Walker Carey is an RTC correspondent. He filed this report after Saturday afternoon’s game between Connecticut and Notre Dame. You can follow him at @walkerRcarey.
The beginning of this season marked the commencing of a new era for the Connecticut basketball program as for the first time in 26 years, someone other than Jim Calhoun is patrolling the sideline for the Huskies. Calhoun, who guided the program to national titles in 1999, 2004 and 2011, retired in September. Tasked with filling in the legendary coach’s shoes was former standout guard Kevin Ollie. Ollie, who served as an assistant under Calhoun for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons, was initially given just a one-year contract. Aside from coaching with a one-year contract, Ollie also faced the fact that the Huskies are ineligible for the 2013 NCAA Tournament due to a poor academic progress rating. With a rookie coach in Ollie and uncertainty plaguing most of the roster, not much was expected from the team in the preseason.
Following last season’s loss to Iowa State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, standout guard Jeremy Lamb left school early for the NBA Draft, thus leaving a scoring void in the Huskies backcourt. Junior energy guy Shabazz Napier and the ultra-athletic sophomore Ryan Boatright were tasked with replacing Lamb’s production. Other than Napier and Boatright, much of the Connecticut roster was filled with relative unknowns, so it was required for lengthy sophomore DeAndre Daniels and heralded freshman Omar Calhoun to grow up quickly and become a large part of the squad’s rotation.
Ollie and the Huskies proved they were not to be taken lightly in the first game of the season when they defeated 14th-ranked Michigan State in a game played at the Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany. The Huskies followed up their upset victory with a second place finish in St. Thomas at the Paradise Jam where their lone loss came in a hard-fought game against a solid New Mexico squad. The Huskies continued to show their potential when they pushed preseason ACC favorite North Carolina State to the brink in the Jimmy V Classic before finally falling 69-65. Connecticut was able to finish the rest of its nonconference slate unscathed before suffering a crushing road overtime defeat to Marquette in its Big East opener. Three days prior to the game against Marquette, Ollie was rewarded with a five-year contract, which indicated that Connecticut athletic director Warde Manuel was pleased with the progress he has seen from the team under the watch of the rookie head coach.
Since suffering the defeat in the Big East opener, the Huskies have played very inspired basketball. On Tuesday, they bullied past an overmatched DePaul squad en route to a 99-78 victory. Saturday brought the Huskies their biggest test of the young Big East season, as they headed to Notre Dame to take on a Fighting Irish squad that had won 14 consecutive games overall and 17 consecutive contests at the Purcell Pavilion. After a very even first half, Connecticut took control of the game in the second half by getting huge performances from Napier (19 points and four assists) and junior forward Tyler Olander (16 points and seven rebounds) and thoroughly disrupting Notre Dame’s offensive rhythm. At the end of the day, Notre Dame’s win streaks were over and Connecticut earned itself an impressive 65-58 victory.
While the young Huskies are likely to fight through some growing pains in the gauntlet that is Big East play, Kevin Ollie has his squad playing way above its experience-level. Napier and Boatright have proven that they make up one of the most electric backcourts in the country and can lead the team to victory on any given night. Role players such as Daniels, Calhoun, and Olander have all shown glimpses of being able to carry the team for stretches. The NCAA Tournament is not a possibility this season, but the Huskies are currently laying a foundation for future teams to make deep postseason runs and Kevin Ollie has shown that he is the man capable of leading the charge.