SAN ANTONIO – How odd. Tonight’s UConn-Texas game could come down to a couple of guards from Queens. Though a long way from home both will need to come up with the defensive efforts of their lives.
The New York City game is all about a fancy handle and a rim-rocking dunk, but that’s not required of Taliek Brown, UConn’s junior point guard. His task is to find a way to contain Texas’ T.J. Ford, hailed as perhaps the best player in college basketball. Scoring is also not the priority for Royal Ivey, a junior guard for the Longhorns who gets first crack at stopping Ben Gordon, the Huskies’ leading scorer.
How Queens products Brown and Ivey fare in their defensive assignments will go a long way in determining the outcome of this South Regional semifinal matchup. No. 1-seed Texas (24-6) is the favorite and gets to play in the Alamodome, which is merely 80 miles South of its Austin campus. UConn (23-9), as the No. 5 seed, is a young team playing with house money, but that doesn’t mean coach Jim Calhoun’s team is any less motivated to move forward.
“I like being the unknown guy in the matchup,” Brown said.
Publicity-wise, he takes a back seat here. Ford has won several player-of-the-year awards and the 5-10 sophomore is the engine that has driven Texas into the Sweet 16 in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history. Although he’s not a gifted shooter, Ford averages 15 points a game and his 7.4 assists per come from every conceivable angle. His passes find Brandon Mouton (14 ppg) on the outside and James Thomas (11.2 ppg) on the inside.
It is Brown’s job to keep Ford from breaking down the UConn defense, which features the shot-blocking of center Emeka Okafor, a Houston native enjoying a homecoming of sorts.
“I’m just answering the questions just to answer ’em, but I’m really not paying it no mind,” Brown, a product of St. John’s Prep in Astoria, said of facing Ford. “He’s a great player but he’s a regular person. He puts on his shoes like we do. It’s hard to stop a great player. As long as we get the ‘W’ that’s all that counts.”
Ivey, who was born in Harlem and played at Cardozo High School in Queens, is a defensive specialist; going against the sweet-shooting Gordon is just another challenge. He’s faced Gordon before, at the Empire State games and in AAU tournaments.
“It’s great to play against kids you grew up with and big-time programs you dreamed about playing for,” Ivey said. “It’s my chance, I’m going to make the best of it.”
Of course, the Huskies will not leave Brown out on an island when dealing with Ford. “The more tape you watch, the more your stomach gets upset,” Calhoun said.
In fact, Calhoun stated he began devising a defensive approach to clamp down Ford two days ago and estimated that last night’s video session with his team would last at least three minutes longer than usual. “T.J. needs special preparation,” Calhoun explained. “I don’t know that he’s the best player in the country but there’s probably nobody better.”
