UConn holds off Albany in 72-59 opening win

The Huskies had just too much skill and experience for the Great Danes.
WIRE REPORTS
PHILADELPHIA -- An overwhelming underdog in its first NCAA tournament appearance, Albany nearly pulled off an historic upset over Connecticut.
In the end, the Huskies' skill and experience was too much for the Great Danes.
Marcus Williams scored a season-high 21 points and Denham Brown added 17, helping top-seeded Connecticut overcome a 12-point, second-half deficit to beat 16th-seeded Albany 72-59 on Friday night.
Connecticut (28-3) plays Sunday against the winner of the Kentucky-UAB game in the second round of the Washington Regional.
Jamar Wilson had 19 points and Kirsten Zoellner and Lucious Jordan each had 12 for Albany (21-11).
A No. 16 seed has never beaten a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. But Albany played like it belonged on the same floor with one of the nation's perennial powerhouse programs. No one thought Albany could match Connecticut's depth and talent -- except for the Great Danes.
An upstate New York institution of 16,000, Albany never had a winning season in nine years at the Division I level until now, and finished 5-23 just two years ago.
But Albany led 50-38 points 8 1/2 minutes into the second half, before the Huskies went on a 20-4 run.
Josh Boone started it with a layup, Williams hit a 3-pointer and went end-to-end for a layup following a turnover as Connecticut closed to 50-45.
After Jordan made a spinning shot for Albany, Brown hit a 3-pointer, Jeff Adrien got a dunk and Brown tied it at 52 with two free throws.
A 3-pointer by Williams from the left circle gave Connecticut a 55-52 lead with 5:48 left and the Huskies never trailed again.
Williams' fifth 3-pointer put Connecticut ahead 61-55, and Brown made another 3 to extend the lead to 66-55.
A 21 1/2-point favorite, Connecticut only led 31-30 at halftime. A 13-0 run early in the second half gave Albany a 43-33 lead.
Zoellner scored on a put-back, electrifying the purple-and-yellow clad section of the crowd. With Albany fans chanting, "You can't break us," Jason Siggers nailed a 3-pointer to cap the run and give the Great Danes a 10-point lead almost 6 minutes in.
On the same court earlier, 16th-seeded Monmouth pushed top-seeded Villanova before losing 58-45 in the Minneapolis Regional.
The Great Danes did even better than the Hawks.
Jordan hit a 3-pointer from the top of the circle for Albany's first points 2:59 into the game, and the Great Danes took a 9-3 lead. Connecticut committed nine turnovers before Albany had one, but led 16-15 at that point.
Connecticut was No. 1 in The Associated Press poll for five weeks this season. In the previous nine years, the Huskies won 22 games in the NCAA tournament, including two national titles (1999 and 2004).
Arizona 94, Wisconsin 75
The scoreboard said it no longer mattered, but Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan, rooted in the hardscrabble nature of his hometown of Chester, Pa., wasn't getting the message.
So he kept on coaching, calling for block-outs, for someone to take a charge, for someone to set a screen.
"No matter what the score is, you keep trying to milk every minute because you're getting ready for the next one," he said.
For Ryan and the Badgers, the next one will have to wait until the fall.
The Wildcats (20-12) dominated every aspect of the game, piling up more points than the usually stingy Badgers (19-12) gave up in a game all season.
Villanova 58, Monmouth 45
Villanova had the No. 1 seed, the home-court advantage, and a resume that has them unquestionably among the nation's elite.
None of that seemed to faze unheralded Monmouth.
Pushed by a pesky Monmouth team aiming to pull off an unprecedented upset, the top-seeded Wildcats prevailed.
"We knew about Monmouth, we knew they were a very good team," Wildcats guard Allan Ray said. "We definitely didn't underestimate them."
Kentucky 69, UAB 64
This year, it was Kentucky delivering the early round NCAA tournament exit to UAB.
The eighth-seeded Wildcats earned a small dose of revenge for two of their most torturous tourney losses of the past 25 years, getting a career-high 25 points from Bobby Perry.
Perry scored 19 of his points in the second half, nine straight early in the half, and made all 10 of his free-throw attempts. Perry had little help offensively, with no other Wildcats player in double figures. But they needed little more with Perry having the game of his career.