It isn’t often that a team loses by more than 40 in a BCS conference regular season game. But USF just couldn’t hang with Connecticut; the Huskies polished off an 83-40 victory Wednesday with almost no help from Shabazz Napier. One of the country’s premier guards, Napier hit just two baskets in 18 minutes of playing time. UConn cruised behind their reserves after a startling first-half margin.
Anatomy of a beatdown: Connecticut mauls USF by 43 points
The Huskies mauled the Bulls in the XL Center, jumping out to a 45-14 halftime lead.
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No. 24 UConn leads USF 45-14 at halftime. The 14 points are the fewest in the 1st half by an AAC team this season. #USFvsUCONN
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 13, 2014 USF fell off the boat and still couldn't hit water. The Bulls hit just four field goals in the first half, a feat accomplished by the Huskies in the first seven minutes of the game. By the time Martino Brock hit a free-throw to get USF into double digits, Connecticut was closing in on 40. It's never good when nationals writers start questioning your previous victories and making your coach seem like the victim:
I don't know how USF beat SMU. I'm watching Stan Heath look helpless from courtside.
— Andy Katz (@ESPNAndyKatz) February 13, 2014 The Bulls finished shooting 24 percent from the field, and hit just two of their 12 three-point attempts. It was USF’s worst shooting performance in American Athletic Conference play.
UConn's attack was balanced, even before the reserves came into to mop up this mess of a game. Eight Huskies hit field goals in the first half, and 11 found the net by the end of regulation. No Connecticut player scored more than DeAndre Daniels' 12, but none of them really needed to.
The 43-point margin was UConn’s biggest conference win since 2008, when the Huskies beat Cincinnati, 96-51, in the Big East regular season finale.
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