Shabazz Napier

Now comes the test. Up until now, it had been mostly exuberance, wins, upsets and close defeats for UConn. Then the Huskies ran up against the No. 1 team in the nation and were taken down. They have scars and bruises. Were they taken out? That's what...

The UConn men crossed the halfway mark with an uplifting win at Notre Dame, and began the second half with an exciting, but ultimately disappointing loss to No. 1 Louisville. With no postseason, the Huskies' goal for 2012-13 is more abstract — to...

Willma Samuel moved her family across the borough, to a quiet street in the South Canarsie section of Brooklyn. "I wanted Terrence to grow up with peace," she said, referring to the youngest, by far, of her three boys. "My older sons grew up where it...

PITTSBURGH — The Huskies can expect more of the same, perhaps with the volume turned up. "They're tough, just like Louisville," coach Kevin Ollie said of Pittsburgh. "They're scrappy, just like Louisville. We've got to keep them out of transition,...

Shabazz Napier came out with his teammates on Saturday, began shooting and the "game-time" decision was made. He would try to play. Napier, a junior, bruised his left shoulder last Monday against Louisville, when he took a hard fall early in the game,...

This was not the cheerleader Kevin Ollie of his first few months on the job. This was not the Ollie of Ollie-isms. There was no talk of stairs and escalators on this day. There was no talk about a time to seed and a time to harvest. Ollie was terse....

Perhaps it should be this way. UConn is about to play what could be its defining game of the season, and the time to prepare and think about it was limited to one day. "Whether we have one day or five days to prepare," coach Kevin Ollie said, "we're...

The home team had grappled back from six points behind to tie the game, and Purcell Pavilion was getting loud. An intimidating scene for most teams, perhaps, but this UConn men's basketball team has shown several times now that it is cut from unusually...

Site: Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh Time: Noon TV: ESPN2 (John Saunders, Dereck Whittenburg) Radio: WTIC-AM 1080 (Joe D'Ambrosio, Wayne Norman) Series history: Pittsburgh, 32-28. Last meeting: UConn, 74-65, March 3, 2012 Streaks: UConn L1,...

Peyton Siva doesn't particularly like Louisville's latest national ranking. The Cardinals' senior point guard doesn't like the view from on top, doesn't like looking down at the rest of college basketball, not in January anyway. But Siva really hated...

Junior Shabazz Napier has never missed a game at UConn, but the pain in his left shoulder, the result of a hard fall against Louisville on Monday night, could change that. "When I woke up [Tuesday] I was in a lot of pain," Napier said at Gampel...

— A year later, almost to the day, Ryan Boatright was retracing his steps. He went down the elevator at the team hotel Friday, then along the hallway. That's where he was stopped last year, just before the dining room. That's where his season was...