Gardner-Webb Falls To Connecticut In Madison Square Garden
November 16, 2007 | Men's Basketball
NEW YORK (AP) -After a troubling start to his Connecticut career, A.J. Price may have finally arrived.
The junior guard scored 18 points and made everything go on offense, carrying the Huskies to a 78-66 victory Thursday night over upstart Gardner-Webb in the semifinals of the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic.
Doug Wiggins added 13 points and Stanley Robinson 12 for the Huskies (3-0), who scraped by Morgan State and Buffalo just to reach Madison Square Garden. The Huskies play the winner of No. 3 Memphis and Oklahoma in Friday night's championship game.
Gritty little Gardner-Webb, national darlings after upsetting Kentucky at Rupp Arena last week, couldn't replicate that stunning performance against another college basketball blue blood. The undersized, undermanned Runnin' Bulldogs (3-1) struggled to keep up with the more athletic Huskies.
Aaron Linn hit a deep 3-pointer to get Gardner-Webb within nine a couple minutes into the second half, but Connecticut responded with an 11-2 run to get some breathing room. Three 3-pointers by Wiggins in a span of less than 2 minutes put it out of reach.
The last two triples came as coach Jim Calhoun summoned Jerome Dyson from the bench with about 11 minutes left because Wiggins hadn't been playing defense. During the next timeout, Calhoun uttered ``good job'' to his sophomore 3-point specialist as he plopped down on the bench.
Thomas Sanders scored a game-high 20 points and Grayson Flittner, the hero of the Kentucky win, added 16 for the Runnin' Bulldogs.
Price followed up a career-high 24-point performance against Buffalo with the kind of game that Calhoun expected from him when he arrived in Storrs, Conn., three years ago.
A highly sought recruit, Price suffered a brain hemorrhage in October 2004 and spent nearly three weeks in critical condition. He ended up redshirting the season with an arteriovenous malformation.
By the time he received medical clearance to play, it no longer mattered. Price had been charged for his role in the theft of laptop computers from dorm rooms and was suspended for 2005-06. He finally hit the court last season and struggled with inconsistency.
Gardner-Webb coach Rick Scruggs said before the game he was worried about the wear that came with his squad's 84-68 rout of Kentucky: the countless television interviews, radio shows and pep rallies.
His instincts were right. The Bulldogs opened cold from the field, struggled defensively and put UConn in the double-bonus with 12:26 to go in the first half.
But Connecticut, which trailed Morgan State late and got off to a sluggish start against Buffalo, was unable to mount any sustained run. Gardner-Webb answered a 10-point spurt with nine of their own, and a 15-3 run near the end of the first half with a 9-4 surge out of the break.
Foul trouble and weary legs finally set in, though, which could be a troubling sign for Scruggs. His team, which had played two days earlier not expecting to reach the Garden, still has a consolation game Friday night. A game against Radford on Saturday will be the Bulldogs' fourth in five days, and a previously scheduled trip to UConn is on tap Tuesday.
