Basketball loses to Huskies on the road

by Matt Hoffman, Sports Editor

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No. 17 ranked UConn handed Tech a loss in the Jackets’ final out-of-conference game of the regular season, 80-68. This loss was Tech’s first on the road in nearly a month and dropped Tech’s overall record to an even 11-11 on the season.

The first ten minutes of the game were a back-and-forth battle between the Jackets and the Huskies. It saw the two teams exchange five lead changes and two ties. Both teams shot under 40 percent from the field in the first half, but Tech’s 13 fouls on UConn allowed the Huskies to go 9-for-16 from the charity stripe.

Tech was able to go on a 7-0 rub with five minutes left in the first half to gain a nine point lead over the Huskies, the Jackets’ largest lead of the game. Four three-point shots also aided the Jackets in going into half time with a 35-31 lead over the Huskies.

The tide began to turn against the Jackets in the second half. An early 10-0 run by UConn gave them the lead for the first time in the second half and the Huskies improved from the field, shooting 60 percent after struggling against Tech’s defense for much of the first half. The Huskies were able to close the door on the Jackets with a 14-2 run that started with seven minutes to play in the second half and lasted until there was only 1:15 left on the clock.

UConn was anchored by forward Jeff Adrien, center Hasheem Thabeet and guard A.J. Price. Collectively, they accounted for 61 of UConn’s points. Each of them also played at least 37 minutes of the total 40 minutes of the game. The Huskies’ big men, Adrien and Thabeet, measuring in at 6’ 7” and 7’ 3” respectively, were able to pick a total of 26 of UConn’s 46 rebounds. Tech’s entire squad collectively only accounted for 26 rebounds.

Tech’s 17 second-half fouls gave UConn 23 points from the free throw line in 26 attempts, a remarkable 89 percent free throw shooting percentage. In contrast Tech only picked up five points from the line in seven attempts, as the Huskies only had seven fouls in the second half. Freshman point guard Maurice Miller fouled out with one minute to play.

Senior guard Anthony Marrow led the Jackets with 19 points, his fourth highest scoring total of the season. He was followed by Senior forward Jeremis Smith who accounted for 14 points. Maurice Miller and Senior Matt Causey split time at the point guard position and each accounted for four assists and collectively 10 points.

Tech’s bench, which the Jackets have relied on to pick-up a significant portion of the scoring total over the past few games, managed to gain only 18 points. Likewise, UConn only had 10 points off the bench.