Jim Calhoun welcomed back 37 of his former players Saturday night for his annual Charity All-Star Game at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
Most of the Huskies former stars were there, including Rudy Gay, who scored 38 points to lead the Blue team over the White, 119-117.
Other leading scorers included Marcus Williams (18 points, 16 assists), Donyell Marshall (26 points, 15 rebounds) and Kevin Ollie (21 points, 12 assists).
The event was especially meaningful this year, as Calhoun finished radiation treatments on Friday three months after having surgery to remove a cancerous growth in his neck.
Among the current players in attendance were Jerome Dyson , Hasheem Thabeet and incoming frosh Charles Okwandu.
“I am so excited,” the 7-foot-2 Okwandu told David Borges of the New Haven REgister. Okwandu will have three years of eligibility with the Huskies.
“I’m just blessed to be at Connecticut,” Okwandu said. “I don’t care if I play this year, I’m blessed to be in the program. I need to brush my game up. I just started playing 2-3 years ago. I know I have the skills, I just have to work hard, listen to the coaches, the players, and things will go well for me.”
Muscling up against the 7-3 Hasheem Thabeet every day in practice certainly won’t hurt.
“That’s why I came to Connecticut, I want to change my game,” he said. “I want to play against somebody taller than me, so my game is going to improve.”
ONe of the most interesting stories from the evening was this piece in the New Haven Register about how incoming UConn frosh Nate Miles can learn a great deal from former Huskies star Caron Butler.
(Photo courtesy AP)
