Marquette Ends UConn's Home Win Streak

Marquette's Ousman Barro knew it would be tough playing at Connecticut, where the Huskies don't lose. <br/><br/>He needed to provide an inside presence against a team that excels on the boards

Thursday, January 11th 2007, 6:27 am

By: News On 6

Marquette's Ousman Barro knew it would be tough playing at Connecticut, where the Huskies don't lose.

He needed to provide an inside presence against a team that excels on the boards and inside the paint.

Barro did just that, scoring 17 points and pulling down 13 rebounds to help Marquette beat the 24th-ranked Huskies 73-69 on Wednesday night, snapping their 31-game home winning streak.

The 6-foot-10 junior played all 20 minutes in the second half, and spurred a 16-2 run that helped Marquette open a 14-point lead it would not relinquish.

``We had to have him in there with the things he was doing,'' Marquette coach Tom Crean said.

With the game tied at 46 with under 11:00 remaining, Barro his a jump shot to start Marquette's run. He scored seven points in the spurt.

``Barro is a good player who was dominating tonight,'' Calhoun said.

Jerel McNeal had 19 points and Dominic James added 17 for the Golden Eagles (14-4, 1-2 Big East), who lost their previous two games by an average of 13.5 points.

Doug Wiggins had 19 points and Jeff Adrien added 18 for the Huskies (12-3, 1-2), who lost consecutive games for the first time since February 2004. Connecticut lost 66-49 at LSU on Saturday and has dropped three of four since starting the season with 11 straight home wins.

The Huskies' last home loss was to North Carolina at the Hartford Civic Center on Feb. 13, 2005. They had won their past 14 games in on-campus Gampel Pavilion.

In other games involving ranked teams on Tuesday, it was: No. 1 North Carolina 79, Virginia 69; No. 6 Kansas 87, No. 9 Oklahoma State 57; No. 7 Pittsburgh 59, DePaul 49; University of Illinois-Chicago 73, No. 12 Butler 67; Vanderbilt 82, No. 16 Tennessee 81; Marquette 73, No. 24 Connecticut 69; and No. 25 Texas 88, Missouri 68.

The Golden Eagles were far from perfect on Wednesday, but they did look a lot more like the team that had been ranked all season until falling out of the Top 25 following the losses to Providence and Syracuse.

``This was a great get-better, stay-together game for us,'' Crean said. ``The losses were a great reawakening for our guys to get back to what we are.''

Huskies coach Jim Calhoun is getting tired of watching his team struggle offensively. Connecticut lost 66-49 at LSU on Saturday, and has lost three of four after winning its first 11 games.

``It's very discouraging we can't score and for the second game in a row we had the will of a team imposed on us,'' Calhoun said. ``Leadership is a problem. Focus is a problem. We haven't developed into a team. I still think we can be good but we have to execute better. We took a ton of shots in the paint that turned into nothing.''

No. 1 North Carolina 79, Virginia 69

At Chapel Hill, N.C., Tyler Hansbrough had 18 points and No. 1 North Carolina overcame a slow start to improve to 11-0 at the Dean Smith Center.

Freshman Brandan Wright added 16 points for the Tar Heels (15-1, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), who rallied from a nine-point deficit in the first half.

J.R. Reynolds had 15 points, and Sean Singletary and Mamadi Diane scored 14 apiece for Virginia (9-5, 1-1), which went scoreless for nearly 7 minutes down the stretch and lost its second straight since winning three in a row.

No. 6 Kansas 87, No. 9 Oklahoma State 57

At Lawrence, Kan., Brandon Rush scored 18 points and the Jayhawks handed the Cowboys their 32nd straight road loss against top 10 teams.

Sasha Kaun added a season-high 16 for Kansas (14-2, 1-0 Big 12), which won its eighth straight.

JamesOn Curry and Kenny Cooper had 12 points each for Oklahoma State (15-2, 1-1), which had its four-game winning streak snapped.

No. 7 Pittsburgh 59, DePaul 49

At Rosemont, Ill., Aaron Gray scored 18 points and had seven rebounds to lead the Panthers.

Antonio Graves added 10 points for Pittsburgh (15-2, 3-0 Big East), which won its fifth straight.

The Panthers handed DePaul (10-7, 1-2) its first loss at home. Draelon Burns led the Blue Devils with 15 points and Wilson Chandler added nine points and eight rebounds.

University of Illinois-Chicago 73, No. 12 Butler 67

At Chicago, Josh Mayo scored 19 points and hit a big 3-pointer in overtime to lead the University of Illinois-Chicago to its second-ever win over a ranked team.

A.J. Graves scored a season-high 31 points for Butler (14-2, 3-1 Horizon League), 26 in the second half, but it wasn't enough to hold off the Flames.

UIC guard T.J. Gray scored 13 points and hit four straight free throws to ice the victory for the Flames (8-9, 3-1), who beat a ranked team for the first time since 1989.

Vanderbilt 82, No. 16 Tennessee 81

At Nashville, Tenn., Shan Foster scored on a putback as time expired, and Vanderbilt snapped Tennessee's nine-game winning streak.

Vanderbilt (11-5, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) won its fifth straight SEC opener. Derrick Byars finished with 25 points for Vanderbilt, Dan Cage added 15 and Foster had 14.

Chris Lofton led all scorers with 29 points for Tennessee (13-3, 1-1).

No. 25 Texas 88, Missouri 68

At Austin, Texas, Kevin Durant scored 34 points and the Longhorns ran their winning streak over Missouri to nine, sending the Tigers (11-4) to an 0-2 start in the Big 12 under first-year coach Mike Anderson.

A.J. Abrams added 16 points for the Longhorns (12-3, 2-0), who hit 12 3-pointers. Marshall Brown scored 24 points, 22 in the second half, to lead Missouri.