BUFFALO — An old familiar face stood in the UConn locker room, munching on chicken wings after his beloved Huskies survived St. Joseph’s 89-81 in overtime of their East Regional opener.
Only minutes earlier, before the media had been allowed into the room, he had told the Huskies:
“Forty minutes from home, New York,” Jim Calhoun told them. “I coached 70-something games there, and UConn’s been there a lot of timer, so, 40 minutes away.”
And wouldn’t you know it! It will be a long-lost friend from the old Big East standing between the Huskies and their old Garden home-away-from-home.
Jay Wright’s Villanova Wildcats, the second seed in the East Region and 73-53 winners Thursday night over Milwaukee, will renew their rivalry with seventh-seeded UConn on Saturday.
Villanova-UConn never harbored the passion or intensity or venom that so many of the other rivalries did, never gave us magic the way Villanova-Georgetown did one magical night in Lexington, Ky. But for anyone who mourns the passing of the old Big East, Villanova-UConn playing for a Garden berth in the Sweet 16 will do just fine.
The Battle for New York.
They’ll be fighting like ’Cats and dogs.
Villanova looks to uphold the honor of the Big East against Calhoun’s successor, Kevin Ollie.
“It’s going to be another Big East game, even though they’re not in the Big East anymore,” Villanova sophomore forward Daniel Ochefu said. “It’s going to be real physical and tough.”
It is difficult not to feel nostalgic about playing at the Garden when you leave the Big East for the American Athletic Conference, and you better believe it will be added incentive, especially for the Huskies and their star Shabazz Napier, who took over the game in overtime (seven straight points) for Ollie the way Kemba Walker and Ray Allen and Rip Hamilton always took over the games for Calhoun.
“In this tournament, experience will tell ya, you got to stay with it, and I thought the kids did a great job with that,” Calhoun said.
Calhoun knows a tad about teams that stay with it, because three of his teams stayed with it long enough to win national championships. Napier, who missed a 23-footer at the buzzer in regulation and shot 7-of-22 from the floor on Thursday night, put on a clinic on how to stay with it.
“He’s one of the better guards we’ve ever had at UConn and we’ve had some pretty good ones — Kemba, A.J. Price, Ray Allen, etc., etc. … Richard Hamilton,” Calhoun said. “He’s talked to me about his shot, it’s been flat recently, he hasn’t shot quite as well. And what he does, like all good players, he addressed it.”
Napier scored nine points in the last 2:12, including a twisting-away-from-contact lay-in he converted into a three-point play that gave the Huskies an 80-73 lead with 1:20 left.
“He saw the opening down the middle, and took great advantage of that,” Calhoun said.
In the interview room, Ollie was asked how he felt about being the first UConn coach to win an NCAA Tournament game since Dom Perno in 1979.
“Coach Calhoun won three national championships,” Ollie responded, “so I think he won a couple of games in the tournament. I don’t know where you’re going with your question.”
The questioner tried again. “You’re the first other than Jim,” he said.
Now Ollie answered: “That sounds better. That sounds better. You were scaring me at first. Don’t let Coach Calhoun hear that either. It will be hard.
“It was a great win. It’s for the university. I love this university. Those players right there, that’s what kept this university alive. They could have transferred. They could have done anything.”
The Huskies were banned from postseason play in Ollie’s rookie season on the sidelines as a result of the program’s low Academic Progress Rate scores.
“But like I said always, we weren’t banned from loving each other and encouraging each other all the time,” Ollie said. “That’s what got us through.”
Calhoun, 71, is proud of Ollie.
“Some of his tenacity as a player? You could see it in coaching. You could see that his team is playing like that.”
’Cats and dogs. Just like old times.
“Villanova’s a great rivalry,” Calhoun said. “We’ve had some wars with them.”
Here comes one more.