Gay turns in fabulous performance

STORRS, Conn. – On a number of occasions, Connecticut’s Rudy Gay took the game over against… STORRS, Conn. – On a number of occasions, Connecticut’s Rudy Gay took the game over against Pitt.

None bigger, however, than when he stole a Ronald Ramon pass on the wing as Pitt looked for a lead with 1:33 left in the game and proceeded to secure an old-fashioned, three-point play off the turnover.

Gay’s free throw put UConn on top 75-71, and forced Pitt (17-2 overall, 6-2 Big East) into a two-possession game – a game it fought to pull out, but couldn’t as the No. 1-ranked Huskies held off the Panthers, 80-76, inside the Gampel Pavilion.

“We ran a set and we didn’t get what we wanted out of it,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said of the play. “We went into a motion and just didn’t execute it well.”

The 6-foot-9 Gay scored 22 points for UConn (19-1, 7-1 Big East) on 9-for-16 shooting and caused problems for the Pitt defense all night with his size and ability to get up the court in transition.

After a partially blocked 3-point attempt put up by Carl Krauser, Marcus Williams led a two-person rush down court that resulted in a highlight, tomahawk jam by Gay.

The dunk ignited the crowd of 10,167 and led to the first media timeout of the game with the Huskies on top 12-4.

“He got a lot of [points] in transition to start,” Dixon said of Gay. “That’s what you want to keep away from him early in the game. There’s players you can’t let them get going and those guys are always better once they get going early. I think he fits into that category.”

UConn dominated the Panthers, 19-6, in fast-break points and scored 17 points off turnovers alone.

“It was obviously a big game, and big players step up in big games,” Gray said of Gay’s performance. “He came out and he had it tonight. We had a hard time defending him, but you credit him as a great player.

“He’ll be in the NBA someday.”

Matched up with UConn’s duo of Josh Boone and Hilton Armstrong, Gray didn’t shy away from the big-game atmosphere either, posting another double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds. It was his BigEast-leading 11th double-double.

“He battled through foul trouble,” Dixon said of Gray. “We’re asking a lot of him right now, but he’s been good.”

Pitt took its first lead later in the half when Krauser completed a three-point play of his own in the paint.

Krauser cut through the middle of the lane where Aaron Gray found him for a lay in while drawing the foul. He connected on the free throw for a 15-14 lead to cap off a nine-point Panther run.

The run never fazed the Huskies, though, as they continuously pounded back on the Panthers defense on fast breaks, including another slam by Gay that brought the crowd to its feet.

With three seconds left before halftime, Pitt’s Antonio Graves tossed an alley-oop overtop Sam Young’s head, but on the play, head coach Jamie Dixon was called for a technical foul.

The foul allowed the Huskies to sink two free throws and take a nine-point advantage, 43-34, into the locker room.

In the second half, the Panther offense flowed through Gray underneath, and it allowed them to chip away at the UConn lead. They tied the game at 45 with 15 minutes remaining, but never got back after Gay immediately drained a 3-pointer from the corner.

Gay’s shot was the first attempt from beyond the arc to go down for either team. The two teams combined to shoot 4-for-33 from behind the 3-point line, including a 10 percent mark by Pitt.

Down the stretch, UConn sank its big free throws, shooting 24 of 30 total in the game, and pulled down every key rebound as they beat out the Panthers, 40-29, in the battle of the boards.

A final push at the end fell short when Ramon’s pass got away from him. A 3 from Fields kept the Panthers alive, but with little hope.

“Knowing we shot like that and got out-rebounded like that, played through foul trouble and lost by just four, it’s still encouraging,” Fields said. “We still felt we should have won because we were the better team.”

The Panthers’ main focus now shifts to a matchup with the Georgetown Hoyas on Sunday. Gray knows his team will have nothing but a win on its mind.

“This team, we’re winners,” he said. “We hate to lose, and we don’t know how to lose. We have 13 guys on our bench that would do anything it takes for us to get a win.”