Body language speaks volumes

Walking off the floor of Gampel Pavilion Friday night, it looked as if Stanley Robinson, Gavin Edwards and the rest of the Huskies had just lost. They didn't - but a closer-than-expected 75-66 win over William and Mary is not what coach Jim Calhoun had in mind.

"We weren't very good tonight," Calhoun said. "We won - it was the only redeeming value."

While the Tribe got no closer than four points in the second half, they stayed within an arms length of the No. 12 team in the country by way of 13 three-pointers - four each from Quinn McDowell and David Schneider.

"That kid [McDowell] is still open I think," Calhoun said.

More disheartening to Calhoun than the lapses in defense was the body language and enthusiasm on the Husky bench while William and Mary were hanging around.

"We didn't really have the spirit on the bench that I would have liked to have seen," Calhoun said. "It was a very lackluster performance."

Yet wasn't always like that. When UConn was up 19-7 early in the first half everyone on the bench was excited. When the Huskies were beating teams by 300 or more points last week in exhibition games everyone was on their feet. When Danny Sumner hit a three at the buzzer to end the first half, UConn walked off the floor stunned.

"I don't think many people who watched the game today thought 'that was the same team I saw last week," Calhoun said. "It was when it was 19-7 and we should have kept doing that, but we didn't."

Sophomore Kemba Walker agreed with his coach's assessment.

"It was a tight game and I think everyone knows our body language sucked," Walker said. "In the future we're going to need the bench to be with us - to give us more energy."

Coombs-McDaniel makes his debut

After sitting out the first two exhibition games while questions over eligibility were being cleared up, highly touted Jamal Coombs-McDaniel made his Husky debut less than four minutes into the game. He contributed while he was in - two points and three rebounds - but he only played six minutes as the game remained close.

Coombs-McDaniel and freshman Alex Oriakhi were teammates in high school.

"We've been playing together since ninth grade so it's always fun playing with him," Oriakhi said.

Oriakhi knows his longtime teammate was disappointed with his performance, but is certain that he is capable of big things.

"I know his spirits are a little down right now, but he can only get better," Oriakhi said.

Along with Coombs-McDaniel, fellow freshmen Darius Smith and Jamaal Trice were called off the bench. Calhoun did not hesitate to get on the newcomers early, which senior Jerome Dyson thinks may have been something they weren't expecting.

"I think this is the first time where the freshman have seen the other side of coach where he just yells at you, and you have to respond," Dyson said.

Up next

The Huskies stay at Gampel Pavilion for their next game, tonight at 9 p.m. against Colgate for the opening round of the NIT Season Tip-Off. The Red Raiders are led by senior Kyle Roemer - who missed all of last season due to injury - but led the team in scoring as a sophomore and was a second-team all Patriot League that same year. This is the first game of 2009 for Colgate.

The quotable Alex Oriakhi

On his team getting more energy:

"If you play a Big East team and it's on ESPN I can't help you if you don't have the fire for that game."