NCAA Game Summary - Pittsburgh at Connecticut

Hartford, CT (Basketball News) - Denham Brown scored 20 points to lead No. 4 Connecticut over the previously-undefeated and eighth-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers, 68-65, in Big East action at Hartford Civic Center.

Ben Gordon added 16 points and Emeka Okafor scored 11 with five blocks for the Huskies (15-2, 3-0 Big East), who fell three spots from No. 1 in this week’s poll after a loss to North Carolina over the weekend.

That setback ended UConn’s 11-game winning streak, but the Huskies got back on the right track against a Pittsburgh team with the nation’s longest current winning streak.

The Panthers (18-1, 4-1) were in the midst of their best start since the 1927-28 season and had vaulted five places in the current poll after occupying the 13th spot a week ago. They were led by 24 points from Carl Krauser.

Pittsburgh did not lead in the game until a jumper by Jaron Brown gave his team a 49-47 advantage with seven minutes gone in the second half. That bucket capped a 9-2 Panther run, but the Huskies would later go ahead by four when a Josh Boone dunk made it 60-56 with 5:19 remaining.

Krauser responded at the other end with a three-pointer to get the Panthers within one, and the teams played close until Boone’s tip-in gave UConn a 66-63 lead with a minute to play.

Krauser drained both ends of a one-and-one to make it a one-point game again, but Brown responded with a pair from the line to restore Connecticut’s three- point advantage.

Okafor then came up big at the other end with a block on Krauser in the lane.

"He can change the game more than any other single player in college basketball right now," Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun said about his All- American candidate.

Taliek Brown blew a chance to put the game away for the Huskies when he missed a free throw, but it didn’t matter. Pittsburgh freshman Antonio Graves had an open look at a three-pointer as time winded down, but his shot hit nothing but iron at the buzzer.

"We needed a three," Krauser said. "I was kind of hot, but I saw two guys close out on me and Antonio Graves was wide open, so I didn’t want to be selfish. I gave him the ball and things just didn’t go our way."

In the first half, Connecticut led from the start and went ahead by as many as 10 points when Boone’s dunk made it a 20-10 game with 11:08 remaining before the break.

Pitt responded with a 10-2 burst, however, and pulled within 22-20 on Krauser’s three-pointer minutes later. But the Huskies used a 7-2 spurt after that to go ahead by seven points and maintained that advantage until the end of the half, heading into the locker room with a 39-32 advantage.