National Basketball Association
Connecticut 78, Maryland 77
When: 6:30 PM ET, Friday, November 8, 2013
Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York
Officials:
# Gary Maxwell, # Tim Kelly, # Dwayne Gladden
Attendance:
12687
By SportsDirect Inc.
No. 19 Connecticut 78, Maryland 77: Shabazz Napier collected 18 points, seven rebounds and seven assists before fouling out late as the Huskies held off a furious charge from the visiting Terrapins to take the season opener.
Niels Giffey scored 13 points off the bench and Omar Calhoun added 10 points for Connecticut (1-0), which nearly squandered a 17-point lead. Ryan Boatright scored nine points but missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity with 26 seconds left to leave the door open.
Nick Faust scored 17 points and Evan Smotrycz added 13 and nine rebounds for Maryland (0-1). Dez Wells and Jake Layman chipped in 13 points apiece.
Giffey went 3-for-3 from 3-point range in the first half as the Huskies cruised into the break with a 48-36 lead. The Terrapins cut it to 59-50 six minutes into the second before Napier and Calhoun nailed back-to-back 3-pointers.
Napier stole the ball from Wells and pushed it ahead to Boatright for a transition dunk and a 67-50 lead with 11:59 left, but Napier was called for a technical foul on the way back down the court and Maryland used that momentum shift to rip off an 11-0 burst behind nine points from Layman. The Terrapins whittled the deficit to 78-77 on Wells’ jumper in the lane with 39 seconds left, but Wells missed jumpers on two straight possessions in the final 14 seconds as Connecticut held on.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Maryland G Seth Allen sat out with a broken foot and will miss 8-10 weeks. … DeAndre Daniels and Amida Brimah each blocked three shots for Connecticut. … Wells committed six turnovers to go along with six assists and seven boards.
Top Game Performances
| Maryland |
|
Connecticut |
|
Nick Faust 17 |
Scoring |
Shabazz Napier 18 |
|
Dezmine Wells 6 |
Assists |
Shabazz Napier 7 |
|
Evan Smotrycz 9 |
Rebounds |
Shabazz Napier 7 |
|
Dezmine Wells 7 |
Free Throws Made |
Shabazz Napier 6 |
|
Roddy Peters 2 |
Steals |
Ryan Boatright 2 |
|
N/A |
Blocks |
Amida Brimah 3 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Maryland
|
77 |
42.1 |
8-19 |
21-28 |
15 |
28 |
0 |
5 |
13 |
| Connecticut
|
78 |
51.7 |
10-23 |
8-13 |
16 |
28 |
6 |
10 |
13 |
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