Men's Basketball Faces Huskies in Conference Matchup
12/10/1998 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
PITTSBURGH (AP) - The last thing the Pittsburgh Panthers want to see is No. 1 Connecticut next on their schedule.
The top-ranked Huskies (7-0, 0-0 Big East) defeated Massachusetts Wednesday night and come into Pittsburgh to face a Panthers squad that is finally coming back down to earth after starting the season 6-0 and knocking off two ranked teams in late November.
The 20th-ranked Panthers (7-3, 0-1) defeated then-ranked Xavier and No. 5 Kentucky in the Puerto Rico Shootout before losing their first game of the season to No. 2 Maryland in the championship game of the shootout. Since that loss, Pittsburgh has lost to No. 21 Tennessee and No. 18 St. John's, with their only win coming over Prairie View, a game in which they struggled.
Once aggressive, Pittsburgh has not been taking the ball strong to the hoop, resulting in the Panthers going to the free-throw line 38 times less than their last two opponents. They managed only one free throw in their loss to St. John's Wednesday which prompted head coach Ralph Willard to receive a technical foul.
"I got a bad technical," Willard said. "But taking only one free throw can get kind of frustrating."
The Huskies were frustrated by Massachusetts' defense Wednesday, being held to a season-low 59 points. Connecticut was able to hold on down the stretch when its key players took charge of the game, but it was a reserve that received rave reviews from the coach.
Albert Mouring scored 13 points off the bench, picking up the slack as Huskies' top scorer Richard Hamilton was held to only 11 points, including only one in the first half.
"I'm more impressed with our bench than our starters right now," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. "Mouring made some big shots for us."
"The word terrific doesn't come to mind, but the word lousy doesn't either," Calhoun said of his team's performance.