Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun embraced his favorite ex-assistant, Dave Leitao, at midcourt in front of the scorer’s table Saturday night just before the opening tip against DePaul.
And then the long knives came out.
While the Blue Demons were suffering a scoring drought of Oklahoma dust bowl proportions, the Huskies efficiently ripped the step-slow Demons’ defense for long jumpers and spinning layups to move on to the round of 16 of the NCAA tournament with a 72-55 victory at HSBC Arena.
The thorough defeat finished a 22-10 DePaul season that was highlighted by a share of the Conference USA regular-season title, the Demons’ first NCAA appearance in four years and their first NCAA win in 15 years. That hard-fought, double-overtime, 50-minute triumph over Dayton Thursday night may have delivered leg-sapping consequences for this game.
DePaul, needing to play its sharpest against the 29-6 Big East Conference tournament champions, missed its first 10 field-goal tries, took no free throws in the first half and trailed by as many as 23 points before intermission.
“I have to give credit to them,” Leitao said. “They got easy fast-break baskets.”
DePaul hit only 9 of 33 field-goal attempts in the first 20 minutes. The Demons, whose victory total is the school’s best in 16 years, sought to provide Leitao with an upset present. Didn’t happen.
“I think we should have run our offense a little bit better,” DePaul guard Drake Diener said. “We had some decent looks at the hoop, and they just weren’t falling.”
Diener finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds and was complemented by forwards Delonte Holland (12 points), Quemont Greer (12) and Andre Brown (11).
But Connecticut looked every bit the national title contender it has been heralded as with guard Ben Gordon scoring 18 points and All-America center Emeka Okofor scoring 10 and collecting 10 rebounds.
“It was pretty close to a clinic running the fast break,” said Calhoun, who said Gordon, a junior who held DePaul point guard Sammy Mejia scoreless, may have played his best game. “An unbelievable performance.”
Despite a brief sluggish start by UConn, too, the script was written early and DePaul never got closer than 51-36 in the second half. And this emotional Leitao-Calhoun showdown took a peculiar, even gut-wrenching twist. With 11 minutes 18 seconds remaining, Calhoun became ill and vanished into the locker room. Assistant George Blaney, the former Holy Cross and Seton Hall head man, coached until Calhoun returned with 1:54 left.
“I was sick to my stomach,” Calhoun said. “My wife didn’t want any graphic details.”
Much was made of the father-son-like relationship between the two coaches–Leitao spent 16 years as a player and coach for Calhoun–but also noted was the similarity of the teams’ offensive playbooks.
A day before the game, Leitao said, “We changed all [the plays]. We’re going Princeton offense all of the way.”
It may have been a joke, but it also might have been a good idea.
