For Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, this trip to the Carrier Dome was different.

Calhoun looked to the opposite bench and saw Bruce Weber and Gary Williams, not Jim Boeheim. But whenever he looked down, Calhoun found a reminder of the Syracuse head coach — the words ‘Jim Boeheim Court.”

‘It’s an honor to play on Jim Boeheim Court tonight,’ Calhoun said after the Huskies’ 71-59 victory over Southern Illinois on Friday. ‘Jimmy Boeheim is the most helpful coach. There were two guys who were great to me when I came to the Big East. It was an honor to play on his court, which he so richly deserves.’

Calhoun also praised the city of Syracuse and the fans. A total of 58,885 attended the two sessions, making the East Region the nation’s highest in attendance.

‘Everybody we met here in Syracuse, it’s really a great basketball atmosphere,’ Calhoun said. ‘I didn’t go to the bars, but my sons did. Everybody I met in the hotel, in here, it was impeccably run. People were incredible.“

The court naming also caught Williams’ eye. Williams has experience in the Carrier Dome, having coached in the Big East with Boston College prior to his tenure at Maryland.

‘I walk out there, and Boeheim’s name is right in front of me,” he said. “It’s nice that they honored him. I’ll say this: the Syracuse fans have always been great fans. They’re into basketball, they know the game and they really support their school.’

Saying goodbye

Kentucky’s Tayshaun Prince walked into the press conference after Friday’s loss using his shirt to rub his eye. When he sat down and looked ahead, the bright lights shone in his face but showed evidence of recently shed tears.

For Prince, the Wildcats’ 78-68 loss to Maryland marked the final game of his college career. The senior led Kentucky with 17 points and seven rebounds on 6-for-15 shooting. While the game was certainly not the best of his career, he did knock down a three-pointer in front of a taunting Maryland crowd to tie the game at 45.

‘We just wanted to go out there and give it all we had for 40 minutes,’ Prince said. ‘Yeah, it does hurt that this will be my last game. But overall I thought I did what I had to do for us to win the basketball game.’

In the loss, Prince passed Cotton Nash to take seventh place on Kentucky’s all-time scoring list. He ends his Kentucky career with 1,775 points and 204 three-pointers.

No name, no longer

Southern Illinois put itself in the national spotlight by reaching for the Sweet 16, and its center, senior Rolan Roberts, probably put his name in a few scouts’ little black books with his performance against Connecticut.

The 6-foot-6, 250-pound senior center dropped 24 points on the Huskies on 11-for-16 shooting. He scored 14 of SIU’s first 16 points. Despite his school’s relative anonymity, Roberts’ performance did not surprise Connecticut.

‘We knew how good he was,’ UConn’s Caron Butler said. ‘He did a great job today covering a lot of situations. He got a lot of opportunities and due to his strength and his body, he was able to will buckets in.’

This and that

Only about 400 fewer fans attended last night’s game than Friday’s doubleheader. Connecticut appeared to have the most fans in attendance. … The media took up two full rows of over 70 seats apiece courtside, as well as an additional overflow row of chairs. … The transition team at the Carrier Dome began dismantling a press area behind the curtain as well as the seating section behind press row immediately after yesterday’s game to set up for lacrosse. The men’s and women’s teams play at the Dome on Wednesday. … Former Terrapin and NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason attended the game.

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Published on March 24, 2002 at 12:00 pm