» NCAA Basketball » Hoyas Finally Defeat UCONN, Claim Share of Big East Regular Season Title With a 59-46 Victory
Hoyas Finally Defeat UCONN, Claim Share of Big East Regular Season Title With a 59-46 Victory
Story by: Richard thomas
Posted March 03, 2007
Photos by: Sol tucker
Washington, DC--
For the Hoya basketball fans that have suffered through the up's and down's over the past decade, today was as long time coming in that they defeated the pesky UCONN Huskies and they also clinched their share of the Big East regular season title, which could be theirs entirely if Marquette is able to defeat Pittsburgh later tonight.
The Hoyas were led by Roy Hibbert, who another tremendous game scoring 18 points and 12 rebounds. Jeff Green again showed up strong for the second straight game scoring 14 points shooting 6 for 11 from the field.
For the Huskies, this afternoon, they suffered their first loss to the Hoyas since February 3, 1997, something that UCONN Head Coach Jim Calhoun was not extremely happy with at the end of the game.
"In the second half, the first 7 minutes were just a nightmare," Calhoun said. "We buried ourselves, and quite frankly, we never came back."
Georgetown also did a great job defensively by controlling Jerome Dyson, was limited to just nine points on 4-for-13 shooting. Calhoun said the freshman was ill with a virus and also was distracted by playing near his hometown of Rockville, Md.
Hoyas Head Coach John Thompson III, was very happy after the game and his dad who made the Hoyas the national powerhouse they were know to be congratulated his son on the victory and the success of this season.
"You seem to be more excited today than I've ever seen you after winning a championship," the elder Thompson said. "You seem to be more emotional."
"The regular season is over, and we're sitting at the top, and that feels pretty good, I've got to be honest," said Thompson, who led the Hoyas to their highest conference win total since 1996. "Normally, I say we're going to enjoy it and we're going to get back to school and start thinking about the next game, but I might wait until tomorrow."
Georgetown will play the winner of the game between the eighth and ninth seeds on Thursday at noon at Madison Square Garden.
Roy Hibbert Has Guided the Hoyas to a Big East Regular Season Title This Season