February 6, 1999
STANFORD, Calif. - For now, the great debate about which coast has thebest college basketball is over. The East proved its superiority Saturday.
Khalid El-Amin had 23 points and No. 1 Connecticut, rebounding from its onlyloss of the season and again playing without its leading scorer, never trailedin a 70-59 victory over No. 4 Stanford.
The Huskies forced 16 turnovers and held the Cardinal to 35 percentshooting.
Mark Madsen had 13 points for Stanford, which fell behind by 18 points earlyand never caught the Huskies despite finishing off the first half with a 12-0run that included a five-point play sparked by a technical foul on theConnecticut bench.
Albert Mouring added 15 points and Kevin Freeman had 14 points and 11rebounds for Connecticut (20-1), which broke Stanford's 14-game home winningstreak. El-Amin had five assists and five steals.
Arthur Lee had 12 points for Stanford (19-4), which had been 24-0 at homeagainst non-conference opponents over the past five seasons.
Stanford coach Mike Montgomery has complained bitterly in recent years thatthe West gets little respect and that the Pac-10 is the nation's bestconference. Connecticut's convincing victory Saturday should temper suchremarks.
By the end of the game, a small group of Connecticut fans were tauntingStanford with chants of "Over-rated, over-rated."
Connecticut, coming off a 59-42 loss at home to No. 16 Syracuse, played forthe second straight game without leading scorer Richard Hamilton. Hamilton,averaging 22 points per game, is out with a thigh bruise. His replacement,Rashamel Jones, scored two points.
The Huskies' starting center, Jake Voskuhl, returned after missing theSyracuse game with a stress fracture of his left foot. He had two points andfour rebounds in 20 minutes.
After trailing by double digits through most of the first half, Stanfordpulled within four points at halftime and made several runs at the Huskies inthe second half.
The Cardinal pulled within a basket four times, including at 56-54 with 2:35remaining. The Huskies then ran off seven straight points - a foul-line jumperby Freeman and five free throws - to build the lead to nine points.
Lee hit a 3-pointer with 47 seconds left and Connecticut threw away theinbounds pass, but Stanford missed two shots and had to foul Mouring, who hittwo free throws. The Huskies hit 12 of 14 free throws over the final 94seconds.
Connecticut dominated the opening 16 minutes, taking advantage of Stanford'ssloppiness and poor shooting to take a 30-14 lead on a short jumper by El-Aminbetween two defenders. El-Amin had 16 points and four steals during that span.
The Huskies also controlled the defensive end, rejecting four Stanford shots- including a breakaway layup by Michael McDonald. At times, the Cardinalappeared intimidated by the quickness of Connecticut's defenders.
Stanford had 13 turnovers in those 16 minutes. The Cardinal have averaged 13turnovers a game this season.
But the Huskies did not score again in the half, and Stanford - helped bythe technical foul - ran off 12 straight points to end the first half.
Connecticut was leading 30-21 and on offense when Souleymane Wane was calledfor elbowing Lee and the technical foul was called. Lee hit two foul shots andone of the two free throws for the technical, then Mark Seaton completed afive-point play by dunking after Stanford got the ball out of bounds.
By ROB GLOSTER
AP Sports Writer