Throwback: Efejuku, Hill lead a monster second half comeback at UConn (video)
Trailing trailing by 11 at the half, Providence became Lob City in the second.
From 2003 through 2008, Providence had won four straight games at Connecticut.
The ‘03 and ‘04 victories helped cement Ryan Gomes as one of the best players in the country, but the Friars went three years in-between games in Connecticut when they arrived in January 2007.
The 2006-07 season was when center Herbert Hill turned into a star for Providence. Hill was a fifth year senior who saw his scoring average rise from 1.0 as a freshman to 4.8 as a sophomore, then 9.0 as a junior, before taking off and putting up 18.1 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks per game, while shooting .642 from the field.
Hill seemingly got better by the game, closing out his senior year with five furious performances:
29 points, 15 rebounds, 8 blocks vs. Syracuse
28 points, 16 rebounds, 6 blocks at South Florida
27 points, 6 rebounds, 6 blocks at St. John’s
20 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks in the Big East Tournament against West Virginia
19 points, 14 rebounds, 2 blocks in an NIT loss to Bradley
Had the ‘06-07 Friars avoided some bad early losses, Hill’s tremendous senior season is likely remembered far differently by Friar fans.
PC finished 18-10 that season, and 8-8 in the Big East, behind Hill and a core of sophomores that included Weyinmi Efejuku (14.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists), Sharaud Curry (15.3 points, 4.4 assists), and Geoff McDermott (9.5 points, 9.1 rebounds).
The 16 team Big East was so deep that the 8-8 Friars finished 10th in the conference.
Connecticut struggled in 2006-07. Since the turn of the century, the Huskies won 20 games in 2000, then 27, 23, 33, 23, and 30 games before finishing 17-14 in 2007.
Still, UConn featured four players who reached the NBA, and eight players ranked in the top 60 nationally coming out of high school.
Providence’s trip to Hartford in 2007 will be remembered by Friartown as the game that turned into a dunkfest in the second half.
The Friars trailed 45-34 at halftime, but ripped off a 16-0 run out of the break, sparked by Efejuku, who was terrific in scoring 16 of his 19 points in the second half. He scored in spectacular fashion, as Providence outscored UConn 50-27 over the final 20 minutes. PC shot 63% in the second half to UConn’s 24.
Providence played just seven players, with six of them scoring in double figures. Both Efejuku and Hill (going up against Hasheem Thabeet) scored 19, Curry went for 12 points and ten assists, McDermott had ten points, seven rebounds, and seven assists, while Jon Kale added ten points and nine boards. Brian McKenzie added 11 off the bench.
UConn, who spent the first nine weeks of the season ranked, never really recovered. This was their fourth loss in a row.