National Basketball Association
Connecticut 83, South Florida 40
When: 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Where: XL Center, Hartford, Connecticut
Officials:
# Karl Hess, # Bryan Kersey, # Bert Smith
Attendance:
10553
By SportsDirect Inc.
Connecticut 83, South Florida 40: DeAndre Daniels scored 12 points and the Huskies bolted to a 31-point halftime lead en route to steamrolling the visiting Bulls.
Kentan Facey added 10 points and Amida Brimah added nine and six blocked shots as Connecticut (19-5, 7-4 American Athletic Conference) won for the fifth time in six games and improved to 6-0 at home against South Florida. Ryan Boatright also scored nine points as the Huskies finished with more rebounds (41) than the visitors had points.
Musa Abdul-Aleem had a team-high eight points for the Bulls (12-13, 3-9), who lost for the seventh time in nine games. Victor Rudd, South Florida's leading scorer, managed only six points on 1-of-9 shooting.
Connecticut scored the first eight points and never looked back, opening a double-digit lead (13-3) in the first seven minutes and quickly turning it into a laugher. With the Huskies ahead 17-7, Boatright scored five points to ignite a 16-0 burst to push the lead to 26 en route to a staggering 45-14 edge at halftime.
It was the worst possible start for South Florida, which ranks dead last nationally in 3-point shooting and isn't built to play from behind. Connecticut extended the lead to 40 points on a three-point play by Terrence Samuel seven minutes into the second half and the only question remaining was whether the Bulls would avoid the lowest point total (36) in school history.
GAME NOTEBOOK: G Shabazz Napier, Connecticut's leading scorer, had only seven points but moved into 10th place on the school's career scoring list, surpassing Donyell Marshall (1,648 points) and Khalid El-Amin (1,650). ... South Florida's offensive woes extended to the free-throw line (14-of-25) and its 14 first-half points were the fewest scored by an AAC team this season. ... Boatright's nine points left him one shy of reaching 1,000 for his career.
Top Game Performances
South Florida |
|
Connecticut |
Musa Abdul-Aleem 8 |
Scoring |
DeAndre Daniels 12 |
Corey Allen Jr. 2 |
Assists |
Lasan Kromah 7 |
Chris Perry 7 |
Rebounds |
DeAndre Daniels 5 |
Victor Rudd 4 |
Free Throws Made |
Niels Giffey 4 |
Zach LeDay 2 |
Steals |
Lasan Kromah 2 |
John Egbunu 1 |
Blocks |
Amida Brimah 6 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
South Florida
|
40 |
24.0 |
2-12 |
14-26 |
7 |
25 |
4 |
6 |
15 |
Connecticut
|
83 |
52.8 |
7-18 |
20-27 |
24 |
36 |
11 |
9 |
11 |