Big Minus On Campus

HARTFORD - Herbert Hill stormed through the lane with 1:31 remaining, took a pass from Weyinmi Efejuku and slammed the ball through the rim. Jeff Adrien and Doug Wiggins stood by in bewilderment, unable to do anything to stop him.

That's pretty much the way the entire second half went for the Huskies.

Six of the seven Providence players who made it into the game scored in double figures as the Friars stormed back from a nine point halftime deficit to capture an 84-72 win over UConn Saturday.

The loss was the second time in as many games that the Huskies gave up 50 points in the second half and also marked the first time since the 1996-1997 season that the team has lost three games in a row at home.

"I think the whole total package of the second half was the worst 20 minutes of the year for me, personally, because we didn't do the things we're capable of doing," said head coach Jim Calhoun.

Mental breakdowns, a lack of execution and poor defense were staples of the second half, which was in direct contrast to a more focused and well-planned first half. Calhoun even praised his team after the game for their strong first-half performance against Providence's 2-3 zone, saying the Huskies had the blueprint for how to attack the zone but just threw it away after the break.

"We showed in the first half we could do pretty much whatever we wanted to the zone," said guard A.J. Price, who finished with 8 points and 6 assists. "That was obvious. We knew that. The second half, they didn't change anything, they didn't do anything different. That was us. It was us. We stopped ourselves, and that's what we did tonight."

The Huskies were buoyed in the first half by their perimeter shooting, collectively nailing 7-of-12 3-pointers. But that also changed in the second half with Jerome Dyson, who finished with 10 points and two assists in 31 minutes, sinking the only 3-pointer of 14 second half attempts.

Providence head coach Tim Welsh strongly emphasized the shooting in a rather peaceful halftime discussion, which was surprising given the Friars only shot 37.8 percent from the floor in the first half and scored nearly half of those points in the paint.

"I said, 'You know, listen. I'm an old Division III point guard, but if I went out in my tie tonight, I could knock down a shot probably if I'm standing there with my feet set and nobody near me,' so let's get out to their shooters," Welsh said. "I was just more concerned with that. Those guys can all knock down shots, but we gave them a lot of confidence because there was nobody near them."

UConn was also out-rebounded for just the third time this season, 41-39, which Providence head coach Tim Welsh said was a factor in the Friars' ability to outscore the Huskies in transition.

"They crash the boards really well, and when you do that, you leave yourself susceptible to fast breaks," said Efejuku, who, along with Hill, led all scorers with 19 points. "Once we got the rebounds, we just wanted to outlet it and go."

Not only were the Huskies hampered by a 16-0 Providence run to start the second half, they were held down by a sloppy four-minute stretch later on that saw little to no defense on the UConn end and several uncontested fast breaks, dunks and alley oops from the Friars. Jeff Adrien, who finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 5 assists, said Providence's offensive explosion "felt like a circus."

Adrien notched his 10th double-double of the season and did so while playing a team-high 39 minutes. Stanley Robinson led the team with 13 rebounds and just missed out on his own double-double with 9 points while Marcus Johnson had 7 points and 4 rebounds in 12 minutes. Hasheem Thabeet, who scored just 1 point for the third time this season and blocked 5 shots, picked up 4 fouls in 15 minutes.