UConn’s Giffey Benefitted From National Team Experience

By BEN BASKIN

Special to ZAGSBLOG

NEW YORK — Niels Giffey, a senior from Berlin, Germany, had averaged 3.1 points in 99 games for the UConn Huskies entering  the 2012-13 season.

But after a summer in which the lanky 6-foot-7 forward excelled playing for the German National Team in the EuroBasket 2013 in Slovenia, Giffey looks like a new player.

In a season-opening 78-77 win over Maryland Friday night, Giffey had 13 points and went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, displaying the sweet shooting stroke that brought him so much success over the summer.  Giffey said that his time spent with the national team—five games in which he averaged over 9 points and went 7-of-10 from deep—had a strong effect on him.

“It changed me a lot,” Giffey said.  “It really changed my whole mindset.”

UConn Begins Postseason March With Narrow Escape Against Maryland

By BEN BASKIN

Special to ZAGSBLOG

NEW YORK — The Connecticut Huskies started their 2013-14 season in nail-biting fashion on Friday night with a 78-77 win over Maryland at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

While the game was notable in that the Terrapins closed what was once a 17-point second-half deficit all the way down to 1 with seconds remaining and then survived only when Maryland guard Dez Wells’ last-second jumper didn’t go down, it also marked a fresh start for UConn basketball.

The Huskies were, of course, barred from postseason play last year as a result of the program’s low Academic Progress Rate scores.  UConn became the first team from a Bowl Championship Series conference to be punished under the NCAA’s recently amended A.P.R. score policy, which requires program’s to have an average four-year score above 900 or an average two year score above 930. So while the Huskies finished 20-10, their sanctions precluded them from participating in either the Big East or NCAA tournaments.