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Halftime: UConn leads Houston 51-22
I know the Huskies were probably looking for revenge tonight, but holy crap.
This has easily been UConn's most dominant performance of the season so far, and it's not even close. UConn is up by 29 points, and they've pretty much been in control from the opening tip. Shabazz Napier has a team-leading 15 points, Phillip Nolan of all people has 10 on 5-for-7 shooting, and Ryan Boatright has 9, including a buzzer-beating three to send the Husky faithful into a frenzy into the break.
I don't even really know how to do this performance justice. I mean, you could go with Kentan Facey's awesome offensive rebound and put back earlier, or Niels Giffey's lockdown defense on Houston star TaShawn Taylor, who has yet to score despite have scored in double figures every game so far this year. Giffey also threw down an epic dunk in the last few minutes, as did Amida Brimah, and just in general it's been a complete and total asskicking.
Houston's leading scorer is L.J. Rose with 5 points, and then two others have four, but that's about it. Houston is only shooting 27 percent from the field, and UConn is outrebounding the Cougars 27-17.
All of this, by the way, without DeAndre Daniels, who is sitting out tonight's game with an ankle injury.
Who knows how the second half is going to play out, but if UConn keeps going at anywhere near the pace they've been so far, we'll be looking at a women's team-like blowout.
GO HUSKIES!
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So last time we tried this, it didn't work out so well, but the nice thing about the American conference schedule is that it gives you a second chance against everyone in the league. Tonight, the Huskies will get another chance to take care of business against Houston, and after their rough showing on New Years Eve, I'm willing to bet they'll come out a little stronger this time on their home floor.
Unfortunately, it appears the Huskies will have to do it without the services of DeAndre Daniels. According to CBS Sports and other media sources, Daniels is dealing with an ankle injury and has been ruled out for tonight's game. Niels Giffey will start in his place.
Losing Daniels is obviously a tough blow for the Huskies, but one they'll have to deal with one way or the other. Regardless, we'll have an update here at halftime, and feel free to weigh in here in the comments section in the meantime.
GO HUSKIES!