HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Jim Calhoun couldn't wait for last month
to end. He's sad to see this one come to a close.
Connecticut used balanced offense and impressive defense to beat Notre Dame (No. 13 ESPN/USA Today, No. 15 AP) 75-59 Monday night, a huge win for Calhoun's
Huskies in terms of their hopes for an at-large bid to the NCAA
tournament.
|  | | Notre Dame's Harold Swanagan tries to turn the corner on UConn's Caron Butler. The Huskies' win was an important step toward a possible NCAA bid. |
"January made me shiver but February is going to make me smile
a little bit," Calhoun said, referring to the five-game losing
streak in the first month of the year. "Now a 6-2 February with
significant wins over Boston College, Providence and now Notre
Dame. I think we're playing awfully good basketball especially
defensively, even at Syracuse where we lost."
Caron Butler had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Souleymane Wane
added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Huskies (19-9, 8-7 Big
East), who have won four of five and six of eight since snapping
that five-game losing streak.
The win was the fifth this season over a team ranked in the top 50
of the RPI for the Huskies, who finish the regular season Saturday
at Seton Hall.
Calhoun talked to his team about its NCAA chances before the
game.
"I just said simply that sometimes opportunities present
themselves in a kind of funny way," he said. "People would say
this would be a tough final home game but this is a wonderful
opportunity for us. If we want to get to the NCAA tournament we're
better off playing one of the highest-ranked teams in the league
rather than the lowest. You're going to have to win games to get there
anyway and with all that Notre Dame has accomplished this year, we
can, as people have done to us over the years, take some of that
credit by beating them."
Troy Murphy had 17 points on 6-for-14 shooting for the Fighting
Irish (19-7, 11-4), who had already clinched first place in the Big
East West Division. Notre Dame, which entered the game shooting
47.3 percent from the field, finished 22-for-56 against Connecticut
(39.3 percent) and scored their fewest points in a game this
season.
"We couldn't really guard them enough," Notre Dame coach Mike
Brey said. "We weren't playing great offensively or shooting it
well but we couldn't get enough stops to tie it or put game
pressure on them."
Notre Dame got within 55-50 on a free throw by Murphy with 7:50
left, a play that was the fourth foul against Edmund Saunders, who
covered him most of the game.
The Huskies responded with a 7-0 run that featured a hook shot
and a rebound dunk of a missed free throw by Johnnie Selvie. A
3-pointer by Matt Carroll had the Fighting Irish within 64-53 with
4:46 left, but the Huskies scored the next nine points to take
their biggest lead, 73-53 on a tip-in by Wane with 1:57 left.
Selvie finished with 12 points, while Taliek Brown added 11 for
the Huskies and Albert Mouring had 10.
"I think we belong in there," Selvie said of the NCAA
tournament. "We got off to a good start, then we had a little
slump. But we're back on the roll again. We just got to keep it up
and work harder. We picked it up at the end. It's better late than
never."
Ryan Humphrey had 15 points for Notre Dame, which was
outrebounded 44-29.
Murphy felt that his team having already clinched first place
may have affected its play.
"It's not hard to get up for a game like this one, but they had
a lot more riding on this than we did and it showed," he said.
"UConn played out of their minds and guys were hitting shots they
don't normally make."
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ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard
Notre Dame Clubhouse
Connecticut Clubhouse
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Souleymane Wane drains the jumper from the top of the key.
avi: 1046 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Johnnie Selvie follows up Souleymane Wane's missed free throw.
avi: 1162 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Caron Butler makes a hesitation move, then drives the lane for the slam.
avi: 620 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Tony Robertson drives the length of the court and scores the layup.
avi: 792 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Jim Calhoun and Souleymane Wane talk about their upset of Notre Dame.
wav: 891 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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