Consistency is the key to winning basketball games and unfortunately the Huskies have not quite found it yet. Although UConn would step up against Georgetown on the road winning 66-59 on Saturday evening, they were then promptly defeated at Oklahoma on Monday 77-65. But in the midst of a difficult week, there were two constants for UConn: Charlie Villanueva and Marcus Williams.

I Believe

In the midst of an early season slump that he just couldn't seem to shake, Charlie Villanueva told the media over and over that he had not lost confidence in himself, or his game, and that he was sure things were bound to turn around for him. He never wavered from that conviction and would simply start to enforce his will in the paint as he fought out of his slump. It was then that Charlie started coming back with a vengeance.

After a breakout performance against Central Connecticut where he scored 20 points and grabbed 7 rebounds on December 22nd, Charlie would finally turn the corner. And once Charlie turned that corner there would be no turning back. During the four game span leading up to the Georgetown game Villanueva would average 15.5 points, 8 rebounds and nearly 2 blocks per game.

Villanueva would continue his terrific play once again stepping up against the Hoyas and the Sooners. Charlie would go for 19 points and 13 rebounds in the victory against Georgetown and 13 points and 14 rebounds against Oklahoma as he battled the Sooners big men almost single-handedly.

With Josh Boone and Ed Nelson rendered ineffective against Oklahoma and Hilton Armstrong leaving the game with a knee injury, Charlie would step up big time in the post, keeping UConn in the game down low often battling two Oklahoma post players on both offense and defense.

While Josh Boone, Denham Brown, Rashad Anderson, Rudy Gay, Ed Nelson and Antonio Kellogg struggled to score, Villanueva would take it upon himself to carry UConn in the post in a valiant, hard fought battle on both ends of the floor against the Sooners big men Taj Gray and Kevin Bookout.

Villanueva has now averaged 15.8 points and 9.8 rebounds over the last six games. After his disappointing early season slump, he is putting up first team All-Big East type of statistics at the power forward position and doesn't look to have any plans of slowing down soon as he has played better and better as the competition has risen.

Williams Battles Sooners

With Villanueva carrying UConn in the paint, Marcus Williams (16 points, 8 assists, 8 rebounds) would play his heart out to try and spark the Huskies backcourt against Oklahoma in the best game of his UConn career.

Williams would take, and make, big time clutch shots over and over and show the heart of a champion while trying to get his teammates going. Williams shot 7-for-14 from the floor including 2-of-4 from three point range as he dished 8 assists to boot. Marcus would shoot over and drive past the ultra quick, (and ultra short) Drew Lavender all night long, seemingly able to do whatever he wanted against Oklahoma's star point guard. For good measure Williams would also out-rebound all of UConn's frontcourt players, with the exception of Villanueva, grabbing 8 rebounds from the point guard position.

As Williams found his offense, hitting his career high in scoring (16 points), he played within himself, he never got selfish and he did everything he could to get his teammates involved as well. Unfortunately for Williams, no one else could get it going offensively; and the Sooners continuously beat UConn down court for easy transition lay-ups and open three-point looks, negating a terrific effort by Villanueva and Williams who shot well over 50% while the rest of the team struggled mightily to find their offensive groove combining for just 13-for-48 shooting for the game.

Although his passing game has never been questioned, Williams leads the Big East and is third in the nation in assists, this may have been just the contest he needed to instill confidence in his game, particularly in his ability to drive the lane and to create his own offense against top level teams. Williams also seems to have been bitten with a competitive bug and a fierce will to win that drove him during the Oklahoma game, much more so than has been seen from him before Monday night, a trait head coach Jim Calhoun loves to see and a quality reminiscent of Williams mentor, a former Husky some say had the biggest heart and competitive fire of them all, Taliek Brown.

Just a Little Patience

As the young Huskies feel their way through the early part of the Big East season and find their identity as a team without last season's leaders Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon and Taliek Brown, the emergence of Villanueva and Williams will go a long way in the Huskies success. With the strong inside presence of Villanueva and Boone, and the point guard play of Williams, UConn's obvious need is perimeter scoring from their wing players. Rashad Anderson, Denham Brown, and Rudy Gay have all slumped plenty early this season and will need to find their way offensively to round out the team and compliment Williams point guard play and UConn's strong inside attack.

For fans in the know, this is nothing new or surprising for a young UConn team early in league play. While Connecticut starts three sophomores, a freshman and a junior, look for them to continue to improve as Calhoun molds the team and gives them direction. Although they have gotten off to a rocky start, the pieces are all there for Calhoun, the Huskies mastermind, to fit together. And as always under the direction of Jim Calhoun, you can expect UConn to be a factor when it matters most.

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