By Dylan Butler
STORRS, CONN. – They came out in droves, as they usually do here, for what was supposed to be a celebration of Connecticut basketball. And the usual sellout crowd of 10,167 rabid Huskies fans packed into Gampel Pavilion to celebrate their team's first game as the No. 1 ranked team in the country.
But St. John's wasn't interested in assuming the role of visiting whipping boy as so many before them have.
Sure UConn won the game, as they usually do here, but the party really never took place. The same 10,167 fans, including the guys in Section 202 who briefly unfurled a blue banner congratulating the Huskies of being named the No. 1 team in the country, walked out into snowy Storrs relieved after a 66-50 victory.
The Red Storm promised a fight and they delivered – quite literally. The chippy game featured 41 total fouls, two technical fouls and two ejections – to UConn's Jeff Adrien and St. John's Aaron Spears – for an altercation with 9:05 left in the second half.
After the game the two teams used phrases like, “Big East basketball,” to explain the extremely physical game. But there was more to it, even if they didn't want to admit it.
There has never been much love between the two programs but in the past month, the rivalry has heated up with a pair of off-the-court issues.
It started with guard Doug Wiggins reneging from his oral commitment to play at St. John's and signing with UConn. Wiggins' change of heart, which many in the conference not so subtly suggested had a lot to do with Calhoun's continued recruitment, left a bad taste in Roberts' mouth.
And two weeks ago, when the St. John's charter flight returning from South Florida was delayed, Calhoun told the UConn press corp that it was because a St. John's player was back at the team hotel, watching basketball.
He then joked that perhaps St. John's was “paying us back,” a veiled reference to the Wiggins incident.
Roberts, though, didn't see the humor. Not when the story was false – it was an academic advisor who was briefly delayed.
So Roberts shot back, calling Calhoun's statements “stupidity,” and shot back by saying it wouldn't be right to joke about computer theft, a not-so-veiled reference to the arrest of Connecticut players Marcus Williams and A.J. Price in connection with the alleged theft of laptops on campus.
The two coaches didn't exactly kiss and make up in their only regular season meeting. The post-game handshake was more mechanical than meaningful and looked like they didn't even touch hands.
And in the post-game press conferences both coaches gave the opposition credit, but never mentioned the other coach by name.
While sharing a caddy in a golf outing isn't likely in Calhoun and Roberts' future, the UConn coach, his deep and talented team, the 10,167 fans and yes, even those guys in Section 202, know St. John's is no push over. They know to expect another fight, even if it won't involve Spears vs. Adrien, Round 2.
“I think if we keep working hard in practice, we're going to have a chance to play them again in the Big East tournament,” Spears said.
And that's at Madison Square Garden, not exactly the friendly confines of Gampel Pavilion, where St. John's has already knocked off nationally-ranked Louisville and Pittsburgh in back-to-back games last week.
Reach Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 143.
