A Texas-sized beatdown

PHILADELPHIA - During under 12-minute media timeout, Jim Calhoun got up from his seat and looked for an official to complain to about a traveling call on A.J. Price. After missing Thursday's game against Chattanooga, the UConn coach made his presence known on the sidelines Saturday.

But with or without their Hall of Fame coach on the sideline, the Huskies continued their exceptional play en route to a 92-66 win over Texas A&M.

It wasn't the 56-point beatdown they put on Chattanooga, but nonetheless, the Huskies sent a message.

"Well this should be a message sent, showing we are a good team," Price said. "We've beaten them impressively. But, like I said, it wasn't our goal to come in and try to blow teams out or show anybody up. We just wanted to come out and play as best as we could play, and we've done that these first two games."

Right from the tip-off, the Huskies seemed to have control of the game. Jeff Adrien led the charge with a quick bucket on the Huskies' first possession, and then came down with a block on the first defensive possession. Adrien scored four more points in the Huskies' 10-0 run to start the game.

The Aggies responded with an 8-4 run of their own, bringing the score to 14-8, but that was the closest they would come.

While the Huskies seemed to be firing on all cylinders, Hasheem Thabeet only had a few touches on the offensive end in the first half.

With a few early fouls, Calhoun took out Thabeet after seven minutes of play and gave his center a motivational talk.

"Coach was telling me that we can't afford to have me on the bench," Thabeet said. "He said I needed to be ready to go back in and play at anytime and when I do, I need to go play my best."

In Thabeet's absence, every player who came into the game seemed to have a big impact. Gavin Edwards came in for Thabeet and turned out a six-point first half to go along with several key offensive rebounds that led to second-chance points.

"[Thabeet] is a big part of our defense and offense, our whole team in general because he's a big presence down low," Edwards said. "So I know that when I go in, I have to fill his role and have the same presence as him."

The Huskies used a mix of stifling defense and physical offense to make a 51-33 lead by halftime. Adrien and Price combined for 28 of UConn's points on 11-of-17 shooting.

Coming out of the half, the Aggies seemed to come at the Huskies in offensive spurts, bringing UConn's lead to less than 20 points. But every time it seemed the Aggies were about to make things interesting, Price stepped in.

"Today, there was great leadership from Jeff and A.J.," Thabeet said.

In the first six and a half minutes of the second half, Price scored 11 of UConn's 17 points.

"You know, big-time players step up in big-time games, big-time moments," Price said. "Jeff Adrien, myself today, we both played very big today in a big-time game."

With two minutes to play, Donnell Beverly and Jonathan Mendeldove came into the game taking out Adrien and Stanley Robinson. As the two starters walked to the bench, the UConn fans at the Wachovia Center gave them a standing ovation.

With a minute and a half to go, Scottie Haralson came in for Price and despite the small number of UConn fans at the game, the applause Price received was deafening.

Price ended the game with 27 points, eight assists and five rebounds. Adrien finished the game with 23 points and eight rebounds, while Thabeet ended with six points, four rebounds and two blocks.

"I was in foul trouble," Thabeet said. "I wasn't really frustrated, and we have a lot of good guys behind me who step up. I don't know what A&M was thinking today but Jeff can shoot very well. He was burning them. My individual performance doesn't matter as much as how good the team did."