Some things never change about UConn basketball.
Ray Allen is still the most popular with the fans and still might be the best player.
Caron Butler still wants to win more than anyone else.
Rudy Gay still creates highlights at the drop of a hat.
Emeka Okafor still doesn't allow layups on his watch.
Rashad Anderson still can't help himself from shooting — every time.
And coach Jim Calhoun, the reason all of the players and many of the 8,369 fans came to Mohegan Sun Arena Saturday night, remains true to his nature as well.
"I yelled at them,"
Calhoun said. "I can always yell."
The players didn't have to be yelled at to shoot Saturday as Rudy Gay scored a game-high 38 points, including the winning basket, to lead his Blue squad over the White 119-117 in the fourth Jim Calhoun Charity All-Star Game. Gay, who didn't even start for the Blue team, was named the game's MVP.
Gay's rebound and put-back with 15 seconds left in the game provided the winning margin. His team had trailed by 10 in the fourth quarter, but a 13-0 run put Blue back in the lead.
Allen, wearing the Kelly green sneakers of his employer, the Boston Celtics, missed a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left that would have put his White squad ahead.
White got the rebound and Kevin Ollie then had a chance to be a hero, but his 3-pointer was off, too. That rebound was grabbed by Allen, who, as he was falling out of bounds, tried to call timeout. The referees would not allow
the timeout, however, and Blue was awarded the ball.
Hilton Armstrong's last-second desperation play, which involved playfully — although illegally — slapping the ball out of Okafor's hands before he could in-bound it, was nearly rewarded. Armstrong got yet another 3-pointer off for the White as the buzzer sounded, but it resulted only in an air ball.
Marcus Williams added 18 points for the winners, along with 16 assists.
Donyell Marshall led the White team with 26 points and 15 rebounds. Ollie added 21 points, Butler 20, Armstrong 18 and Allen 18.
Aside from Donny Marshall, Khalid El-Amin, Richard Hamilton, Nadav Henefeld and Doron Sheffer, all of Calhoun's greatest players were on hand — although Josh Boone, Ben Gordon and Cliff Robinson did not play in the game.
"Everyone wants to come back here,"
said Okafor, the Charlotte Bobcats' big man. "You don't have to pull teeth to get us to come."
Many of the players described the weekend as a family reunion.
"It's always rewarding coming back here seeing coach, seeing the fans, seeing the people that got you started,"
Butler said. "This is the foundation right here. This is where it all started. It's rewarding coming back seeing all your brothers."
The night was designed to be about the players who could attend, but Calhoun made it a point to dedicate the evening to one who could not make it.
Robert "Spider"
Ursery, a forward at UConn from 1985-88 who was a part of the NIT Championship team, died at age 44 on Aug. 3 after a six-year battle with Hodgkins Disease.
"We'll never forget you, Spider,"
a slightly hoarse Calhoun, who has battled cancer no less than three times himself, said before the game. "You are part of our homecoming."
Ursery's funeral was earlier Saturday. His wife, Maxine, and much of his family from the St. Louis area were at the game. Each of the players wore wristbands with Ursery's No. 31 on them.
