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Monday, Jan. 3 7:00pm ET
UConn now ready to open up Big East | |||||
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BOX SCORE
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Although Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun got his 100th win in the Hartford Civic Center on Monday, he was on the bench for only half of it. A stomach virus sidelined Calhoun in the second half of No. 2 UConn's 83-56 win over Sacred Heart. Associate coach Dave Leitao took over in Calhoun's absence as the Huskies (10-1) won their 10th straight.
Calhoun called the win a "workmanlike job," but would have preferred to see more passion from his squad. "This team has gotten awful good by playing with a sense of purpose. That was just a little bit lacking. We rely on passion," he said. Albert Mouring led the defending national champions with 15 points in their final tuneup before starting Big East play. Khalid El-Amin added 13 points, all in the second half, and Edmund Saunders had 10 points and 10 rebounds. El-Amin said the team is striving for consistency. "We're going into the heart of the season. We wanted to hit our peak right in conference play, and that's what we're starting to do," said El-Amin. Connecticut opens Big East play at home Wednesday night against Notre Dame. It was Sacred Heart's second straight loss to a Big East team. St. John's beat the Pioneers 95-66 on Wednesday night. Sacred Heart is in its first year of Division I play and faced UConn for the first time. The St. John's game was somewhat of a help coming in against UConn, Pioneers coach Dave Bike said. "If we came in blind to play the best, it could have been worse," Bike said. "We tried to get them frustrated by they were a little too tough and too good for that." DeVeren Johnson led Sacred Heart (1-8) with 14 points, and Marijus Kovaliukas added 13. Calhoun missed two games last season because of stomach problems -- an early-season victory over Hartford, and a first-round game in the NCAA tournament against Texas-San Antonio. | ALSO SEE Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
AUDIO/VIDEO   Khalid El-Amin feeds Kevin Freeman the alley-oop against Scared Heart.avi: 698 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Edmund Saunders lays in the finger roll on a fast break.avi: 920 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Ajou Ajou Deng takes it all the way for two.avi: 872 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||
