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March 17, 2000 By Marcus Carmouche SportsLine.com Staff Writer |
UConn tops Utah State in opener Friday breakdown: Upset count doubles Video: NCAA Tournament highlights Complete South coverage
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- UConn's scare in the NCAA Tournament didn't come in the form of 12th-seeded Utah State, which saw its season end along with a 19-game winning streak. The No. 5 Huskies were successful in their initial defense of their national title with a 75-67 victory.
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But a limping Khalid El-Amin did plenty to put fear into the Huskies and their hope of getting past No. 4 Tennessee on Sunday.
El-Amin rolled his ankle with 3:57 remaining in the South Regional opener and the Huskies leading 65-54. UConn's margin was comfortable, but the expression on El-Amin and coach Jim Calhoun's faces were not.
The junior point guard sprained his right ankle while attempting to run a pick-and-roll with center Jake Voskuhl. El-Amin reverse pivoted and immediately went to the floor and clutched his right ankle.
"I didn't get hit, I just tried to reverse pivot and dribble back out," El-Amin said. "I heard and felt something snap. They called it a high ankle sprain. It is hurting right now, but hopefully I can get better by Sunday. Hopefully, I will be ready by Sunday."
He had the ankle retaped and went back into the game, but El-Amin favored it heavily and returned to the bench after one minute of live action.
"It was still sore," El-Amin said. "I just tried to go back in and I really wanted to see how bad it was. I was just trying to run on it. I just wanted to see how much I could run on it, but it was still hurting when I went back into the game. I did not feel like I could go full speed."
Without El-Amin in the lineup, the Huskies maintained their comfortable cushion. But for the Huskies to advance deep in the tournament, El-Amin will have to be in the lineup. No one knows that better than Calhoun.
"He sprained his ankle, he said he felt something pop," Calhoun said. "He's sore right now. It could balloon up, it could be something that's strained ... we really don't know the extent of the injury.
"But we have 48 hours so hopefully he gets better. Right now he's back there with (team physician) Dr. (Jeff) Anderson and we've got him iced. With the game 48 hours away, we need him to get healthy."
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| Khalid El-Amin said he heard a pop when he rolled over on his right ankle.(AP) |
The Huskies will hold a light practice Saturday, but most likely, El-Amin's time will be spent in rehab rather than on the court.
"Like any ankle, we really can't tell until he wakes up tomorrow," Anderson told SportsLine.com. "I would doubt that he would be on the court unless it's a the actual game."
Practice seems to be out of the question for El-Amin, but he doesn't plan on missing any game time.
"My intentions are to play on Sunday and I am aiming for that," he said, "but if it can't go then I can't go. At this point, my intentions are to play."
El-Amin tied backcourt mate Albert Mouring for a team-high 14 points against the Aggies. UConn will face Tennessee on Sunday at approximately 5 p.m. ET.
Slay ride
Few expected No. 4 Tennessee to have any problems with No. 13 Louisiana-Lafayette. But once again, shooting woes nearly cost the Volunteers. Tennessee shot only 33 percent from the field in its 63-58 survival.
With the Ragin' Cajuns' 2-3 zone stifling outside shooters Tony Harris (4-for-14 field goals) and Vincent Yarbrough (3-for-8), this perimeter-based team had to go the unconventional route to erase a 12-point deficit and stave off elimination.
Tennessee went to the paint to counteract the Cajuns' zone, and their primary weapon came in the form of freshman reserve Ron Slay, who accounted for all of the Vols' bench points. Slay scored 13 of his team-high 15 points in the second half. Slay averaged 9.5 points during the regular season.
"We saw Ron getting some baskets inside," Vols coach Jerry Green said. "The big adjustment was moving Ron to the free-throw middle of the zone. He was able to catch and shoot, and he was able to drive to the goal."
Slay's clutch points down the stretch were key is Tennessee avoiding embarrassment, but his biggest contribution came when he wasn't looking to score.
After Harris missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 10 seconds remaining and UT nursing a slim two-point lead, Slay grabbed the rebound and drew a flagrant foul from Brett Smith. He missed his two foul shots, but the rebound kept the ball in Tennessee's possession.
"I worked on my Oscar performance for later on this year," Slay said of his Dennis Rodman-like flop. "I went up strong for the rebound and he kind of pushed me in the back and my feet went from under me and that's when the Oscar came through."
Rock and Rolle not here to stay
So much for the well-balanced, inside-outside combination of Utah State point guard Bernard Rock and forward Troy Rolle.
Rolle did his part with 18 points against the bigger, more physical UConn frontcourt. But Rock was just about as useless as his namesake. He had trouble matching up with Huskies point guard Khalid El-Amin.
Before leaving with an ankle sprain late in the game, El-Amin got the better of Rock. El-Amin had 14 points and four assists. El-Amin continually blew by Rock to drive into the teeth of the Aggies defense and create open looks for teammates.
Rock was 1-for-7 from the field to finish with two points (eight below his average) and five turnovers.
"Khalid made the difference in the game," Rock said. "The point guard runs the show, how he plays is how they play."
Playful ribbing
Tennessee dodged back-to-back embarrassments in the NCAA Tournament. Last year, the Vols lost by 30 in the second round to SW Missouri State.
The victory against Louisiana-Lafayette was more difficult than anticipated. Nonetheless, UT will do some celebrating.
"Tonight we'll celebrate by having a few root beers at the rib place down here and eat some ribs," said senior C.J. Black, who was 10-for-10 from the line.
Said Slay: "C.J. will have all the ribs."
Threes the hard way
All season Missouri has lived with the three-pointer. Against North Carolina, they died by it. Mizzou hit only 8-of- 31 (25.8 percent) from behind the arc. On the season the Tigers had made 36 percent of its three-pointers.
"We knew coming in that we would have to be hot from outside," Missouri sophomore guard Kenyon Dooling said. "Unfortunately for us, the shots didn't bounce our way."
It's better to give
North Carolina senior point guard Ed Cota's 10 assists against Missouri put his name in very exclusive company. Cota padded his career total to 1,003 and is now third on the NCAA's all-time list behind Duke's Bobby Hurley (1,076) and North Carolina State's Chirs Corchiani (1,038). They're the only trio to dish out 1,000 or more assists.
"It feels good to be up there with Bobby Hurley and Chris Corchiani," Cota said.
Cota's 1,000th assist came on a highlight-making underhand alley-oop to center Brendan Haywood, who finished with an emphatic dunk.
Threes the hard way
All season Missouri has lived with the three-pointer. Against North Carolina, they died by it. Mizzou hit only 8-of- 31 (25.8 percent) from behind the arch. On the season the Tigers had made 36 percent of its three-pointers. "We knew coming in that we would have to be hot from outside," Missouri sophomore guard Kenyon Dooling said. "Unfortunately for us, the shots didn't bounce our way."
Stan(ford) and deliver
Stanford's biggest challenge of the Tournament was maintaining its focus. The Cardinal had eight players take final exams on the eve of the opening round game against South Carolina State. Then, they had to sit around for eight hours and watch three games before they could take the floor.
Nonetheless, No.1 seed Stanford looked every bit the part in dismantling the 16th-seeded Bulldogs 84-65.
"It's really nice just to be able to focus on basketball and be able to put the textbooks down," said Mark Madsen, who finished with his usual double-double fashion with 14 points and 13 rebounds in just over a half of play.
Said Stanford coach Mike Montgomery: "It's nice to have that one under your belts, regardless of the number of times you've been here. We were able to play and rest some guys.
"It's the last game on Friday night and we play the first game on Sunday. So we shouldn't have anyone exhausted. It's nice to have this one and get ready for the next game."
The Cardinal had five players score in double figures in their sparring match for Sunday's game against North Carolina. The Bulldogs made just 30 percent (21-for-70) of their shots.