In 2009, UConn came to Purcell Pavilion and ended Notre Dame's school-record, 45-game home win streak.

A year ago, sans Ryan Boatright, the Huskies ended the Irish's 29-game home win streak.

Notre Dame is now on a 12-game overall winning streak, which matches its best ever under head coach Mike Brey. Can UConn spoil another Irish streak? Or will Notre Dame top its previous best winning streak under Brey, originally set from Nov. 14, 2006 to Jan. 3, 2007?

*** Last year's 67-53 win at Notre Dame was an emotional one for UConn. The night before, the Huskies learned that Boatright's eligibility was still being looked into by the NCAA and they had to sit him out of the game, even though some 300 friends and family were slated to make the two-hour drive from his hometown of East Aurora, Ill., to South Bend. The group even had special UConn shirts with Boatright's name and No. 11 on the back made for the game (though far fewer than 300 showed up, since they knew he wouldn't be albe to play).

There are no eligibility issues this time for Boatright, however, and he's expecting a healthy turnout tomorrow afternoon.



Boatright is happy with the way he's been playing lately.

“I’m in a rhythm, man," he said. "I’ve got a flow going. Last year, I was holding it out. Now, I’ve been playing all year, I’m comfortable. The team chemistry is great. I’m actually having fun playing ball again. All this that’s gone on, it just adds fuel to the fire. Every time we come up against a Big East team, everybody doubts us. So, we’re looking forward to playing them tomorrow.”

Kevin Ollie likes what he's been seeing from the sophomore guard, as well.

“Today was one of his best practices ever. He looked like he was in a good place. Probably coming close to home, where he can see his family, puts you in that state of mind. Hopefully, he can put on a great show for his fans and family that’s coming down to watch him play.”

*** Remember when Jack Cooley was just known as the guy who looked a lot like former Irish teammate Luke Harangody?

He's come a long way over the past few years. Cooley, a 6-9, 246-pound senior, is aeraing 15.2 points and 11.2 rebounds per game to lead the Irish.

“He’s a double-double machine," said Ollie. "He’s just a load down there, and he don’t mind hitting you. It seems like he embraces it. It’s going to be a challenge for our big guys, but our big guys are playing exceptionally well, and I think they’re going to be up to it.”

Enosch Wolf and Tyler Olander will be charged with trying to stop Cooley. The watched some film of him on the flight to South Bend with coach Glen Miller.

“He’s a real physical guy," said Wolf. "We’ve got to hit him first, get him out of his position. He’s not a particularly fast player, but where he stands, you’ve got to hit him first and get him out of his position.”

“He doesn’t jump high, he’s just very strong. I’m probably going to be able to contest his shot and be able to shoot over him.”

*** Shabazz Napier was a little banged up at practice Friday, but it doesn't appear to be a big deal, according to Ollie.

*** A report by Mark Blaudschun at ajerseyguy.com stated that UConn was looking into joining the so-called "Catholic 7" in all sports but football, and that its football team could join the Mountain West Conference.

But a UConn official said that AD Warde Manuel has not had any such conversations and would not even consider separating the school's football program from its other sports.

The nation's first real snowstorm of the new year appears to be brewing as we speak, and UConn (and the writers that cover it) will be heading straight into the teeth of it.

Some 10-16 inches of snow are expected to fall in South Bend over the next couple of days. It's supposed to be particularly brutal tonight through tomorrow.

UConn is slated to practice at Gampel tomorrow, then take a 2 p.m. flight out of Bradley straight to South Bend. We'll see.

Saturday's game, of course, is an 11 a.m. start, in an attempt by ESPN to avoid going up against NFL playoff games. Notre Dame coach Mike Brey doesn't see the early start as a big deal.

“I don’t really think it’s a factor," he said. "When you’re practicing preseason, you’re weekend practices are usually 10, 11 a.m."

Alex Oriakhi doesn't think much of it, either.

“You’re not used to playing so early, but we practice pretty early, too, so it’s really not an excuse," he said. "You’ve got to get used to it. We practice at 8 a.m., so it shouldn’t make a difference. It’s basketball.”

But guess who does have a big problem with the 11 a.m. start?

“I’m not crazy about it," said Jim Calhoun. "I continue to say it’s a bad idea for everybody involved. Nine o’clock (p.m.) games are bad for people, and I don’t think 11 a.m. games are good … It’s the way things are, I guess you’ve got to live with it.”

*** UConn may be without Tyler Olander on Saturday. He's sat out the last two practices with a bruised right heel that's hurting him pretty badly. It happened in the West Virginia game.

DeAndre Daniels is expected to reclaim his starting spot over Niels Giffey, and Roscoe Smith will be the first power forward off the bench if Olander can't go.

Said Oriakhi, of the possibility of Olander being out: “I’m just looking at it as an opportulnity to hopefully play more minutes. I’ve got to step in there if he’s not able to go.”

*** Ryan Boatright, who hails from Aurora, Ill., just outside Chicago (about 120 miles from South Bend), says he could have some 400 friends and family at Saturday's game. Yup, 400.

Boatright is most looking forward to seeing his brother, Deahjay McAllister, who's now starting at point guard for Aurora High.

"It’s been a while since I’ve seen my little brother. I haven’t seen him since I left in the summertime ... The fans back at home aren’t really used to seeing me lose.”

*** As always, Shabazz Napier had some interesting things to say:

(on going scoreless in the win over West Virginia)

“I don’t look at how much I score, I look at how much we score. I’m not worried about that ... All my shots, except for the last one, were wide-open. I shot too strong, sometimes too short … Lamb and Andre finished around the basket, so I’m not worried about my shots not going in.”

(on his team's biggest problem)

“We’d be undefeated if we didn’t turn the ball over a lot. That has to do with myself, with Ryan, some of my other teammates.”

(on his comments after the Rutgers game that he didn't feel his teammates viewed him as a leader)

“I’m not even worried about that anymore. If it happens, it happens. We’ll find (a leader) sooner or later. We’re going to win games and lose games without a leader. I feel as though if we play team basketball, we should be fine. Within that, we’ll find a leader.”

Jim Calhoun has been insisting for a while now that he sees things in practice from Charles Okwandu and Ater Majok that fans and media aren't seeing in games.

"Suuuure you have, coach," has often been the collective (if unspoken) thought among UConn's media horde.

On Saturday, Calhoun's practice-time observations finally proved not to be fables – at least in the case of Okwandu. In the "where-did-that-come-from?" dept., Okwandu scored 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting, had five rebounds (three offensive) in 14 minutes and – perhaps most stunningly – only committed two fouls.

Okwandu, a raw, 7-foot junior center who had seen exactly one minute of action over the prior four games and didn't even make the trip to Cincinnati on Wednesday due to an intersession class, checked into the game just over four minutes into the action after Majok picked up his second foul. He immediately scored on a short lane jumper, and two minutes later, grabbed a rebound and hit a jump hook, then followed that up with putback.

In that four-minute span, Okwandu had matched his entire scoring output for the entire season.

Okwandu wound up hitting a 12-footer before the half ended and scoring off an inbounds pass early in the latter half.

"He shocked us a little bit, no question about it," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey confessed. "They can run a lot of bodies at you like that and run you down. He happened to really deliver. He did a good job getting on the backboard, made a couple of 10-foot jump shots. I didn't know if he could do that, and he did that today. It really hurt us."

Calhoun, however, wasn't as shocked.

"He's looked so good in practice," said the coach. "You wouldn't believe the two great days he had. I think the positive it does, it gives us another big guy, and it gives Ater somebody now, instead of worrying about what he has to do to help this team win, he has to work harder to get playing time over Charles. And that will be good for Ater."

It was enough to earn Okwandu what had to be another first: an invitation to the postgame media room.

"I just needed to come out of my shell and play very hard," said the soft-spoken big man. "I haven't been playing good from the beginning of this season, but I kept working hard. They keep telling me to work hard, and I did. When you work hard, it pays later. I think today was the day."

Calhoun isn't the only one who's noticed Okwandu's prowess in practice.

"He makes great moves in practice, makes that elbow jump shot that he made today," said Jerome Dyson. "It was really just a point of getting him in there. In past games, he's been in foul trouble. Today he played good defense, stayed on the floor and showed what he's capable of doing."

So, has Okwandu raised the bar to where Calhoun will expect this kind of performance regularly?

"I've always expected, both he and Ater … to break through. This is his breakthrough night, Ater hasn't had one. I fully expect Ater to have one. Ater does some things in practice, we aren't imagining them, we see them. I always think Jerome plays better in games than he does in practice. Charles and Ater always play better, up to this point, in practice."

Ah yes, Ater. After being replaced by Okwandu four minutes into the game, he didn't returned, finishing with zero points and no rebounds.

***Stanley Robinson sat in a chair in the interview room sporting a green hooded sweatshirt with a shamrock on it under the word "UConn." A "tribute" to today's opponent, Notre Dame? Nope.

"Ray Allen," Sticks said of the ex-UConn, current Celtic star.

If Robinson keeps playing like this, he'll be in the NBA next year with Allen, perhaps after being selected in the draft lottery.

Robinson is currently not only one of the best players in the Big East, he's one of the very best players in the entire country.

"He's got elite talent, he's starting to become an elite player," said Calhoun. "He's playing terrific. He feels good about himself.

Said Brey: "Jim's done a great job teaching him how to play and become a better basketball player. He was always a great athlete. He was probably a great athlete in sixth grade. But he's become a very good basketball player in their system, not forcing things, taking what the defense gives him. And I think this year, you can tell he leads this group. He's talking in the huddles and is setting a good tone with a lot of young frontline guys. Definitely one of the better players in the league and in the country."

As for "The Play" – Robinson's one-handed putback dunk of his own missed 6-footer off his own missed free throw 5 ½ minutes into the second half:

"That seems to happen almost every game. I can tell when I'm going to miss the shot, I can tell it's going to come back to me," Robinson said, with a shrug. "I missed the shot and I got the rebound back, missed that one, and I just stuck with it."

Calhoun was more impressed, but Dyson not as much.

"We've seen that from him before, it's really nothing you're kind of in awe (about), because you know he's capable of doing anything."

By the numbers:

***Thanks to Edwards and Okwandu (and two from Jamal Coombs-McDaniel), UConn's bench outscored Notre Dame's, 25-0.

***Luke Harangody scored a game-high 31 points on 14-for-27 shooting, but had just two free throw attempts. He was averaging more than 7 trips to the line per game.

***UConn outscored the Irish 50-28 in the paint.

***The lead changed 17 times in the game before the Huskies went ahead for good on Robinson's putback with 10:11 left.

***Dyson and Kemba Walker each had 10 assists, the first time a UConn duo has ever notched double-figures in assists in a Big East game.

***Robinson (22 and 16) Dyson and Walker each notched double-doubles.

***Robinson also helped hold Farmington's Tim Abromaitis to eight points on 3-for-9 shooting.

"... but what does Abromaitis do now that blows you away that maybe no one saw ..."

Can you imagine Jim Calhoun being asked that question on Saturday if Tim Abromaitis, the Farmington High product whose father starred at UConn in the 1970's, burns the Huskies for 30?

Actually, it would be a far less fair question to ask than it was when colleague Dave Solomon broached the Ryan Gomes subject back in 2004, leading to one of Calhoun's most famous blow-ups. Abromaitis was hardly a top recruit out of high school, with Northwestern and William & Mary his only other major suitors besides Notre Dame. (Still, Calhoun can't use the "I took Emeka Okafor and Caron Butler. They're not bad!" excuse. The only player UConn got in Abromaitis's 2007 recruiting class was Donnell Beverly).

For his part, Abromaitis hardly holds a grudge that his father's alma mater and hometown team didn't give him a sniff in high school.

"Not at all. Not really. I went through the whole process, they never really looked at me, so I was just taking it as what were the best options for me. I'm glad I ended up here."

He added that he didn't grow up dreaming about one day being a Husky.

"I never really thought about playing in college. I didn’t know if I'd be capable or not. Once I started getting recruited, they really didn’t come after me."

Abromaitis, a 6-foot-8, 235-pound junior with two years of eligibility left, is averaging 16.2 points per game. He's hit 40 of 77 3-point attempts for a 51.9-percent clip, third in the Big East (Stanley Robinson is second, though he's made just 12 of 21).

Can't say the Huskies couldn't use a shooter like that. Just sayin' ...

"He came along slowly," said Notre Dame coach Mike Brey. "He's the youngest kid we ever signed, he was stacked behind older guys. He absorbed our system, watching the older guys, and when he got an opportunity he took advantage of it."

Brey added that Abromaitis has a steady, calm demeanor, and that will help him control his emotions playing in his hometown on Saturday.

"He is who he is, and that really plays into his hands in a situation like this. I think that will really be helpful. His personality and demeanor will be helpful in this."

Oh, by the way, Abromaitis will graduate from Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business a full year ahead of schedule in May and has already been accepted in the school's MBA program.