In a game devoid of suspense, UConn head coach Kevin Ollie found moments to teach. As the Huskies routed Maine (1-7) on Friday night, three freshman notched significant minutes and showed the sparse XL Center crowd a glimpse of the future.
The trio of Amida Brimah, Kenton Facey and Terrence Samuel didn’t dazzle — although Brimah picked up several highlight reel blocks — but they were consistent, and calm. For much of the second half, Samuel ran the point. There were bumps along the way (four turnovers), but also bright spots (four assists) that drew praise from the likes of starting guard Ryan Boatright.
Brimah and Facey each played 18 minutes. Brimah picked up four blocks, delighting the crowd. Facey had a team-high nine rebounds. While Facey looked great, it wasn’t exactly stiff competition.
Brimah is now averaging 3.2 blocks-per-game. For reference, as a freshman, Hasheem Thabeet averaged 3.81 and Emeka Okafor averaged 4.06. The comparisons are inevitable, but it’s fun to look back at how dominant Thabeet and Okafor were, even as youngsters.
Nothing really noteworthy happened in the game. #12 UConn improved to 9-0 on the season. The Huskies won the rebounding battle. Omar Calhoun got his groove back a little — going 5-12 from the floor for 16 points. Ryan Boatright was probably the Huskies’s best player with 17 points, five assists and only one turnover.
Shabazz Napier picked up his usual bizarre assortment of stats — seven points, eight assists, five rebounds and four steals. One of those assists was Napier’s 500th of his career, making him only the second player in UConn history with over 1,300 career points, 500 assists and 400 rebounds. The other is Doron Sheffer, a former teammate of Ollie’s from the mid-90’s.
UConn will take 12 days off for finals, before returning to the XL Center on Wednesday, December 18th for a tough matchup against Stanford.
