Almost 14 minutes had gone by in Purdue's Nov. 30 match-up at Connecticut, and everything was going smoothly for the Boilermakers. Too smoothly.
Erin Lawless had just scored on a layup to bring Purdue into an 18-18 tie with the mighty Huskies. The Boilermakers had led for most of the game to that point.
"We were going along fine, but then we made a few turnovers, and, man, (the Huskies) convert turnovers into points," said Purdue assistant coach Martin Clapp. "We were playing along with them, and then their athleticism took off and got us on our heels."
Connecticut closed the half on a 17-2 run and won the game 66-55.
Preventing such morale-breaking runs will be one of the Golden Eagles' main priorities Saturday night when they take on the No. 5 Huskies (18-2, 8-0 Big East) at the Al McGuire Center. Contrary to his team's struggles, Clapp said he believes it can be done.
"The big thing is not taking quick shots," Clapp said. "A lot of the time we weren't making (Connecticut) play defense the whole time. We were getting rid of the ball too soon."
If patience will be key for Marquette on offense, aggressiveness and commotion will pay off on defense.
After watching his team fall at the hands of the Huskies 84-63 on Jan. 21, St. John's assistant coach Joe Tartamella said there were a few things he would have had the Red Storm do differently in retrospect.
"Their big kid (forward Tina Charles) is hard to defend, and you've got to try to get her into foul trouble," Tartamella said. "Since she's a freshman, it might be easier to do that."
It sure wasn't for St. John's. Charles scored 15 points against the Red Storm and committed only two fouls.
Even if the Golden Eagles contain Charles, the Huskies present a laundry list of other highly talented players, five of whom average double digits in scoring.
"It all starts with their point guard (sophomore Renee Montgomery)," said West Virginia assistant coach Chester Nichols, whose team lost to Connecticut 63-44 on Jan. 2. "She's the catalyst. She stretches opposing defenses out. She was (2005-'06 Big East) Freshman of the Year for a reason."
The Huskies pose match-up problems even when giving Montgomery a rest. Junior Ketia Swanier is fourth in the Big East in assists (4.4), and she comes off the bench.
On the receiving end of most of those passes are juniors Mel Thomas, who shoots 44.5 percent from three-point range, and Charde Houston, who leads the conference in field-goal percentage (59.1 percent).
So how does a team game plan to face so many offensive weapons?
"It's hard to prepare for (Connecticut)," Tartamella said. "You're not going to stop everyone. You just hope to contain their key players."
All 13 of them.