Huskie's Size and Talent Proves to Much For Seawolves, UConn wins 91-57

Danny Carter roared and pounded his chest after draining a three pointer Monday night in Hartford against #2 Connecticut.

Whether that woke up the slumbering giant is debatable, but Uconn pulled away from the Seawolves in the second half en route to a 91-57 win.

Carter led the Seawolves effort with 20 points, six rebounds, two blocks, and a steal.

The rest of his teammates could not keep up with the high powered Huskies. Carter shot 8/13 (61.5%) from the floor while the rest of the team was a combined 14/55 (25.5%)

"Danny's been good in practice and I've been trying to give him minutes," Coach Pikiell said. "He gives us a different dimension because he can shoot the ball and he's quick. I'm pleased with his efforts tonight and he played well on both ends of the court."

A three-pointer from UConn's Craig Austrie put the Huskies up 37-13 with 5:38 to go in the first half.

From that point the Seawolves used a 17-7 run at the end of the half to go into the locker room trailing 44-30. Carter contributed 10 of his points in this nearly five minute span.

Jonathan Moore, who finished with eight points on 3/12 shooting, drained a three-point shot to open the second half and bring Stony Brook within 11.

But that was as close as the Seawolves would get.

"Going into a game like this for a program like us, you really have to pick your poison," Pikiell said. "If you get up and down the court with them it can get real nasty. And if you try to hold the ball you have to make sure you get a good shot at the end of the shot clock."

Pikiell, a Connecticut alum who played and coached under Jim Calhoun, was very impressed with the Huskies program.

"They're huge, they're tough, I think they're experienced," he said. "Great coach, what's not to like? What's not to like about that team?"

The biggest Husky of all, 7'3" junior center Hasheem Thabeet, had 18 points, nine rebounds and a block in 22 minutes.

"You don’t realize how big he is on TV when your watching the tape," Pikiell said. "You don't appreciate that size. Do they make people that big?"

"I think Steve did a nice job with his team, especially to get it back to 14 at halftime," Coach Calhoun said. "Obviously, we had size and some athletic ability."

The under sized Seawolves were only able to get to the line nine times compared to Uconn's 27 free throws, and the Huskies won the rebounding battle by a 47-24 margin.

"We got a young team," Pikiell said. "We're going to be fine. I kind of like my team. I didn't like them tonight, but they're young and they’ve got to go through some of this. But we're going to be fine when we play teams in our league, and as we move forward we have every body back next year and I really think good things are going to happen for our program."

"Although I'll never get a 7'3" guy."