Shabazz Napier’s triple-double helps Connecticut Huskies thump Coppin State Eagles: NCAA Basketball
Point guard Shabazz Napier notched up the ninth triple-double in UConn history as Connecticut Huskies recorded a resounding 87-70 win over Coppin State Eagles on November 20, 2011 at the XL Center, Hartford. It was the 15th
straight victory for Connecticut, who have improved to 4-0 in the tournament. Coppin State, meanwhile, dropped to 1-3.
Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun played Napier as a replacement for his leading scorer Jeremy Lamb, who is under day-to-day observation with a sprained ankle. That, in the end, turned out to be a savvy move.
"He basically said run the team, be a leader, stay out of foul trouble and make sure we win the game," Napier said about what Jim had told him before the game.
Napier hammered 22 points, a career-high 13 assists and 12 rebounds in the victory. The 6 ft guard committed just one turnover in 39 minutes of action and ended on a 8 for 14 shooting from the field, including 3 for 5 from three-point
range.
"It was magnificent, his performance," Coppin State coach Ron "Fang" Mitchell said of Napier’s monster performance. "I told my coaches I haven't seen a triple-double in a long time especially from a point guard. I mean that is
really unbelievable. That tells you a lot about his heart."
Lamb was also afforded some minutes and he topped all the scorers with 25 points on a 10 for 17 shooting from the field. The player also blocked three shots and stole the ball twice. Roscoe Smith came off the bench with 15 points
and four rebounds while Tyler Olander recorded his second consecutive double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
After scoring a game-high 22 in the previous game, senior guard Tony Gallo turned it on for game two, adding a team-high 21 points for Coppin State. Akeem Ellis punctuated 16 points on 4 for 6 shooting from downtown - including
11 in the first nine minutes of the game - and pulled down seven rebounds. Michael Harper also had 15 points, four rebounds and three assists for the Eagles, who have lost their second straight game.
Coppin State were the better team up front and held 27-14 lead early. The Huskies however came back with a bang and exploded with a 20-2 blitz that put them ahead by 34-29 lead with 3:14 remaining in the first half of the game.
The Eagles nipped the surge with five consecutive points and tied the game at 34, but then succumbed to the brilliance of Lamb, who shot down a lay-up, a three-pointer and a jumper to put Connecticut ahead by 41-34 at the break.
Lamb opened the second half on a five-point spurt to push Huskies’ lead to 12 and Napier joined him to make sure that the Eagles would get no closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
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