Bizarro World: UConn Dominates in the Paint

Up was down. Black was white. The UConn Huskies grabbed 50 rebounds and scored 40 points in the paint. Saturday’s 84-61 victory over UCF was a startling display of interior competency from a Husky team that has struggled immensely inside this year.

Freshman center Amida Brimah was the star of the show. After UCF grabbed the first four rebounds of the game, and starting big man Tyler Olander was relocated to the bench, Brimah made his presence immediately known by getting a rare offensive rebound and put-back. It was a sign of things to come. Brimah — though slightly hampered by his typical foul trouble — was phenomenal on both ends of the floor. He finished the game with 20 points and eight rebounds — both career highs — and five blocks.

One beneficiary of Brimah’s great play was senior guard Shabazz Napier, who repeatedly found Brimah down low for easy dunks. Despite a sub-par shooting night (3-10 from the floor), Napier finished with 11 assists. It was a rare instance this year where a teammate stepped up to give Napier some deserved support.

UConn (13-3, 1-2) was clearly the better team on Saturday night and almost every statistic bears that out. The Huskies shot 46% as a team. Napier and guard Ryan Boatright got to the free throw line a combined 15 times. UConn out-rebounded UCF 50-24, and pulled down more offensive rebounds (18-15) for only the second time this season. The Huskies had 14 blocks. UCF only had seven assists.

It was a near dominant performance in which the Huskies did not relent, or become complacent, once they had a lead in the second half. They maintained their focus and their energy and ran UCF out of the gym.

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Notes:

• Phil Nolan had been battling a bad flu for several days recently. Head coach Kevin Ollie said Nolan lost a few pounds fighting the illness. Now recovered, Nolan’s energy was fantastic. Despite Olander getting the start in both halves, Nolan and Brimah earned the bulk of the minutes.
• Lasan Kromah didn’t shoot that well (2-8) but played his typical great defense. Kromah and Niels Giffey frustrated UCF’s best player Isaiah Sykes — who got most of 17 points when the game was out of reach. It’s almost unfortunate that Giffey and Kromah don’t play dissimilar positions so they could be on the court together more. UConn’s defense changes for the better when they’re playing well.
• Ollie made sure to mention freshman Kenton Facey after the game. In three garbage time minutes, Facey grabbed another three rebounds. Ollie cryptically mentioned how Facey is building upon his success in practices and may earn more playing time in the near future.
• Poor Omar Calhoun looks completely broken. Ollie used the relatively uncompetitive game to try to work Calhoun out of his slump — playing him 14 minutes — but it didn’t work. Calhoun, again, didn’t hit a shot, and appears at a loss of confidence. UConn could certainly use him down the stretch, but the poor guy is just lost this season.
• A quick apology to UCF coach Donnie Jones. Following the game, the media gathers in a back room at Gampel where typically the opposing coach arrives, does a brief press conference, then exits as Kevin Ollie comes in. We were notified that Jones would not be coming and the press should go to the UCF locker room if they wanted to interview him. I made a snarky quip on Twitter about Jones “pulling a Pitino” in reference to Louisville coach Rick Pitino deciding last minute that he would not attend the standard press conference in the past. Unbeknownst to me at the time, UConn and UCF had determined that schedule earlier — presumably because of UCF’s travel arrangements. Jones was certainly not blowing off the press. It may seem frivolous, but accuracy is important, and we certainly wouldn’t want UCF writers comparing Kevin Ollie to Rick Pitino. So here we are. Again, my apologies.

Up Next:

The first in a crucial two-game stretch against the AAC elite. UConn will travel to Memphis on Thursday (Jan. 16th) before returning home next weekend for a matchup against Louisville. The Memphis game tips at 7pm and will be on ESPN or ESPN2 — check back later in the week.