Huskies head back to the Garden

It's one of the greatest venues in all of basketball. Madison Square Garden. The Big Apple. New York, New York.

On Wednesday, Nov. 25, coach Jim Calhoun and the Huskies will take to the Garden as they play Louisiana State University in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off. The game is scheduled to tip off at 6 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN2.

The Huskies advanced to the semifinals after a 77-63 win over Colgate and a 76-67 win over Hofstra. Despite winning both games, the Huskies felt that their performances so far have been sub-par.

"I feel like we dig ourselves in a hole every game at the beginning; we don't come out with energy," said freshman Alex Oriakhi. "It takes the second half or it takes us to be down by nine [points] to pick it up. We have to pick it up from the jump and I think that's going to be the difference 'cause we can't do that in New York against LSU and Duke 'cause we'll just get embarrassed - and that can't happen."

In those two games, the Huskies have identified rebounding the basketball as one of their weak spots. UConn out-rebounded a much smaller Colgate team 29-27 but against Hofstra, the Pride out-rebounded the Huskies 43-39. Senior Gavin Edwards said he was surprised at how well both teams rebounded the ball against UConn.

"We're not really playing the way we're supposed to and if you're not playing the way you're supposed to, then it's not just going to get handed to you," Edwards said. "We'll definitely have to rebound. We've been struggling with that the last couple of games."

Against Hofstra, the Huskies found themselves in a nine-point hole with nine minutes to play in the second half. Behind a 23-point game by Jerome Dyson, in which he hit 11 of his final 12 free throws, the Huskies battled back to win the game and punched their ticket to New York.

"We wanted to be in Madison Square Garden," Calhoun said. "That was our goal. And I thought we fought like hell to get there. I'm proud of the way they fought back. I'm not proud of how hard we played."

With more than seven days off from competition, the Huskies head into each practice knowing they need to improve on their defensive sets as well as rebounding the basketball. Working hard in practice is the team's primary focus.

"We're definitely going to have to do a better job when we get to New York," Edwards said. "We're going to work hard this week before we get to Madison Square Garden."

Against LSU, the Huskies will run into Bo Spencer, a 6-foot-2 guard who's been averaging 20.3 points, four assists and four rebounds a game for the Tigers.

In the frontcourt, Storm Warren, a 6-foot-7 power forward, is averaging a double-double with 16.3 points and 11.7 rebounds to go along with two blocks a game.

LSU comes in with a No. 3 rank in the tournament. The winner of the game will play the winner of the Duke-Arizona State matchup in the championship game on Friday Nov. 27 at 5 p.m.

For the Huskies, a trip to Madison Square Garden is always memory-filled, especially with the historic six-overtime loss to Syracuse in the Big East Championship quarterfinals in the Garden last March.

But nonetheless, UConn is excited to be back in New York. "I played there for the Jordan Classic and I can't wait to get back there," Oriakhi said.