Hoyas stun No. 2 UConn

Huskies suffer first loss of year

It had all the earmarks of a classic Big East showdown between two highly ranked and intense conference rivals. Problem was, No. 2 Connecticut didn't seem up for a fight in its conference opener against 12th-ranked Georgetown.

The Hoyas (10-1, 1-0 Big East) handed UConn its first loss of the season in stunning fashion by dominating the Huskies, 74-63, last night before a sellout crowd of 16,294 at the XL Center in Hartford.

"I hated our body language early," said UConn coach Jim Calhoun, whose team fell behind early, 15-1, but went on a 21-11 run to climb back into the game (26-22) before allowing the Hoyas to pull away at halftime, 36-26. "For fleeting moments, [I] liked it, and detested it in the last eight minutes. With eight minutes to go we were down like 12, and I didn't like looking at my team. It's the first time all year I can tell you that.

"It was just a very, very poor performance for us. Opening Big East game, sold-out crowd, electricity in the gym and for us to perform like that . . . I apologize. I just don't know how we could play that poorly."

DaJuan Summers had a game-high 18 points on 5-for-13 shooting as the Hoyas connected on 25 of 53 field goals and got double-digit scoring from four of their five starters, including 16 apiece from Chris Wright and Greg Monroe and 13 from Austin Freeman.

"We can't really get too high about this because we got [third-ranked] Pittsburgh next [at home]," Summers said. "Beating UConn, it's just where we're at right now and we just have to continue getting better."

A.J. Price led UConn with 16 points and Jeff Adrien, a 6-foot-7-inch senior from Brookline, had 15 points and 5 rebounds. Hasheem Thabeet, UConn's 7-3 junior center, was held to a season-low 4 points and had as many rebounds (7) as blocked shots (7) in 34 minutes.

Tennessee 89, La.-Lafayette 62 - Wayne Chism scored 18 points and grabbed 15 rebounds before a frightening injury forced him out of No. 14 Tennessee's win in Knoxville. With 5:12 left, Chism landed hard on his back under the basket after blocking a shot by La'Ryan Gary. Play was delayed for several minutes as Chism was taken out of the arena on a stretcher. Coach Bruce Pearl said Chism hurt his back and neck but did not know the extent of the injuries.

Michigan 77, N.C. Central 57 - Manny Harris had 29 points and a career-high 16 rebounds as Michigan (10-2) equaled last season's win total by beating winless North Carolina Central in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Cornell 89, BU 59 - The Big Red scored the first 13 points of the game en route to the blowout victory in Ithaca, N.Y. Corey Lowe had 14 points to lead BU (5-6).

Brown 89, Quinnipiac 73 - Adrian Williams, son of former Redskins quarterback Doug Williams, scored a career-high 29 points to lead Brown (5-6) over Quinnipiac (6-5) in Providence.

Colorado St. 82, Vermont 76 - Marcus Walker scored 26 points as the Rams beat the Catamounts in the semifinals of the Rainbow Classic in Honolulu.

BC 85, Dartmouth 51 - Stefanie Murphy had 16 points and nine rebounds as the Eagles (9-3) outscored Dartmouth, 49-21, in the second half en route to the victory in Hanover, N.H.

Auburn 87, Duquesne 67 - Alli Smalley scored 21 points and Whitney Boddie added 14 points and 13 assists to help No. 9 Auburn beat Duquesne in Coral Gables, Fla.

Rutgers 57, George Washington 47 - Epiphanny Prince scored 17 points and No. 15 Rutgers beat George Washington for its 20th straight home win.

Florida 85, Vermont 76 - Marshae Dotson scored 20 points and Sha Brooks added 19 to help No. 18 Florida beat Vermont in the State Farm Classic in Gainesville, Fla. The Gators (12-1) tied a school record with their 12th consecutive victory.

Seton Hall 79, UMass 74 - Ebonie Williams had 23 points and Nicole Emery added 22 to lead Seton Hall (10-1) over UMass (6-6) at the Mullins Center. Stefanie Gerardot led UMass with 16 points.

Saint Joseph's 74, Holy Cross 53 - Brittany Ford (14 points) led five players in double figures for the Hawks (7-6) in a victory over Holy Cross (2-10) in the Hawk Classic in Philadelphia.

UMass 4, Army 1 - Will Ortiz scored two goals, spurring the Minutemen past Army in the Dartmouth Classic in Hanover, N.H.

Quinnipiac 4, Merrimack 3 - Brandon Wong's goal at 1:42 of overtime lifted Quinnipiac in the UConn Holiday Classic in Storrs, Conn.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.