Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Connecticut
No. 9 Boston College Falls To UConn, 82-71
February 13, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 13, 2001
By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer
HARTFORD, Conn. - The first shocking noise heard at halftime at the Hartford Civic Center was booing. It was aimed at the Connecticut Huskies as they left the court down 10 points to No. 9 Boston College.
Only Connecticut players and coaches heard the next shock to the ears, as coach Jim Calhoun let his team know what he thought of the way they ended the opening 20 minutes Tuesday night.
Combined, the boos and the verbal challenge led to an about face and an 82-71 victory for the Huskies, snapping the Eagles' six-game winning streak.
"At halftime, it's not a mystery that I spent seven, eight minutes telling them they were out-toughed, manhandled, every other adjective you can possibly imagine," Calhoun said. "They gutted their way out to a terrific win and I'm very proud of them."
Freshman point guard Taliek Brown had a career-high 21 points, including a huge 3-pointer with 5 1/2 minutes to play, to lead the Huskies (16-8, 5-6 Big East).
"We played harder. We knew we had to have this victory," said Brown, whose previous high was 12 points. "We just came out and played real hard in the second half."
Already in a situation where more than a loss or two would practically eliminate them from consideration for an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament, the Huskies responded to Calhoun's adjective-fest with an 11-2 run to open the second half and were back within a point with 15:31 to play.
"I challenged them. We were getting bullied off the ball and pushed around. That just can't be happening. We said nothing technical. We just had to pick up our level of toughness," Calhoun said. "They can beat you, they're pretty good, but they can't out-tough you and we responded to the challenge."
Freshman Caron Butler, who finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, hit a floater along the baseline with 8:00 left to give the Huskies a 59-54 lead.
But the Eagles (18-3, 9-2), who were playing their first game as a Top Ten team since 1983, scored four straight points and were within 59-58 with 6:09 left.
With the shot clock winding down, Brown hit a 3-pointer with 5:34 left that started a 12-1 run and gave the Huskies a 71-59 lead with 2:12 to play.
"I just felt like I was invincible tonight," said Brown, who was 7-for-13 from the field, including 2-for-3 from 3-point range. "I just pulled up and it went in."
Brown, who averages almost 28 minutes, entered the game 2-for-9 from 3-point range.
"It was a big shot for them," Boston College coach Al Skinner said of Brown's 3. "Let's face it, who in the building was expecting that? Give him credit. You need those shots to win."
After Brown's 3, Xavier Singletary hit one free throw for Boston College. Johnnie Selvie then converted his own miss for the Huskies and Albert Mouring, the senior who has been struggling offensively, hit a 3 with 3:47 left and the crowd of 16,294 at the Hartford Civic Center was roaring instead of booing.
Brown made four free throws to close the run and the Huskies made six more in a row to keep the Eagles at bay and avenge the 85-68 loss on Jan. 3 that ended their 23-game winning streak in the series.
"They were desperate for a win," Eagles freshman Ryan Sidney said. "As a team, we came ready to play in the first half. We felt like it was our game to win and we had the game in our hands and we gave the game away.
"They played with a sense of urgency and they needed to win more than we did."
Tony Robertson added 14 points for Connecticut, which has won three of four after losing five in a row, while Mouring and Selvie each had 11.
Singletary and Sidney each had 18 points for the Eagles, while Troy Bell had 16. Bell finished 5-for-16 from the field, including 3-for-10 from 3-point range. The Eagles, who had won a school-record seven straight conference games, were 6-for-26 from beyond the arc, 2-for-13 in the second half.
"I think we got anxious and tried to make defensive plays, and that extended us and we started to play as individuals instead of as a unit on that end. And we're not good enough to do that," Skinner said.
It was the second-most points allowed by Boston College this season with the most coming in a 97-75 loss at No. 3 Duke.
The loss was the eighth straight at the Hartford Civic Center for Boston College, which last won in the building in 1987.
