Episode 12 - The Big East Tournament

The #2 seed UConn Huskies open the 1990 Big East Tournament with a quarterfinal matchup against #7 Seton Hall and look to build on their momentum heading into the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

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Transcript

Hi and welcome to The Dream Season Podcast, an oral history of the 1989-90 UConn men’s basketball season, also known as, The Dream Season.

This Episode 12, The Big East Tournament

After the dust settled following the end of the Big East regular season, the UConn Huskies were co-champions with Syracuse and the #2 seed in the upcoming Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden.

The Huskies would open the day of quarterfinal matchups on Friday, March 9 at noon against the #7 seed Seton Hall Pirates.

Before the postseason tipped off however, there was still some regular season business to attend to.

On Monday, UConn dropped four spots to #8 in the latest Associated Press poll.

Also that same Monday, Nadav Henefeld was named Big East Rookie of the Year. He was the first UConn player to win the award since Earl Kelley won it following the 1982-83 season.

Henefeld was joined on the all-Rookie team by fellow freshman Scott Burrell.

Nadav was also named to the All-Big East third team, along with Tate George.

Chris Smith was a member of the All-Big East second team.

The 1989-90 Huskies were only the second team in Big East history to win or share the regular season championship and not have at least one player make the all Big East 1st team. (The 1982-83 Boston College Eagles were the other.)

Syracuse’s Derrick Coleman was named the conference’s Player of the Year.

As expected, Jim Calhoun was named Big East Coach of the Year, as voted by his fellow Big East coaches. 

Calhoun, who couldn’t vote for himself, said he voted for Lou Carnessecca, as St John’s finished only one game behind Georgetown and had played most of the season without their star forward Jayson Williams due to a broken foot.

Calhoun later joked, “Actually, I should have voted for the travel agent who got me my ticket to Israel.”

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Publicly, Calhoun says he preached to his kids about not worrying about the recognition, but Chris Smith remembers it differently.

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Calhoun was also named one of 10 finalists for the national Coach of the Year award, which would be announced during the weekend of the Final Four.

Once the hardware was collected, the focus turned back to matters on the court.

The Huskies had not fared well in the first 10 years of the Big East Tournament.

In 1980, the won their very first game, as the 4 seed, defeating #5 Boston College to advance to the semifinals, where they would lose to #1 seed Syracuse, 92-61.

Over the next seven years, UConn would lose their first game in the tournament. Sometimes in heartbreaking fashion, sometimes in blowouts.

In 1988, the Huskies survived the dreaded 8-9 game for the first time, defeating Providence, 75-62. They promptly fell in their next game to #1 Pittsburgh, 75-58.

Last season, the 7th seeded Huskies fell to the #2 seed, and eventual national runners-up, Seton Hall, 74 to 66.

In the first ten years of the Big East Tournament, only three teams had won the championship. Georgetown six times and both Syracuse and St. John’s twice. Only two other teams, Boston College and Villanova, had even reached the championship game.

Jim Calhoun wasn’t looking past this year’s Seton Hall team, but he was hoping that his UConn team would advance to Saturday and the chance to play on CBS. UConn had never appeared on CBS and hasn’t appeared on a national non-cable network since 1981, when they defeated St. John’s 69-68 on a Corny Thompson 15 foot jump shot with 8 seconds left on NBC.

Said Calhoun, [QUOTE] “We’d just love to get on CBS on Saturday. We have no pretenses about who we are. We feel we are a good, young team and that would help our recruiting long-term.” [END QUOTE]

This would be the third matchup between UConn and Seton Hall this season. UConn won at Seton Hall 79-76 on January 13th and at Gampel 79-57, less than two weeks ago. However, the Pirates did finish the season strong, winning at St. John’s and losing to Syracuse by just two points.

All of the pressure off the court was on the Huskies, but it wouldn’t take long for the Pirates to succumb to the Huskies pressure on the court.

Scott Burrell joined the starting lineup for the first time since January 2 at St. John’s, replacing Lyman DePriest. Calhoun felt he had worked himself back to 100% following his knee surgery.

The UConn offense was a bit sluggish to start the game, missing 8 of their first 10 shots. Nadav Henefeld failed to hit the rim on his first three field goal attempts.

But Seton Hall was having problems of their own, turning the ball over 8 times in the first 8 minutes.

The result was a fairly close game for much of the first half. UConn led most of the way but every time the lead approached double-digits, the Pirates would answer.

That changed at the end of the first half.

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With UConn’s offense struggling, they once again relied on their defense to take control of the game, notching 10 steals in the first half. Chris Smith, not feeling 100% thanks to the flu, led all Huskies in scoring in the half with 14, while Tate George had 13.

The Huskies did not let up to start the second half, going on a 10-4 run to lead 46-30 with 13 minutes left in the game.

As the halfway point of the second half neared, the UConn lead increased to 17 at 50-33. Seton Hall went on a 6-0 run to trim the lead to 11 when George stepped up once again.

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Seton Hall would never get closer than 15 points the rest of the way. 

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The final score was UConn 76, Seton Hall 58.

The Steal Curtain defense dominated, forcing 24 Seton Hall turnovers and setting a Big East Tournament record with 17 steals.

Tate George played 34 minutes, scored a season-high 20 points, had 6 steals, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and committed only 2 turnovers.

His 20 points were the second-most in his career. He scored 24 points in his sophomore season and hadn’t reached the 20 point mark again until this game.

George’s fellow co-captain Steve Pikiell on Tate’s performance. [QUOTE] “That’s the best I’ve ever seen him play. He had four assists but he could have had 10. They missed layups, got fouled on dunks. Everyone looked a little stagnant. He was the key.” [END QUOTE]

His coach agreed. [QUOTE] “He was magnificent. He was in control and confident. He was looking to get to places that we were begging him to try to get to before.” [END QUOTE]

Chris Smith added 16 points while Nadav Henefeld, despite his shooting woes, finished with 10 points, 5 steals and 5 assists.

Henefeld’s father, Ze’ev, surprised Nadav earlier in the week by flying in from Israel to watch his son play in New York. Calhoun assumed that Nadav was nervous playing in front of his dad, but Nadav dismissed that idea, saying [QUOTE] “There was no reason, just bad shots. If it’s an off day, it’s an off day.” [END QUOTE]

UConn’s reward for advancing in the tournament? The Georgetown Hoyas, who had defeated Providence, 78-77.

The Huskies would be looking to redeem themselves after losing by 20 points to the Hoyas in their most recent matchup on February 28th. In that game, UConn’s offense struggled and their defense failed to contain Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo, who combined for 35 points and 26 rebounds.

The same starting five from the Seton Hall game took the court for the Huskies. Rod Sellers, Nadav Henefeld and Scott Burrell in the front court, with Chris Smith and Tate George at the guard position.

With the game tied at 2 just two minutes into the game, disaster seemingly struck the Huskies.

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Sellers was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game and his status going forward had yet to be determined.

Early on, both teams exchanged the lead several times. UConn led 9-2 after a Chris Smith steal and layup.

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 But Georgetown answered right back, taking a 13-11 lead on a Mark Tillmon jumper. 

The CBS announcing duo of Brent Musberger and Billy Packer were impressed with their first impressions of this UConn team.

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UConn took the lead back at 14-13 after a Tate George 3 pointer, but the Hoyas, led by Tillmon, looked to be taking control.

They eventually stretched their lead to 8 points at 25-17, before the Huskies tied it back up at 27 with 2:40 left in the half.

With UConn down 3 with just under 10 seconds left in the half, Nadav Henefeld missed the second half of a 1 and 1, giving the ball back to Georgetown.

Unlike several games earlier this season, this time UConn was on the other end of a buzzer beater before the half, as Antoine Stoudamaire hit a 24 foot shot as the horn sounded to give the Hoyas a 36-30 halftime lead.

For the half, the Huskies shot only 37% from the floor while the Hoyas shot 59%. UConn’s defense played well, grabbing six steals, but struggled to contain Mark Tillmon, who had 16 points in the half.

Dan Cyrulik filled in admirably for the injured Sellers, posting 6 points and 6 rebounds. Chris Smith led the Huskies with 10 points at the break.

On the season, UConn was 0-5 when losing at halftime.

Stoudamire started the second half as he ended the first, draining another 3 pointer to push Georgetown’s lead to nine, 39-30.

The Huskies responded with a 7-0 run to trim the deficit to two points but the Hoyas countered with an 8-0 run of their own, capped off by another Mark Tillmon 3.

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The score was Georgetown 47, UConn 39 with 13:08 left in the game. And Billy Packer was right. The Huskies were a little sluggish and needed a spark.

John Gwynn, Murray Williams and Toraino Walker joined Chris Smith and Scott Burrell on the floor and looked to spur on the Huskies.

Gwynn, Williams and Walker were core components of the Blue Team, the five players who wore the blue side of their reversible practice jerseys and were tasked with guarding the starters in practice every day. This was their moment to shine and shine they did.

UConn held Georgetown scoreless over the next 8 minutes and 10 seconds. During that span, they outscored the Hoyas 14-0.

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The run ended when Mark Tillmon banked in a 3 pointer with 4:50 left in the game to make the score UConn 53, Georgetown 50.

The Hoyas had inched to within one point at 53-52 with 4:25 left. Scott Burrell, a 58% free throw shooter, proceeded to hit four straight, the last two with 1:20 left, making the score 57-52, UConn.

With 44.3 seconds left, Chris Smith made two more free throws, pushing the lead up to 7.

Following his second free throw, Smith iced the game for good.

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Henefeld blocked a Stoudamire 3 point attempt, which led to a Chris Smith layup and foul with just 33 seconds left. Smith made the free throw to complete the 3 point play and increased the lead to 10 points.

After the final seconds played out, the final score was UConn 65, Georgetown 60.

The story of the game was clearly the 8 minute, 10 second stretch in the second half when the Blue Team held the Hoyas to without a point. 

The UConn defense held Georgetown to 25.8% shooting from the field in the second half. The Hoyas only converted 8 of their 31 shot attempts.

The Hoyas turned the ball over 19 times, compared to the Huskies 8.

Without Rod Sellers to help, Dan Cyrulik and Toraino Walker held Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo to just 16 points and 17 rebounds. 

Walker played a season-high 17 minutes. His previous high was 11 in the first Boston College game and averaged only 6.8 minutes on the season.

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Chris Smith was the only Husky to finish with double figures, with 18 points. It was truly a team effort.

John Thompson was impressed. [QUOTE] “Jim Calhoun has done one of the most outstanding jobs I’ve ever seen in my 18 years. Their team plays with such great chemistry. I am so amazed at their chemistry.” [END QUOTE]

Former Norwich Bulletin UConn beat reporter Pete Abraham, who now covers the Boston Red Sox for the Boston Globe, recalls an interaction he had with Thompson in the post-game press conference:

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When UConn defeated Georgetown at the Hartford Civic Center back on January 20, it was considered to be the greatest win in UConn men’s basketball history. Now that they’ve repeated the feat but in the Big East Tournament, does that make this win the greatest?

Jim Calhoun: “It’s hard for me to rank the importance of victories but this one was huge. People said they were waiting for us to show them something or get somewhere. Well, here we are.”

Hartford Courant columnist Alan Greenberg summed up the feelings of UConn fans everywhere with this line from his column following the Georgetown win:

[QUOTE] “By now, those of you who have been pinching yourselves each time the Huskies reach new heights are thoroughly black and blue. So stop pinching. Enjoy.” [END QUOTE]

BREAK

Awaiting UConn on Sunday was the top-seeded Syracuse Orangemen, who dismissed Villanova 73-61 in the other semifinal matchup on Saturday.

In addition to playing for the Big East Tournament title, the winner would likely earn the #1 seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament when the pairings were announced later Sunday evening.

Like the Georgetown game on Saturday, UConn was looking to settle a score, after falling to Syracuse in their previous meeting, a 90-86 loss at the Carrier Dome on February 10th.

Syracuse was making their fifth consecutive trip to the championship game and on the season, were 7-0 against teams ranked in the Top 20.

Dan Cyrulik started in place of Rod Sellers, following his knee injury the day before. However, Sellers was in uniform and available to play, which considering how the injury looked on Saturday, was a positive development.

Early on, Jim Calhoun and the Huskies must’ve been struck by a serious case of deja vu. In their last meeting at Syracuse, the Orange jumped out to a 11-0 start, eventually pushing the lead to 13 before the Huskies gathered themselves.

The first six minutes of this game were eerily similar to the previous matchup. The first nine times that UConn had the ball, they failed to score. All five starters missed a shot and they committed four turnovers.

On the other side of the ball, Syracuse was having their way with the Huskies and even after committing four turnovers of their own, the Orange were quickly up 10-0 before Calhoun called time out at the 15:57 mark of the first half.

Said Calhoun [QUOTE] “I was thinking we could be witnessing the first shutout in NCAA history. I told the guys, ‘Hey, they’re pitching a shutout.’ We were tight as a drum. If you banged on us, you would have heard a loud sound.” [END QUOTE]

The Huskies responded and broke the shutout when Chris Smith hit a jumper and converted the and-one after being fouled. 

But Syracuse was still clicking. Up 14-5, with 14 minutes left in the half,the Orange looked to run:

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After seemingly high-fiving the entire Syracuse roster, Coleman converted his and-one and Syracuse led 17-5. John Gwynn took note of the celebrations, recalling “Oh yeah, I saw that. Yes I did.”

Apparently the UConn fans attempting to distract Syracuse players shooting free throws was too much of a distraction for Jim Boeheim and the Orangemen, leading to what may be the strangest announcement ever issued at Madison Square Garden:

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After the Coleman old-fashioned 3 point play, the Huskies responded. Over the next 10 and a half minutes, UConn outscored Syracuse 30-12.

Just like on Saturday, the key to the Huskies run was the play of the bench. John Gwynn came in and hit two quick baskets. Lyman DePriest had tip-ins on consecutive possessions.

But the real difference maker? Toraino Walker.

Walker checked in at that key 14 minute mark and for the next 11 minutes, was a force to be reckoned with. He scored 10 points, grabbed 4 rebounds and added two steals for good measure. He converted both ends of a one and one with 5 minutes 14 seconds left in the half to give the Huskies the lead:

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He wasn’t done.

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Toraino’s second steal of the half led to that Smith runner to put UConn up by 7. That was the margin at halftime, with the score UConn 42, Syracuse 35.

UConn’s bench accounted for 22 of their 42 points, while Tate George led the Huskies with 10 points and Chris Smith 8.

The 6’ 5” George was causing matchup issues for Syracuse and their 5’ 11” point guard Michael Edwards. Edwards struggled to guard George and he was also having issues passing the ball into the low block and specifically to Derrick Coleman.

The UConn defense forced 14 Syracuse turnovers in the half, including 9 steals.

Chris Smith kept the momentum rolling for the Huskies to start the second half, draining a 3 pointer to increase the UConn lead to 10, 45-35.

But Syracuse’s Tony Scott came off the bench and hit the first of his 3 second-half 3 pointers to trim the lead back to seven.

The lead grew to 9 before the Orange made a serious run. Another Scott 3 finished off a 7-0 Syracuse run to make the score 49-47 UConn.

Both teams traded punches and before long, the score was tied at 57 with 8:54 left in the game.

John Gwynn quickly broke the tie.

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Gwynn missed the free throw and Coleman immediately responded with a dunk and a foul and after he made his free throw, the score was tied at 60 with just under 8 minutes left.

Over the next six minutes, the Huskies lead would yo-yo between two and four points, but Syracuse would not be put away.

With just under two minutes left, Chris Smith put UConn up by 6 from the foul line:

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On the Huskies next possession, Smith committed an offensive foul driving to the hoop, giving Syracuse the ball back with just under a minute left in the game and down by 3.

With 45.8 seconds left, Tony Scott returned the favor, traveling at the top of the key and giving the Huskies the ball back with a chance to ice the game from the line.

And that’s exactly what Tate George did. George went 6 for 6 from the free throw line over the final 29.6 seconds.

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The UConn guards led the way in scoring. Senior Tate George had 22, Chris Smith 20 and John Gwynn 16, accounting for nearly 75% of the total scoring for the Huskies. Toraino Walker was the only other Husky to reach double figures, finishing with 11 points. 

The Steal Curtain defense, so reliable for Calhoun throughout the season, forced 20 Syracuse turnovers and had 13 steals. 

Walker led a monumental effort defensively on the Big East Player of the Year, limiting Derrick Coleman to only five shot attempts on the day.

UConn assistant coach Dave Leitao talks about how Toraino was prepared for his big moment in the tournament:

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Rod Sellers wasn’t surprised at all by Walker’s impressive performance:

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Chris Smith was named the Most Valuable Player for the tournament and he was joined on the all-tournament team with Tate George and John Gwynn. 

After cutting down the nets, the team was presented with watches for winning the tournament. But there was an issue. Here’s Marc Suhr:

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UConn co-captain Steve Pikiell recalls the confidence the team had prior to the Big East Tournament:

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Here’s Coach Leitao again, on what a significant accomplishment this was for the UConn program:

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UConn’s former longtime Senior Associate Director of Athletics Communication Mike Enright on how the weekend in New York announced the arrival of the program to the rest of the country:

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Pete Abraham concurs.

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Finally, Jim Calhoun.

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BREAK

Coming up on the next episode of The Dream Season Podcast, the Huskies are back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 11 years but in a very familiar location.

The Dream Season Podcast is researched, written & produced by me, Matt Edwards. 

Written sources for this episode are the Hartford Courant archives and the Norwich Bulletin. Audio content is from interviews I conducted and YouTube.

You can connect with the show via Twitter and Instagram at DREAMSEASONPOD

If you have any memories to share about anything I just mentioned, want to correct me on something I screwed up or just have general feedback to give, send me an email at dreamseasonpodATgmail.com or call and leave me a message at (903) 884 - EIGHTY NINE NINETY. 

After I’m done with the regular episodes of the show, I’d love to have at least one episode that consists entirely of your memories of the Dream Season. Either leave a message at the above number or email me with an audio recording of your recollections, along with your name and location, and I will include them in that episode. 

As always, thank you so much for listening!!