St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
No. 8/8 Connecticut
No. 8 Connecticut Too Strong For Red Storm
2/24/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb 24, 2004
By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Connecticut did what the nation's No. 8 team should do against an undermanned opponent. St. John's still gave its home crowd something to cheer about.
Emeka Okafor had a double-double in the first half and Rashad Anderson scored 11 points during a big run to open the second, helping the Huskies beat St. John's 71-53 Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.
"We came to do a job and we did the job," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. "We supposed to dominate and we did, but it just took a little time."
Okafor, who finished with 22 points and 18 rebounds, had 11 of each at halftime for his 18th double-double of the season and the 47th of his career.
"Overall I think we did a decent job," Okafor said. "When we were building that lead in the first half we did some really good things.'
The Huskies (22-5, 10-3 Big East) closed the first half with a 19-6 run to take a 33-16 lead.
The Red Storm (6-18, 1-12) were just 3-for-32 from the field in the half (9.4 percent).
"I don't know if I've ever been involved in a game where a team was held to 9 percent in a half, and we held them," Calhoun said.
Anderson also credited the Huskies' defense.
"That was definitely our defense and us being a better team," he said.
Despite a second-half run that got the building energized, the Red Storm still set a school record for losses in a season.
"I have never been involved in a game where we shot 9 percent and were still somewhat in the game," St. John's coach Kevin Clark said. "UConn is a deep and talented team and Emeka really controls the game on both ends of the floor.
"But I am very proud of the effort of my guys."
Anderson scored 11 points, including three 3-pointers, as the Huskies opened the second half with 17-4 run to go up 50-20 with 14:53 to play.
"I got into a rhythm and they found me," said Anderson, who finished with 17 points. "I was rushing my shot early against their zone. I'm not used to being that wide open."
Daryll Hill scored 21 points for St. John's.
The Red Storm had a run left in them that kept the game from being a major blowout.
Hill scored nine points in a 17-2 spurt that pulled St. John's to 52-37 with 11:39 left. The Red Storm were wearing throwback jerseys like those worn by the 1985 team that went to the Final Four with stars Chris Mullin, Walter Berry and Mark Jackson.
Another sign the stars might have been aligned for a miracle comeback: A fan banked in a shot from halfcourt to win a home entertainment system as the crowd was still roaring from the Red Storm's run.
"In the second half we decided we were going to attack," Clark said.
But Ben Gordon, with two 3s, and Okafor scored all the UConn points in a 10-2 run that restored the margin to 62-39 with 8:12 to go. St. John's got within 15 points one more time, but the Huskies warded off anything more to win for the seventh time in nine games.
"When we got up by 30 we played the scoreboard and that happens. It's a long season," Calhoun said. "I think we did a good job in the first half. We didn't want to bury St. John's, that was not the idea. The idea was to maintain the lead."
Gordon scored 13 points and Taliek Brown had 12 assists for the Huskies, who reached 10 Big East wins for the 14th time in Calhoun's 18 seasons.
Kyle Cuffe had 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Red Storm, who shot 30 percent (21-for-70). St. John's has lost four of five since the trouble in Pittsburgh and is 4-14 since Clark took over on an interim basis for the fired Mike Jarvis in December.
