Huskies aim to change fortunes on road

On Saturday against Texas, the men's basketball team made history, becoming only the second Connecticut basketball team to have ever beaten a No. 1 ranked team.

Three days after the win, No. 19 UConn (13-6, 3-3) is slowly coming back to reality, at least that's what associate head coach George Blaney is trying to have them do.

"We immediately tried to bring them back to Earth," Blaney said. "I told them [Saturday] is something they can remember for the rest of their lives and they should be very proud of it, but that they can throw it all away if they don't come to play Wednesday night."

The Huskies get back to the Big East schedule on Wednesday night, when they travel to the Dunkin Donuts Center to take on Providence at 7 p.m.
With the Texas win behind them, the Huskies know exactly how they have to play against the Friars.

"We have to come out and play Providence the same way we played Texas," said point guard Kemba Walker.

Wednesday's game arguably holds just as much meaning for the team as the Texas game did. To date, the Huskies haven't won a single road game and are 1-2 at neutral sites.

"We haven't got a road win yet, so it will be huge for us to get this win," Walker said.
"This Big East road game has as much a bearing on our season as the win over Texas," Blaney said. "[The team] was right on top of that."

Since playing Texas, players and coaches have both said that practices have been going very well and that the team is bringing more intensity to practice.

The Friars come into Wednesday night having lost their last game in overtime 109-105 to South Florida. In that game, Providence blew a nine-point game with 49 seconds left to play. With a tough loss like that, Walker said his team's intensity needs to be higher than ever.

"Practice went really good yesterday; we came back very intense," Walker said. "Plus [Providence] will be a little lifted the way they lost their game. We know they're gonna come out with a lot of intensity; they're coming off a couple of losses so we're gonna have to match that intensity."

Providence is led by sophomore Jamine Peterson who leads the team in scoring at 17.6 points per game and also leads the team in rebounding with 10.1 boards a game. Marshon Brooks is second on the team in scoring with 15.3 points per game.

Throughout this season, Providence has been a team who's relied heavily on the 3-pointer. According to Blaney, Providence is one of those teams who doesn't hesitate to shoot a 3-pointer, get a rebound and then shoot another 3-pointer on the first pass. The Friars are second in the Big East in 3-pointers with eight a game.

But besides their perimeter shooting, Providence excels in another area that most teams overlook.

"Providence presents the problem of people not understanding how good athletically they are," Blaney said. "They really get up and down the court. They really spread the floor on you, which means you have to come out further to guard them which then leads to easier baskets for Peterson and [Bilal] Dixon and guys inside. While they're a 3-point shooting team, the harder part to guard is them slipping to the rim for dunks."

Against a team who shoots a lot of perimeter shots, the Huskies know they'll need to rely on their defense and rebounding to help spark the offense. 

"We got to play defense for the full 35 seconds," Walker said. "It's gonna be a tough game because they shoot a lot of threes. We're going to have to be patient and play every possession."

Since talking to coach Jim Calhoun on speaker-phone after the Texas win, the team hasn't spoken with their coach, who is on an indefinite medical leave of absence.

As of Tuesday, there was still no timetable for Calhoun's return.

"We never knew a time when he was coming back, and as of now, we still don't know," Walker said. "But of course we're getting worried, but he's a fighter and we know he'll be back shortly."

Despite only being out for a week, Walker admits that Calhoun's absence has seemed much longer than that.

"I know [Calhoun] can't wait to be back with us," Walker said. "It seems like he's been gone for a long time."