Pregame injury does not derail Dyson

At 11 a.m. Sunday, Jerome Dyson routinely walked into Gampel Pavilion as he always does on game day.

Wearing a pair of Nike socks in his Jordan flip-flops, Dyson walked through the men's basketball doors, located on the east entrance of Gampel, and got his right foot caught under the door when a piece of metal ripped his big-toe nail completely off.

"I was in a lot of pain," Dyson said. "At first, I didn't know if I was going to be able to play."

"They didn't know if he was going to play, but I said 'he has to play; he's not really that hurt,'" said coach Jim Calhoun.

Dr. Jeff Anderson, UConn's Director of Sports Medicine, stitched Dyson's big-toe nail back onto his foot and gave him a shot to numb the pain.

It obviously worked.

Dyson finished Sunday's game against UMass-Lowell with a game-high 32 points, six assists and four steals in 27 minutes of play. Dyson also finished a perfect 5-of-5 from behind the arc.

"We're going to do the same thing next Friday night by the way," Calhoun joked. "It seems to work. But he shot the hell out of the ball and he did play great."

For Dyson, Sunday was the first game-time action he's seen since going down with a torn lateral meniscus on Feb. 11 against Syracuse - an injury that forced him to miss the remainder of the season.

"Last year, when we were 21-1 with Jerome, I said that he can just go off at anytime," Calhoun said. "In the Michigan State game, we needed someone to go off. Since A.J. [Price] didn't, since Stanley [Robinson] didn't, we needed someone else to go off like Jerome who has the ability to do that, especially in big moments."

In the first game of the 2009-2010 season played at Gampel, Dyson was just happy to be playing - all toe injuries aside.

"It was great to be back out in front of the fans and to get out there with my teammates is something I've been waiting for, for a long time," Dyson said. "I really couldn't put it into words to how excited I was to get out there."

With eight minutes to go in the first half, Dyson led the Huskies on a 13-0 run in which he scored 12 straight points.

Less than two minutes into the second half, Dyson caught the ball on the right wing and drove hard down the middle of the lane, skying up as he cocked back the ball for a thunderous dunk that sent the crowd screaming. It was a typical play that has come to be associated with Dyson's game.

"The show Dyson put on for us; he was just great," said Kemba Walker. "It's great having him out there."

Pressing vs. getting pressed

For the first time this season, UConn got a chance to practice their full-court press break. Several times throughout the game, UMass-Lowell head coach Greg Herenda put his team in a man-to-man and zone press, both of which were helpful for the Huskies.

"I like the fact that they pressed us so we could get used to it," Walker said. "We press in practice, but you know game situations are always different. When they press it gives us an opportunity to run and get some fast-break points."

With quick passes and quick dribbling by the UConn guards, the Huskies scored 32 fast-break points.

"I think it's going to be really tough to press us with Kemba Walker," Calhoun said.

On the defensive side of the ball, Calhoun put on some full-court pressure of his own, forcing turnovers and only allowing two fast-break points.

"The reason we pressed wasn't to increase our 30-point lead, but was to try to get ourselves playing in a tempo and see how well we can do and how we can recover from it," Calhoun said.

With the quickness of Walker, Dyson and freshman Darius Smith, pressing opponents will to be a valuable opportunity to create and force turnovers in the backcourt.

"I think we did a couple of good things in the press," Walker said. "I think our press is going to be effective at certain points in the game and I'm liking our press so far."

The quotable Jim Calhoun:

"Jonathan or Charles - okay, but Jerome?" - in reference to Dyson stubbing his toe and ripping his nail off before the game.