UConn back in good spirits in blowout over Seton Hall

HARTFORD -- Think UConn's 44-point effort against Georgetown was rock-bottom in the Big East?

Think again.

Seton Hall did the unthinkable and somehow proved that Division I men's college basketball can get much, much more brutal.

The Pirates, playing without their best player -- center Herb Pope -- didn't crack the 20-point mark until 12:41 remained in the game, and thus were blown out by the Huskies 69-46 Saturday at the XL Center.

UConn (15-7, 5-5 Big East) snapped a four-game losing streak while Seton Hall, which missed 16 of its first 17 3-point attempts, continued to free fall down the league standings. The Pirates have now lost five in a row.

"That's three games in a row where we've gotten good looks and just can't make a shot," said Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard. "Eventually, you keep missing shots and keep missing shots -- it wears on you as a team."

Willard was ejected with 3:41 to play and the Pirates (15-8, 4-7) had to finish out Saturday's miserable showing -- they shot 26 percent for the game -- with their head coach in the locker room. UConn, on the other hand, had to play the entire game without its head man. On Friday, the school announced that Jim Calhoun is on an indefinite medical leave of absence while he deals with spinal stenosis.

"We needed to come back (from our losing streak) and be a Jim Calhoun team, which means you compete and you always have great energy," said UConn associate head coach George Blaney. "The word was `all in' and the word was `energy.' I can't tell you how pleased I was with what happened."

In short, the Huskies look remarkably different -- the game actually appeared to be fun -- than they have in the past few weeks.

Shabazz Napier shook off the poor body language that seemed contagious against Georgetown and had "a light in his eyes," Blaney said. He was fiery from start-to-finish: A brief altercation with Seton Hall guard Jordan Theodore at the end of the second half led to Willard's ejection.

"When he's engaged, he's great to be on the court with," said freshman guard Ryan Boatright. "He was a whole new person today."

Though Napier shot 1-for-6 -- he's now made just three of his last 29 field-goal attempts -- he "played defense, was talking out there and was encouraging everybody," according to Boatright.

Boatright, who started alongside Napier and Lamb in the backcourt, was dynamic on both ends as he scored a team-high 19 points and added five assists and four steals.

Andre Drummond, the only UConn player who performed remotely well in the back-to-back sub-50 point games, picked up two quick fouls and spent the first half on the bench. And that opened the door for Alex Oriakhi, who delivered 10 points and eight rebounds in 28 minutes. More importantly, though, Oriakhi hustled on the interior, kept loose balls alive and was at times the catalyst for a UConn team that seemed to have an epiphany after Friday's emotional team meeting, which was led by Oriakhi.

That attitude -- one that, along with Kemba Walker, propelled the Huskies to an improbable national championship a year ago -- played a major role in UConn reversing its recent fortune. And it also helped the Huskies overcome a drought in the middle of the first half that saw them score just four points in eight minutes.

UConn converted on four consecutive possessions -- an Oriakhi layup, a Napier jump shot and two Smith jumpers from the foul line -- to push the lead to 22-13. Seton Hall never got any closer.

"I don't mind getting blown out," Willard said. "I do have an issue when the refs enjoy a blowout. And I don't think they should be smiling or enjoying one team getting their butt kicked."

Understandably, it was all smiles for UConn, which had won just one of its past eight games by double figures. The win even lifted Calhoun's spirits, according to Blaney.

"He was excited, his voice sounded a lot better (when I called him)," Blaney said. "He said he turned the sound down (on the TV) so he could watch how excited the players were."

kduffy@newstimes.com; @KevinRDuffy