UConn men's basketball: Gay extends advice to Robinson
When asked, Jim Calhoun agreed that Stanley Robinson can do a lot of things on a basketball court. It helps when you're getting advice from someone who may be able to do even more.
"He just got an e-mail from Rudy Gay," Calhoun said of Robinson, who scored 15 points, grabbed four rebounds and shot a tidy 6-of-10 from the floor Sunday in the Huskies' 82-49 win over Quinnipiac and former UConn associate head coach, Tom Moore. "And Rudy said, 'Mid-range, mid-range, mid-range.' "
Those are jumpers Gay was referring to, and they looked pretty good coming from Robinson. The rangy 6-foot-9 swingman killed the Bobcats with pull-ups from all over the court. Along the baseline, in the paint and even from 3-point land - when taking 10 or more shots, Robinson hasn't shot better this season than Sunday.
And suddenly, he has four straight games with 10 or more points for the first time as a Husky, making nearly 57 percent of his shots (22-of-39) in the process.
"Rudy is a dynamite two-dribble, pull-up shooter and that's we're trying to get Stanley do to," Calhoun said. "Tonight he made four or five of those. He's always active and he can really become a defensive force once we start getting him to force people more to the baseline (and) sideline."
Robinson showed a better sense of that as well, holding Quinnipiac's leading scorer, DeMario Anderson, to 10 points on 5-of-16 shooting.
But Robinson, perhaps more than any Husky a year ago, had to make the biggest adjustments as a freshman, coming from Alabama and trying to transition to both the college level and a new atmosphere.
"Last year, I had to make myself a home," Robinson said. "Coming in with all the weather and everything, I just had to adjust to it. But I'm getting comfortable and making the best of it. I'm loving my teammates, loving the atmosphere."
Perhaps it was just a coincidence then, that on the same day the area was hit with some of its worst weather of the year he continued to make some of his biggest strides.
But Robinson has a believer in Moore, who was UConn's recruiting coordinator when he was there.
"I think people just assume - college basketball fans, writers, coaches, we're all guilty of it - you say, 'Oh yeah, Stanley, he's a top-20 player in the country and he'll come up here and immediately hit the ground running,' " Moore said.
"No one takes in account the social aspects and the transition coming from Birmingham, Ala., and coming all the way up here to the Northeast and making friends and fitting in (in) a whole different style of life," he continued. "I think Stanley's steered his way through that. He's maturing (and) growing, and I think he's going to be a terrific player if he keeps working hard."
Watch and learn
Like Robinson, Jeff Adrien also took some advice from an NBA star. But the Orlando Magic's Dwight Howard didn't have to say a thing.
"Truthfully, my secret is watching Dwight Howard play," said Adrien, who posted his 23rd career double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds and played with consistent energy in the paint. "He leads the league with 100-and-something dunks. ... And that's really my mindset. Just dunk it on whoever's down there."
It wasn't more apparent than with 6 minutes, 10 seconds left in the first half when he took a pass inside, pump-faked and slammed a dunk over several defenders, drawing a foul in the process. Calhoun saw the same thing in the days leading up to the game, saying Adrien "was so dominating (Saturday in practice), it was scary."
"Coaches go crazy, because kids do not sometimes carry over what they do in practice into games," Calhoun said. "Today, he had a terrific game. He had a great energy game, a great help-defensive game, but he was close to having a big numbers game also. But he brings that energy every night, Connecticut's a different team."
Welcome back
UConn players said it was strange seeing Moore on the other sideline. But they didn't get overly sentimental about it.
"Do I feel bad?" Adrien said when asked how he felt about beating Moore. "I feel like UConn won and I'm not really thinking about the opposing team. But best of luck to Coach Moore this season. I know he's going to do a great job over there.
"He's a great recruiter; you know, he recruited me to go UConn," he added with a smile.
A.J. Price said he may have enjoyed the win more knowing that Moore was there.
"It was actually more fun," he said. "I think it gave our guys added inspiration."
Around the rim
Saturday, Doug Wiggins said Calhoun was going to start giving his players a longer leash when it came to making mistakes, meaning he wouldn't sub so quickly.
Twenty-eight seconds had passed Sunday and Wiggins was checking in for Dyson, who was whistled for a foul. "But besides that," Wiggins said, laughing between sentences, "he held his word." Calhoun did, as every starter played 24 or more minutes.
Sunday's win marked the first time UConn's walk-on players got into the game. Alex Hornat, John Lindner and Kyle Bailey all played roughly two minutes, with Lindner hitting a free throw.
Calhoun said the Huskies will go on their break following their game against Maine Saturday and meet in Florida Christmas night to start preparing for their Dec. 28 match-up at Central Florida.
Reach Matt Stout at 425-4250 or mstout@norwichbulletin.com