Russ watches UConn Husky Games, Game 10: Russ channels inner Kemba and finishes with a flourish

By
Russell Steinberg
-

Game 10: March 10, 2011
Big East Quarterfinal
UConn 76 Pittsburgh 74 

To be honest, I originally planned the Kentucky game from Maui for this slot. I wanted to include the game where we really knew Kemba Walker was going to go nuts that season, and that was it. But as today wore on, I thought about it and realized the last few seconds of this game are what come to mind first when we think of Kemba.

I hope you enjoyed my recaps and tweeting today, and more importantly, I hope you had a chance to check out UConnHuskyGames.com. Even if you’ve been there a hundred times, I’m sure there are more games for you to watch. Get to it!

Thank you to TCF and our friends over there. We’re all waiting for your A Dime Back Podcast marathon.

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UConn Starting Lineup:

G. Kemba Walker
G. Jeremy Lamb
F. Roscoe Smith
F. Alex Oriakhi
C. Charles Okwandu

Three game observations:

  • UConn ended the first half on a ridiculous run to erase a double-digit deficit. It was keyed by the defense, particularly from freshmen Shabazz Napier, Tyler Olander (!) and Niels Giffey.
  • We can all agree that Jamal Coombs-McDaniel had one of the most important offensive rebounds in UConn history, right? Watching that final possession (over and over), it becomes clear exactly how tough that was for him. He went up surrounded by four Pitt jerseys, somehow came down with the ball and had the presence of mind to call a timeout. Yay JCM!
  • You gotta love the resiliency of this team. It fell behind by double-digits early to the No. 3 team in the country, came back to take the lead, fell behind again, came back again. And this team was mostly freshmen, a sophomore and Kemba.

Three other observations:

  • Roscoe Smith got his eye all cut up in this game, then left and got eight stitches. I didn’t include a picture because it’s gross.
  • There were actually two buzzer-beaters in this game. Travon Woodall hit a shot for Pitt to end the first half that gave the Panthers the lead back after UConn took it for the first time seconds before.
  • Look how beautiful this shot looks:
    kembawalker2

Russ’s descent to insanity status:

Is it really a descent if I was there all along?

Random artifact from Russ’s room:

Picture of my cousin

IMG_4236

Gratuitous old UConn thing:

Everything on UConnHuskyGames.com. Thanks again, friends!

Final Time of Marathon: 14:52:36

All previous games can be found on our home page at adimeback.com.

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