#9 UCONN: 72
SJU: 89


wow...they laid the whooping on UCONN......how big is the game at the Shoe this sunday now? No reason not for a sell out...this is why we are in the BE for games like this. Huge.....gulp

GO Cats!

Hardy leads St. John's over No. 10 Connecticut

Published - Feb 10 2011 09:39PM EST

By JIM O'CONNELL - AP Basketball Writer


(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Connecticut's Kemba Walker, right, shoots over St. John's Justin Brownlee in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011, in New York.

NEW YORK — Dwight Hardy scored a career-high 33 points and St. John's took command in the second half in an 89-72 victory over No. 10 Connecticut on Thursday night, the Red Storm's fourth win over a top-13 team this season at Madison Square Garden.

Hardy was coming off a 32-point effort in a loss to UCLA on Saturday.

D.J. Kennedy matched his season high with 20 points and had 11 rebounds for St. John's (14-9, 6-5 Big East), which added Connecticut to a list that includes then-No. 13 Georgetown, then-No. 9 Notre Dame and then-No. 3 Duke, all of whom are currently in the top 10. The Red Storm are 6-1 at the Garden, their second home court.

The Huskies (18-4, 6-5) had trouble all game with St. John's matchup zone, which trapped ballhandlers repeatedly. They rarely attacked the basket, passing the ball around the perimeter usually settling for a rushed jumper.

The Red Storm closed the first half with two 3-pointers by Hardy and Malik Boothe, the second a 35-footer banker from straight on as the buzzer sounded for a 35-31 lead.

Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun walked on to the court complaining that Boothe walked before he shot. Calhoun was called for a technical foul _ his first of the season _ so St. John's started the second half with two free throws by Hardy, and Kennedy scored on a layup on the ensuing possession.

Dwayne Polee II and Kennedy scored around four missed shots by the Huskies and the Red Storm had a 43-31 lead 2 minutes into the half.

Things got worse for the Huskies who kept missing shots and didn't get back quick enough on defense as the lead grew to 24 points, 69-45, on Hardy's third 3-pointer in a 5-minute span _ and he also had two traditional three-point plays in the run. The 89 points were the most allowed this season by Connecticut.

Roscoe Smith had 16 points to lead Connecticut, which shot 36.9 percent from the field (24 of 65) but more importantly allowed the Red Storm to shoot 48.4 percent (30 of 62), well above the conference-leading 38.3 it entered the game with.

Kemba Walker, second in the league in scoring at 23.2 points per game, had 15 points and was 4 of 16 from the field, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range. Freshman Jeremy Lamb, who averaged 17.1 points on 56.8 percent shooting over the Huskies' last six games, finished with 13 and was 5 of 16 from the field, including 2 of 7 on 3s.

http://www.rr.com/news/topic/article/rr/...onnecticut

Considering they have Depaul, USF, and SH left on the schedule, they're in good position for an NCAA bid. You just can't overlook all the big wins they have, both in terms of quantity and quality.

They have the #1 SOS and they are now up to #19 in the RPI. The win on their court is like the X win...keeps looking better.

Wins on the road at WVU and at home against Duke, Georgetown, ND and now UCONN. Very nice resume.

Biggest issue I see is that with 9 in the L column already and games still to go @ UC, @ Marquette, @ Nova, @ Seton Hall and with Pitt at home, add in the BE tournament and they could have 14 losses by Selection Sunday. That is a bunch. Does 18-14 get them in if they finish 10th or 11th in the BE and go 1-1 in the BE Tourny? I'd say so, but its going to be a closer call than some think.

They were very impressive last night. Hopefully they are not lighting it up from the 3 point line Sunday. The Cats need to bring their A game, play tough defense, take care of the ball and make some shots.

A win Sunday and I think the Cats could be back in the rankings discussion and would go a long way toward a NCAA bid.

Lunardi (or was it Palm) don't remember....said as far as "beef" is concerned St. John's resume is "beefy". He says UC's resume thus far is a lot of sizzle.....he went on to say that if sizzle beats beef twice it would be hard to take beef over sizzle. I think the good news is we both control our destinies and there is no reason UC AND St. John's can't make it in.....the ncaa is going to have to seriously look at taking more than they ever have from one conference (8 from the BE twice) this year....

our job is to keep winning.....let's go Cats!

One thing for sure...we have some HUGE games coming up.

I know a lot of people have questioned why were are in the BE vs CUSA....I submit to all THIS is why....we are 19-5 with games against the likes of St. Johns, Gtown, and UCONN to go!!!!!

Huge game for the Cats on Sun. Hope the team is ready to play. Hope the fans sell this one out. I think we really need this one. Would be great to have a sweep of them on the resume.

I want to see Thomas and Gates camped out in the paint......thomas can be a wrecking ball if he just plays "his" game. There is no reason he can't do what he did vs Depaul every game.

we need to dominate the rest of the season.

Hopefully they talked to Yancy about getting up off his flat feet and moving quicker.

This would be a GREAT time for Dixon to be the Pre-BE Schedule Dixon...how huge would it be if he could start putting up 12-15 a game again.....come on dude we need ya!

For the most part pre-BE Dixon and post-BE Dixon are the same guy. Still brings energy and plays great D. The difference is that the guards he is playing against are also playing great D.

(02-11-2011 06:08 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  For the most part pre-BE Dixon and post-BE Dixon are the same guy. Still brings energy and plays great D. The difference is that the guards he is playing against are also playing great D.

valid point but none the less we need him to find a way....

BE Dixon has shakey confidence in his shot and has missed a lot of nice looks. Not faulting the kid, just stating the facts. I still think he can be a good player for us if he gets his head on straight, and we will need him to step up and score down the stretch.

I don't feel great about the game tomorrow. SJU playing pretty well. UC- not so much.

As I said before, UL is a really bad matchup for Cincinnati. That makes tomorrow's game all the more important.

(02-12-2011 01:20 PM)Coopdaddy67 Wrote:  As I said before, UL is a really bad matchup for Cincinnati. That makes tomorrow's game all the more important.

I don't really see that. Sure, UL can get really hot (like they have been today) and when they do that they are a bad matchup for anyone but our guards are good enough athletes to keep up with them on the perimeter and contests shots.

But clearly UL is a bad matchup for Cuse. They have been them 6 straight and it looks like it will be a 7th. They have horrible intensity on defense right now and it is making UL look better than they are.

(02-12-2011 01:20 PM)Coopdaddy67 Wrote:  As I said before, UL is a really bad matchup for Cincinnati. That makes tomorrow's game all the more important.

They play extremely well on the road too. A double-digit lead is easy to overcome the way they shoot the three and jump the passing lanes with Siva and Knowles. They also do a great job of consistently getting the wide-open look from the corner 3. Mick has never beaten UL at home, correct?

Raise your hand if you thought ND would be this good?

Wow!

They are just toying with USF on the road. Up 69-38 with 5 minutes left.