejesus out of them from going in and shooting over him.”
Ollie: “They were doubling every time we got the ball inside, so I think that’s going to be the game plan. When they double, our bigs were turning the ball over and just not doing the things we need to in those situations.”
Weak Defense: The Huskies have shined on defense even when they have struggled to score, but the group couldn’t stop anyone – especially in the first half.
Vital: “(Being short-handed) shouldn’t hurt our defense. I just don’t think we were able to get stops. The last few games we held teams to 30, 36 percent shooting and today they were up above 50 percent. That’s a big reason why we lost.”
NOTES – Adams missed the first game of his career at UConn due to a concussion, which he suffered last Friday against Auburn. Adams is in the school’s concussion protocol and is game-to-game … Juwan Durham played despite sitting out Tuesday’s practice due to the flu. … Red-shirt sophomore Terry Larrier (knee) was not on the UConn bench. He’s out for the season. … UConn plays Saturday at Tulsa and Jan. 5 at Memphis before returning home to face Central Florida (Jan. 9, Gampel Pavilion). … Calhoun and former assistant coach Howie Dickenman attended the game.