Huskies win an ugly game in Hartford

HARTFORD -- Monday night Governor Rowland was in attendance at the Hartford Civic Center to promote his newly proposed $1.3 billion UConn budget and also to watch his alma mata Villanova Wildcats play the Huskies.

After the way the two teams played, he may want to reconsider the proposal or at least ask for some of money back.

If not for some Caron Butler free throws in the closing seconds, the teams would have set a league record for futility. The 46-40 score was the second lowest scoring output in Big East history, one point shy of the mark set by Providence and Boston College in 2000.

Despite the poor offensive performance, Huskies' head coach Jim Calhoun was able to take some positives away from the game.

"We've passed a lot of test so far this year," Calhoun said. "Tonight is was that we stayed with something."

It would have been easy for the Huskies to give up early. All season they've played a run-and-gun full court offense and the Wildcats did their best to limit it. On most possessions they held until less than 10 seconds remained on the shot clock to take a shot. It wasn't until the 5:47 mark in the first half that both teams were in double figures.

"It was like somebody put a lid on the basket," Butler said.

Their offensive struggles weren't helped by starting power forward and top low box threat Johnnie Selvie sitting on the sidelines in street clothes. Selvie is out indefinitely with an ankle injury that occurred in practice while diving for a loose ball.

"We missed (Selvie) a lot. He does all the dirty work for us," Butler said.

In his absence Calhoun was forced to play a mixed line-up and gave redshirt freshman Scott Hazelton his first career start. The players that played in place of Selvie came no where near replacing his 12.2 points per game. Shamon Tooles, Mike Hayes and Justin Brown combined for zero points in 30 minutes of play.

Tooles, however, provided a spark off the bench and was almost the perfect player for the griminess transpiring on the court. Tooles tough defense on both the perimeter and down low helped shut down the Wildcats top scorers. Gary Buchanan had only six points, 13 below his season average and Ricky Wright had just six, eight off his average.

"Shamon gave us a great lift off the bench with his defense," Calhoun said. "(Hazelton) could have had 12 points but was a little hesitant."

No one was sure if Selvie would be available Saturday against Boston College. Either way the bench will have to play better especially if Emeka Okafor (five blocks) continues to get into foul trouble as he has the last two games.

Speaking of fouls, the Huskies were again awful from the charity stripe. They were lucky to survive a night when they went just 12-for-23 from the line, including some critical misses down the stretch that helped extend the game for the Wildcats.

Butler, who was otherwise spectacular was just 6-for-10, and Taliek Brown was just 2-for-5, including two misses late in the game. In fact the only player who had a good night from the line was Tony Robertson (2-for-2) who continued to be mired in his offensive funk.

On the plus side for the Huskies, Butler seems to have returned to his All-American level of play. He simply carried the team on his back most of the game on offense. When the team needed a clutch basket, offensive rebound or put back, he was always there.

"It was like playing in a correctional facility the amount of bumps and bruises we got," said Butler who took a nasty elbow from a Villanova player midway through the second half on a tie up, but no foul was called. (Butler was unsure if the gash above his right eyelid would need stitches.)

Butler was also instrumental in the Huskies 15 offensive rebounds in the second half, after they had none in the first half. The offensive rebounding, including Okafor's clutch grab off a Taliek Brown free throw miss in the closing minute helped seal the victory.

Even more important than Butler's reemergence as a dominant player was the Husky defense. They held the Wildacts to 26 percent shooting, including 3-of-16 from three-point range.

"(Okafor) is the only player in the league that can guard his man one-on-one, which allows them to stay on all the guys on the perimeter," Villanova head coach Jay Wright said.

As anyone will tell you, an ugly win is better than a pretty loss. The Huskies had enough grit and determination to will it out last night.

They were able to overcome an unorthodox playing style and the loss of their starting power forward and came out with a win, albeit it ugly. It also can't be overlooked that it was the Huskies' eighth victory in the Big East and it completed a season sweep of Villanova.

Still, Okafor probably said it best after the game.

"I don't care about the score when we win."

No word, however, if Gov. Rowland wants invest any the $1.3 billion into a free throw shooting machine.