Defending national champion Connecticut proved too much for Northeastern Monday night, overpowering the Huskies, 97-60, but the result was overshadowed by a 25-minute power outage less than three minutes into the first half.
With 17:15 left in the first half, sophomore Bennet Davis went up for a three-pointer. Just as he did, Gampel Pavilion went completely dark. It stayed that way for a few seconds before auxiliary lights came on and dimly lit the building. Just before 8 p.m., the arena lights came back, and play resumed a little after 8 p.m.
The closest NU came in the second half was 10, at 46-36, after Davis' three from the top of the key. UConn (4-0) out-scored Northeastern 51-24 the rest of the way.
NU (2-4) did not score for a 7:10 stretch in the second half, in which time Connecticut expanded its lead from 63-47 to 80-47.
UConn held a 74-39 advantage on the glass. The 74 rebounds are most ever by a Husky opponent.
Senior guard Marcus Barnes scored Northeastern's first nine points of the game. The first Husky other than Barnes to score was freshman forward Shawn James, on a short jumper with 11:10 left in the first half. Barnes finished with a team-high 20 points, while James had five points, nine rebounds and five blocks.
Charlie Villenueva's basket with 7:08 left in the first half gave UConn a 31-16 lead, but Northeastern hung tough, cutting it to 37-28 on junior Jose Juan Barea's three with 3:45 remaining. Barea finished with a season-low 10 points, although he did add eight assists and five rebounds.
Connecticut scored the last six points of the half to take a 43-28 advantage into the locker room.
UConn did not shoot particularly well, making 43 percent (36-of-84) of its field goal tries, including just 17 percent (2-of-12) of its shots from long range. Northeastern, however, had even more trouble hitting its shots, as it was just 22-of-81 (27.2 percent) from the floor.
The 37-point loss is the largest margin of defeat for Northeastern since it fell by 46, 110-66, to Delaware in the 2001 America East semifinals.
Northeastern hosts Detroit Wednesday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
NORTHEASTERN vs CONNECTICUT
12/6/04 7:30 p.m. at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, CT
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VISITORS: NORTHEASTERN (2-4)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
14 DAVIS, Bennet....... f 3-10 2-4 0-0 1 3 4 5 8 0 2 3 0 20
33 COLE, Janon......... f 1-5 0-0 1-4 2 5 7 1 3 1 0 0 0 21
03 BARNES, Marcus...... g 9-18 2-9 0-1 0 0 0 1 20 2 1 0 0 26
05 BAREA, Jose Juan.... g 3-20 1-9 3-4 1 4 5 2 10 8 4 0 2 31
12 DAVIS, Aaron........ g 2-6 1-3 0-0 0 2 2 1 5 0 0 0 0 21
01 POPOOLA, Dipo....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
10 KIRKLAND, Jerome.... 0-3 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 2 2 0 0 8
11 MARTINEZ, Adrian.... 2-5 2-5 0-0 0 0 0 2 6 0 2 0 1 14
21 JAMES, Shawn........ 1-7 0-2 2-2 5 4 9 3 4 1 1 5 0 20
22 KELLY, Bobby........ 1-7 1-2 1-2 3 2 5 4 4 0 1 0 1 19
24 COFFEY, Chris....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
41 PINCKNEY, Shae...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
50 WASHINGTON, Mark.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 1 0 17
TEAM................ 3 2 5
Totals.............. 22-81 9-35 7-13 16 23 39 25 60 14 14 9 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-45 24.4% 2nd Half: 11-36 30.6% Game: 27.2% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-20 20.0% 2nd Half: 5-15 33.3% Game: 25.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 5-11 45.5% Game: 53.8% 5
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HOME TEAM: CONNECTICUT (4-0)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
03 VILLANUEVA, Charlie. f 7-13 0-1 3-4 3 5 8 2 17 2 2 3 1 21
33 BROWN, Denham....... f 7-13 1-3 0-0 2 3 5 1 15 1 0 0 4 30
21 BOONE, Josh......... c 8-13 0-0 3-5 6 8 14 1 19 3 3 3 1 31
05 WILLIAMS, Marcus.... g 1-2 0-0 3-4 0 6 6 1 5 6 1 1 1 24
31 ANDERSON, Rashad.... g 3-11 0-3 1-2 1 1 2 2 7 0 1 0 0 21
10 AMEZIANE, Sami...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
11 ARMSTRONG, Hilton... 2-4 0-0 5-8 3 6 9 3 9 0 3 2 1 11
13 THOMPSON, Ryan...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
20 KELLOGG, Antonio.... 2-3 1-1 1-2 0 5 5 1 6 7 0 0 1 19
22 GAY, Rudy........... 3-15 0-2 1-1 5 2 7 0 7 1 1 1 0 22
23 WHITE, Marcus....... 1-3 0-0 4-6 5 1 6 1 6 0 2 1 1 7
24 BAISCH, Jason....... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1
32 NELSON, Ed.......... 1-3 0-0 2-3 2 2 4 1 4 0 0 0 2 8
TEAM................ 2 4 6
Totals.............. 36-84 2-12 23-35 30 44 74 14 97 20 13 11 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 17-41 41.5% 2nd Half: 19-43 44.2% Game: 42.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-5 0.0% 2nd Half: 2-7 28.6% Game: 16.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-12 75.0% 2nd Half: 14-23 60.9% Game: 65.7% 7
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Officials: Curtis Shaw, Jeff Clark, Mike Stuart
Technical fouls: NORTHEASTERN-None. CONNECTICUT-None.
Attendance: 10167
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
NORTHEASTERN.................. 28 32 - 60
CONNECTICUT................... 43 54 - 97
