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AP: No. 1 UConn rolls through Louisville

Published 2/3/2009 in Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Don't get Jim Calhoun wrong. The Connecticut coach isn't complaining about the Huskies rising to No. 1 for the first time in three years.

But look at the calendar. It's February. Forgive him if doesn't get too excited.

"Being No. 1 is like winning in Maui," Calhoun said. "It's nice but I want to be there in April."

The way the Huskies are playing, they might be.

Jeff Adrien scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds and UConn dominated No. 5 Louisville 68-51 on Monday night, serving notice that it plans to hold on to the top spot for a while.

"It is time to get better and we are doing it," said center Hasheem Thabeet, who had 14 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks. "To be the No. 1 team is something good. It's starting to come. We realize we can be a great team."

Maybe the Huskies (21-1, 10-1 Big East) already are.

"They're very truly the No. 1 team in the country," said Louisville coach Rick Pitino. "We weren't in their league tonight."

In other games involving ranked teams Monday, it was: No. 6 Pittsburgh 92, Robert Morris 72; Wisconsin-Green Bay 75, No. 11 Butler 66; and No. 21 Kansas 75, Baylor 65.

Louisville (17-4, 8-1) had come in as arguably the hottest team in the Big East, winning nine straight games, including four against ranked opponents.

One of those victories had come against then-No. 1 Pittsburgh on Jan. 17, a win that set off a three-week scramble at No. 1. Wake Forest and Duke both took turns at the top, only to quickly tumble back to earth.

Don't plan on the Huskies going away so quickly.

"We've still got a lot to prove," Adrien said. "We still play with a chip on our shoulder. We went into the (NCAA) tournament a couple years ago No. 1 and lost. That happens. This team is a lot closer than that team."

Terrence Williams led Louisville (17-4, 8-1) with a career-high 26 points but got little help from his teammates. Williams shot 11-of-19 from the field, while the rest of the Cardinals went 11-of-45 (24 percent) from the floor.

Blame it on Thabeet. The junior's defensive dominance was so complete Calhoun looked surprised when he found out his big man was credited with just four blocks.

"Thabeet had four blocks? Come on," Calhoun said. "It doesn't matter if he has four or 40. Just his presence in there was intimidating."

The Cardinals were so reluctant to challenge Thabeet they sometimes pulled up for jumpers on the fastbreak rather than try and get to the basket.

"It's February and it's time to get better," Thabeet said. "Coach told me to control the middle and not let them get into the offense and not give up uncontested shots. After I got a couple of blocks they stopped bringing it in there."

Louisville power forward Earl Clark struggled against whoever the Huskies threw at him, finishing with five points on 2-of-16 shooting. Heralded freshman center Samardo Samuels, clearly bothered by Thabeet, was held scoreless, missing both of his shots from the field.

"I think they outplayed us in every phase of the game," Louisville guard Edgar Sosa said. "They just wanted it more."

The Huskies used a 15-2 run late in the first half to take a 38-26 lead at the break and drain some of the life out of the 10th-largest crowd in the history of Freedom Hall.

Louisville never got within single digits the rest of the way. Thabeet lifted his arms in joy moments before the final buzzer as the Huskies emphatically answered their biggest challenge of the season and stayed one game back of No. 8 Marquette in the Big East race.

"We expected to be in this position," guard A.J. Price said. "Now we are showing how good we can be."

No. 6 Pittsburgh 92, Robert Morris 72

At Pittsburgh, Sam Young had 23 points and DeJuan Blair added 18 for the Panthers.

Levance Fields added 12 points and 13 assists and Jermaine Dixon scored 15 points for Pittsburgh (20-2), playing its first game ranked outside the top five since Nov. 22.

Pitt has won four of five since losing for the first time this season and falling from the No. 1 ranking it held for two weeks.

Jeremy Chappell had 19 points and added a team-high eight assists for the Colonials (15-8), who had a nine-game winning streak snapped.

Wisconsin-Green Bay 75, No. 11 Butler 66

At Green Bay, Wis., Ryan Tillema scored 21 points and Wisconsin-Green Bay was nearly perfect from the free-throw line.

Tillema scored 18 of his points in the second half for Green Bay (18-6, 10-2 Horizon League), which made 32 of 35 foul shots.

Gordon Hayward had 22 points for Butler (19-2, 10-1).

No. 21 Kansas 75, Baylor 65

At Waco, Texas, Sherron Collins scored 17 points and freshman Marcus Morris added 13 to lead the Jayhawks to their seventh straight victory.

Collins has been the leading scorer in all but five games this season for Kansas (18-4, 7-0 Big 12), which moved into the Top 25 on Monday for the first time since early December.

Henry Dugat and Kevin Rogers had 15 points apiece as Baylor (15-7, 3-5) lost its fourth straight.

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