February 5, 2003

Virginia Tech pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the college basketball season on Wednesday night, blowing out nationally-ranked UConn 95-74 in front of 4,557 fans at Cassell Coliseum.

The win marked Tech's first over a ranked opponent since Dec. 28, 1995 when the Hokies beat Virginia 72-64 in Roanoke, and thus, the Hokies snapped a span of 23 straight losses to ranked foes. Tech also scored the most points it has ever scored in a BIG EAST game and rolled to its biggest BIG EAST win ever in terms of margin of victory.

How shocking was this? Tech was coming off back-to-back blowout losses, falling by 24 at home to Boston College and then losing by 31 at Providence this past Saturday night. And Tech went into this one with one league win. The Hokies are now 9-11, 2-5 in the BIG EAST.

"I thought we showed a lot of heart and a lot of fire," Tech head coach Ricky Stokes said. "We came in ready to play and it was nice to see our players show the fight that I knew they had in them.

"We felt confident coming into this game. We played them even for 30 minutes up there [an 83-65 loss], but we weren't tough enough in the last 10 minutes. This time, we were tough enough and finished it and played well."

UConn (13-5, 4-3), which came into the game ranked 18th in the Associated Press poll and 17th in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, came to town without head coach Jim Calhoun. On Monday, Calhoun was diagnosed with prostate cancer and will undergo surgery on Feb. 6th in Connecticut.

Playing mostly 2-3 zone the entire game, the Hokies shut down UConn's inside game and forced the Huskies to shoot from the perimeter. UConn shot just 34.4 percent from the floor, including 29.4 percent in the second half. The Huskies also finished with 19 turnovers.

Tech used a 19-6 run midway through the first half to take a 36-21 lead and then used an 8-3 run to end the half - the final three coming on a 3-pointer by Eric Branham at the buzzer - to take a 44-28 lead into the locker room.

Seemingly baffled by Tech's zone, UConn cut the lead to 11 in the second half, 51-40, on a three-point play by Rashad Anderson, but the Huskies got no closer as Tech went on a 12-1 run and pulled away.

"We were so bad offensively that I can't explain it," said George Blaney, the UConn assistant who is taking over as the head coach until Calhoun returns. "I'd love to say it was great defense, but I think a lot of it was bad offense. We didn't get the ball inside. We didn't get behind the zone. And we didn't complete plays."

"We knew we had to get out on No. 4 [UConn guard Ben Gordon] because he can shoot it and we knew we had to stop No. 12 [Taliek Brown] from penetrating," Tech's Carlos Dixon said. "He likes to hit people for open looks. But I thought we did a good job on them.

"When we want to turn it on, we can. But when we come out as individuals, we lose. Tonight, we came out, made some shots, got the lead and made it tough for them to come back."

Tech took advantage from the free-throw line as well in a foul-marred game. The two teams combined for 55 fouls and 72 free-throw attempts. Tech connected on 32-of-37 - both season highs - while UConn finished making 28-of-35.

Dixon led Tech with 21 points as the Hokies placed four guys in double figures. Terry Taylor added 19 points and nine boards, while Bryant Matthews finished with 13 and Branham had 10.

Gordon, who came into the game averaging 21 points per game, finished with 13 on 3-of-11 from the floor, including 0-5 from beyond the 3-point arc. UConn center Emeka Okafor, a Naismith Award candidate, finished with 12 points and grabbed eight boards. Anderson led the Huskies with a career-high 22 points.

"We just came out and played," Taylor said. "There's no pressure on us. We've been in a hole before, so there's no pressure. Everyone expects us to do bad. But we just came out and had fun and played. Everyone was confident."

"We knew Tech was talented and dangerous," Blaney said. "They're a different team when they play here. They got on a roll, made some shots and pounded us."

Tech will see if it can take its confidence on the road this weekend. The Hokies travel to New York for a game at St. John's this Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.