STORRS, Conn. – Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun missed most of the second half of his team’s 81-65 emasculation of St. John’s – in the Gampel Pavilion locker room light-headed and sick to his stomach.
Imagine what Red Storm coach Norm Roberts must have felt like.
When he forces himself to sit through video of this game, he’ll see sickening ballhandling, nauseating passing and enough sloppy play to give him a headache.
In the end, it amounted to a seventh straight loss to the Huskies, and an offensive meltdown for St. John’s (7-7, 1-2 Big East).
Amityville’s A.J. Price had a career-high 25 points and seven assists in his best game ever for UConn (11-3, 2-1), and Jeff Adrien added 20 points and 14 rebounds.
But it was Jerome Dyson and his school-record-tying nine steals that erased the good vibes from the Red Storm’s win over Cincinnati.
“We did a very, very poor job of taking care of the ball throughout the game. We played really young,” Roberts said.
“[Dyson’s] a terrific defender, but we threw it to him. There were times he looked surprised he was getting hit with the ball.”
The Red Storm – the league’s third-lowest-scoring team – had shot 51 percent against Cincinnati, and hoped that was more epiphany than aberration. But last night, Price held senior guard Eugene Lawrence to two points on 1-of-6 shooting with four turnovers. Dyson had six steals in the first 8:16, playing the passing lanes to perfection.
“They made it easy for me,” said Dyson, who added a dozen points. “They were basically throwing lazy passes and I was able to run up right behind them and get the easy steal.”
Apparently so. On one sequence, Dyson stole the ball, went in for a layup and got fouled. He missed the free throw, but stole the ball back and dunked, part of an 11-2 run that pushed the lead to 25-14.
Justin Burrell (team-high 17 points) tried to keep the Red Storm in it, but Price’s no-look ally-oop to Stanley Robinson pushed the lead to 58-38.
Calhoun – exhausted after attending a family funeral – left shortly afterward, not seeing the play that symbolized the game. Dyson, bad back and all, dove into a TV cameraman’s chair trying to contest a shot – up 19 with just eight minutes left.
“He got us going,” said Price. “He set the tone. They were really scared of him in the passing lanes. His intensity got them out of their offense, and timid.
“When you have [eight] freshmen, you’re going to go through ups and downs. We were banking on that, and we knew we could get them rattled.”
One of those freshman, Malik Boothe, had seven assists and no turnovers, and will earn more time, although Roberts won’t bench Lawrence. He can only hope they grow up and beat visiting DePaul on Saturday, because their next four foes were 44-10 going into last night.
UConn 81 St. John’s 65