The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
CHORUS OF BOOS RAIN DOWN ON HUSKIES
Fans make feelings known in Houston blowout
HARTFORD >> Rob Gray, a 6-foot-2 guard, dribbled baseline and threw down a monster dunk, screaming in joy as he landed on his feet.
About 30 seconds later, Danrad Knowles threw down a thunderous dunk of his own, all part of a 15-0 Houston run. Kevin Ollie called a timeout, and an interesting sound filled the XL Center air: Boos.
Not thunderous boos, but clearly audible boos from a good portion of the 11,538 in attendance. Houston coach Kelvin Sampson swore he didn’t hear them, but Ollie did. “They can do whatever they want to do,” he said. “They pay money to see us, and if they want to boo, they can boo.”
There were a few more boos at halftime, when the Cougars (103) owned a 36-12 lead, holding UConn to its fewest points in a half in 14 years. There were even more — a lot more — after Steve Enoch was called for a questionable foul midway through the latter half.
Those were directed at the referees, however, which is fine. Adult fans booing college players, however? Meh, I’m not a fan of that.
True, there was precious little for UConn fans to cheer about on Wednesday in a 62-46 loss to
FROM PAGE 1 the Cougars in an American Athletic Conference opener which wasn’t even that close.
The Huskies are now 5-7. Their 12 first-half points (via 3-for-21 shooting and nine turnovers) were the second-fewest in a half for the Huskies since 1980. The only time they’d scored fewer was when they had just nine at halftime against UMass on Dec. 10, 2002. And UConn wound up coming back to win that one.
That wasn’t going to happen on Wednesday, even if freshmen Christian Vital (career-high 15 points) and Vance Jackson (12) shot the ball better in the latter half. Not without Jalen Adams, the team’s leading scorer and point guard who was sitting out after suffering a concussion in Friday’s loss to Auburn.
“They could lose (7-footer Amida) Brimah, they’ve got a bunch of big guys,” Sampson noted. “They don’t have a bunch of Jalen Adamses. You can’t lose him. He’s the one guy that they couldn’t lose. If we lost Gray, I would put Wes VanBeck or (Armoni) Brooks in there, and I’d still have a point guard. If I lost Galen (Robinson), I’d put Rob in at point guard. We would have moved somebody around. But they don’t have another point guard, so that’s a tough blow for them. I feel bad for them for that.”
But a good segment of the XL Center crowd apparently didn’t have much sympathy. No doubt, UConn’s energy was lacking at times. No doubt, those two dunks were exclamation points in a wretched opening 20 minutes for the Huskies. Ollie admitted as much afterwards.
“That’s the first game where I really thought we didn’t have the enthusiasm on the defensive end, the effort on the defensive end, paying attention to detail,” said the fifth-year coach. “There were just too many blow-bys.”
But booing college kids? For one, the fact that Adams was out for the game and Terry Larrier, Alterique Gilbert and Mamadou Diarra are out for the season can’t be ignored. Heck, even frosh forward Juwan Durham was battling the flu (again), though he braved it for 11 scoreless minutes. The injuries and losses this team has suffered are practically historic. Not that they’re looking for anyone’s sympathy — including their own.
“There’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves,” said Vital. “This is college basketball. Sometimes the wheel’s gonna turn your way, sometimes it’s not. But we just have to make it turn our way. To be honest with you, even with seven players, we still could have won that game.”
And again, these are college kids. Amateurs, not professionals. They’re not getting paid (yeah, yeah ... insert joke here). Yes, they’re getting a free education, but so are hundreds of other athletes on campus. Those student-athletes aren’t going to get booed at their swim meets or field hockey games or tennis matches.
“It’s probably a bit unfair,” Sampson said. “A guy like (Rodney) Purvis, I mean, how many minutes did he play?”
He played all 40, as did Vital. Jackson and Kentan Facey played 37 and 36, respectively. They didn’t play all that well, and perhaps were a little dispirited at times, affecting their effort. But they played.
Perhaps some of the boos were aimed at Ollie. Let’s face it, despite the injuries, 5-7 is pretty unacceptable for any UConn team.
“They paid their money, so if they want to boo (they can). But we’re gonna turn this around, play hard,” Ollie promised. “Those same fans, if they want to boo again, they can boo. But we’re gonna take care of what we need to take care of. That’s pretty much what I’m worried about. They have the right to do what they want to do, anyway.”
Fair point. High road, even. But for adult fans to boo college kids? Sorry, I’m just not a fan of that.