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November 17, 2008
Hawk's Landing
A few afterthoughts from the University of Hartford’s road game in Hartford:
-- No A.J., no problem. Well, not exactly.
Hartford was only down two points with 14 minutes to play Monday. When the game ended the Hawks were down 43.
No, I didn’t think that was possible (either deficit, really).
"We tried to be physical, we tried to be scrappy," Hartford coach Dan Leibovitz said. "It's really our only chance in a game like this."
His team was, just not for long enough.
-- Craig Austrie was very, very good. The senior from Stamford kept a cool head and a hot hand.
"I wasn't concerned. I was composed out there," Austrie said. "I was just trying to get my guys composed. Yeah, they made their run and we withstood their run. We're the No. 2 team in the country and we have to expect things like that."
Austrie hit a number of mid-range jumpers _ one of the few things the Huskies could do against Hartford’s 1-3-1 zone.
"Austrie must have made three, four, five or six foul-line jumpers," Leibovitz said. "He did a very nice job playing under control."
-- Johnnie Bird’s entrance(s) into the game were notable for two reasons.
The first time the Bridgeport Central grad came onto the court, he was a spite sub. UConn coach Jim Calhoun was mad at Scottie Haralson, and sent Bird into the game to get Haralson.
Bird spent seven seconds of game time on the floor.
Then, late in the game with UConn rolling, Bird re-entered for a little mop-up duty.
He could have given the Huskies an even 100 points, but missed the free throw that followed his fastbreak layup with 35.8 seconds left in the game.
-- Haralson is becoming something of a whipping boy for Calhoun. He’s obviously not playing well.
Haralson hasn’t scored yet in the regular season and is 0-for-6 from the floor. He was 1-for-9 in the preseason.
Calhoun joked that his old whipping boy (Gavin Edwards) loves the new scenario.
"There's one guy exceptionally happy on our team right now. Really happy," Calhoun said. "Gavin Edwards."
There were a few puzzled looks when the coach first said that.
"Because Scott's on the team," Calhoun said. "If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. Instead of getting on Gavin now, I get on Scott. It's Scott's turn. It's Scott's year."
Wow, Haralson must be doing cartwheels. His year? That’s going to be fun!
-- Leibovitz didn’t love the officiating job Mike Kitts, Tony Crisp and Ray Perone did.
"The game was officiated in a manner where it was hard for us to survive," Leibovitz said.
Three Hawks fouled out and two others had four fouls.
-- Former UConn stars Donny Marshall and Donyell Marshall were in attendance and sat behind the bench.
Donyell Marshall’s daughter is now a UConn cheerleader. (It’s his stepdaughter but you still feel old, don’t you?)
-- Leibovitz (who seems like a bright guy and a good coach, by the way) took a playful shot at his team’s hometown newspaper after the game.
As he was finishing up his postgame remarks, the coach found a reason to smile.
"The only other positive is (Tuesday) we'll finally be on the front page of The Courant," Leibovitz said.
- Neill
Posted by Neill on November 17, 2008 10:48 PM
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