On Wednesday, the No. 13 Huskies (5-1) got back on track with a dominating performance over Boston University at the XL Center.
This Sunday, UConn looks to continue their winning ways against Harvard (6-1) in their first game at Gampel Pavilion since Nov. 17.
For the majority of this season, rebounding has been a consistent weak point for coach Jim Calhoun and the Huskies. But against BU Wednesday, something seemed to click.
UConn outrebounded the Terriers 54-29 for the game in what has been the team's most dominant performance on the glass this season.
"It's pretty nice for a team that hasn't been rebounding to get 54 rebounds," Calhoun said. "I like some of the things we did. We went after loose balls and we rebounded well."
While no one for UConn broke the double-digit mark in rebounds, three players finished with nine rebounds each and Jamal Coombs-McDaniel finished the game with seven boards.
"I think the stat sheet is starting to look a little more normal for us," Calhoun said. "I do understand that BU was down a couple players. But you know what, we played an 0-6 Colgate team and certainly didn't put up the kind of numbers we did tonight."
But despite this, Calhoun knows there's still work to be done.
"I didn't like the way a couple of our big guys didn't finish inside," Calhoun said. "We need a better inside game; Gavin was a spark in the first half but we need more inside."
The Huskies will face a Harvard team that, much like BU, lacks size in the front court. The Crimson's tallest player is Andrew Van Nest who is listed at 6-foot-10, but Van Nest is only averaging two points and 1.6 rebounds in nine minutes of play per game.
Harvard's leading rebounder is 6-foot-3 senior guard Jeremy Lin who is averaging 5.1 rebounds a game to go along with a team high 16 points.
The Crimson comes into Sunday having played two teams that UConn has already faced. In Harvard's second game of the season, they took on William and Mary at home and beat them 87-85 in a triple overtime win. UConn beat William and Mary in the first game of the regular season 75-66. Harvard also recently matched up against BU and beat the Terriers 78-70. The Huskies beat BU 92-64 on Wednesday.
In Wednesday's game, the freshmen saw an increase in minutes and showed Calhoun a few more things that still need to be worked out.
"Coombs didn't play defense but he gave us a spark offensively," Calhoun said. "Darius [Smith] played well defensively but he's got to be more of an offensive threat."
Coombs-McDaniel played 20 minutes against the Terriers and scored a career high 12 points while connecting 7-of-7 from the foul line. Smith played 12 minutes and scored four points to go along with a block.
"We're going to have to stick with it because sometimes the ball doesn't go in as much as it did tonight," Calhoun said. "I'm trying to get us better so we can hopefully play well on Sunday and go into the last game of the semester against Kentucky on Wednesday."
Be the first to comment on this article!