National Basketball Association
Connecticut 66, South Florida 61
When: 6:00 PM ET, Friday, December 31, 2010
Where: Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, Connecticut
Officials:
# Ray Natili, # Karl Hess, # Brian O'Connell
Attendance:
12599
By SportsDirect Inc.
Kemba Walker finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and four assists as No. 4 Connecticut squeezed by visiting South Florida 66-61 in overtime on Friday.
Alex Oriakhi added 15 points for the Huskies (11-1, 1-1 Big East), who were coming off their first loss of the season earlier in the week at Pittsburgh.
Connecticut shot out to an 8-0 lead in the opening minutes but the Bulls did not collapse, coming back to take a 22-14 lead after Augustus Gilchrist converted a three-point play with 7:22 left in the first half. They would stretch it to 29-17 two minutes later before the Huskies got back into it, forging a 28-28 draw at the break.
South Florida took control at the beginning of the second half and maintained a small lead until Jamal Coombs-McDaniel hit a pair of free throws with 3:08 left to put the Huskies on top 56-55. Walker pushed it to 58-55 with a jumper at the 1:06 mark but South Florida tied it 35 seconds later when Anthony Crater drained a 3-pointer.
Coombs-McDaniel scored four points in overtime and the Bulls (6-9, 0-2) failed to score in the extra session until under 10 seconds remained.
Top Game Performances
South Florida |
|
Connecticut |
Augustus Gilchrist 21 |
Scoring |
Kemba Walker 24 |
Anthony Crater 4 |
Assists |
Kemba Walker 4 |
Augustus Gilchrist 8 |
Rebounds |
Kemba Walker 8 |
Augustus Gilchrist 7 |
Free Throws Made |
Kemba Walker 9 |
Jawanza Poland 2 |
Steals |
Shabazz Napier 2 |
Ron Anderson 1 |
Blocks |
Alex Oriakhi 2 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
South Florida
|
61 |
41.8 |
5-16 |
10-18 |
8 |
30 |
2 |
6 |
|
Connecticut
|
66 |
37.5 |
2-14 |
22-26 |
9 |
32 |
5 |
5 |
|