UConn Smokes Temple
University of Connecticut junior forward DeAndre Daniels (Los Angeles, Calif.) scored a career-high 31 points and senior guard Shabazz Napier (Roxbury, Mass.) added 27 to lead UConn to a 90-66 win Tuesday over Temple in the first meeting between the two schools in 49 years. The Huskies improve to 15-4 overall and 3-3 in conference play with the win.
Daniels also grabbed 12 rebounds for his fourth career double-double. Napier had seven rebounds and dished out six assists for the Huskies, who hit 53 percent of their shots, and were 12 of 23 from 3-point range.
Temple guard Will Cummings, who had missed the last two games with concussion-like symptoms, started and had 20 points to lead the Owls (5-12, 0-6).
Temple has now lost seven straight and is alone in last place in the conference.
UConn junior point guard Ryan Boatright (Aurora, Ill.) also missed the game while traveling for the funeral of his 20-year-old cousin Arin Williams, who was shot and killed a week ago in Boatright’s hometown. Williams’ mother died in childbirth, and he and Boatright were raised as brothers in Boatright’s home.
Boatright had been averaging just over 12 points and just under four assists per game. He had played in 63 straight games before Tuesday and made 48 consecutive starts.
But the absence of UConn’s point guard and the return of Temple’s had little impact on the outcome.
Cummings, who was averaging 16 points and four assists, hit his first shot, a 3-pointer from the corner, and was the lone bright spot for the Owls.
Anthony Lee, the leading rebounder in the conference, added 14 points for Temple but did not have any rebounds against UConn.
Napier, who had a career-high 30 on Saturday against No. 12 Louisville, had 12 points in the first 6 minutes of this one. He led UConn on a 12-3 run and an early 18-11 advantage. The lead only grew from there.
The Huskies hit 10 of their first 15 shots from the floor, and Napier his six of his eight first half shots.
A 14-0 run opened the lead to 32-16. Napier sat with his second foul with just under 8 minutes left in the half and the Huskies holding that lead.
UConn was outscored by two points the rest of the half and went into the break up 48-34.
Napier, Daniels and senior forward Niels Giffey (Berlin, Germany) each hit 3-pointers coming out of the break to bring the lead over 20 points and they were not threatened after that.
A dunk by Daniels with just under 4 minutes remaining eclipsed his previous career high of 26 points, and put the Huskies up 86-63. They cruised from there.
UConn freshman guard Terrence Samuel (Brooklyn, N.Y.) played 15 minutes in Boatright’s absence. It was just the 11th game this season he has seen action. He had two points.
Connecticut was coming off a 12 point loss at home to Louisville, which snapped a three-game winning streak.
Temple, which came in with four players averaging 14 or more points per game, was held 10 points under its season average.
The game was the first between the storied programs since 1965, a 71-60 UConn win. The Huskies return to action Saturday when they to face Rutgers on the road in Piscataway, N.J. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game can be seen on ESPNU and heard on the UConn IMG Radio Network.
Reprinted with permission from UConnHuskies.com
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