Connecticut (UConn) - West Virginia Men's Basketball
Gampel Pavilion February 7, 2004

All-America candidates Ben Gordon and Emeka Okafor combined for 47 points and fifth-ranked Connecticut (UConn) shot 68% from the field after halftime as the Huskies drilled West Virginia, 88-58, Saturday afternoon before a sellout crowd of 10,167 at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion.

The win, UConn’s fourth in succession, improves the Husky record to 19-3, 7-1 in the BIG EAST. The Mountaineers drop to 12-8, 4-5 in the conference. The Huskies led just 36-31 at halftime, and were leading 59-47 with 9:47 left before Okafor scored six points in a 12-0 Husky scoring spurt over 4:14 to seal the win. The Huskies made seven of their first nine shots from the field in the second half on their way to making a sizzling 23 of 34 after intermission.

Gordon led the Huskies with 24 points and connected on four of seven three-pointers. He also had seven assists while committing just two turnovers. Okafor finished with 23 points, the 11th occasion this campaign he notched at least 20 points. It was the fourth time this year that both Gordon & Okafor scored at least 20 in the same game. Okafor also snagged a game-high 10 rebounds, making it the 15th time he had a double-double this year, and the 44th time in his UConn career. It was also the 11th straight game he scored in double figures.

Charlie Villanueva scored 16 points in his first start for the Huskies in place of Josh Boone, who injured his shoulder in an 84-56 win over Syracuse on Monday. Villanueva helped the Huskies grab 22 offensive rebounds.
"Coach has always emphasized offensive rebounds, and if the ball goes up, I'm going to go after the ball," Villanueva said. Connecticut (UConn) hit just 10 of its first 30 shots before warming up in the second half. Patrick Beilein gave the Mountaineers an early boost off the bench, hitting three 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes, and the teams traded leads eight times in the first half. Villanueva had five points in a 9-2 run late in the first half to give Connecticut (UConn) a 36-29 lead with just under a minute to play. Pittsnogle hit a jumper in the lane with 2 seconds left to cut UConn's lead to 36-31 at the break. Okafor, who finished 11-of-18, said he, like his coach, was proud of the Huskies' sure-handed ball-handling. "The smile on his face puts a smile on our face," Okafor said.
"At this point every win is crucial as far as our confidence and trying to separate ourselves from the pack."

All photos were shot using a Canon 10D with a 70-200 f2.8 IS lens.
They have all been post processed with PSP V8.1.

Copyright 2004 Jerry Molaver
The copyright law grants the copyright owner exclusive right to copy, distribute and create derivative works of his/her/its work in any medium. Copying these photographs, or portions thereof, is a copyright infringement and is expressly forbidden.

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