David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
Connecticut Huskies sophomore guard Omar Calhoun is coming off a freshman season in which he started 29 games and put up 11.1 points per game. For his efforts, he was named to CollegeInsider.com’s Freshman All-America Team and the Big East All-Rookie Team. Coming into this season he was expected to be a viable offensive option to support both Shabazz Napier and Ryan Boatright. It hasn’t exactly worked out that way, though. This year he is averaging 7.8 points per game in just 20 minutes per contest.
Following their loss to Stanford, Calhoun was removed from the starting lineup by coach Kevin Ollie after a three-point performance on 1-of-8 shooting in 21 minutes. In the next game, he scored just three points again against Washington on 1-of-5 shooting before rebounding and scoring 12 against Eastern Washington. But once again he looked lost coming off the bench.
On Tuesday night in the loss to Houston, he didn’t score and played less than five minutes, going 0-for-2 from the field. On the season, Ollie has lost faith in the once-promising player while only playing him over 26 minutes twice.
On a team that relies on the consistency of Napier and Boatright on a nightly basis, Calhoun’s output becomes more and more important for this team moving forward. Not being able to count on DeAndre Daniels on a night-in-night-out basis, Calhoun is just one of three players who is multi-faceted on offense and can create with the ball in his hands. If I were Kevin Ollie, I’d work with him in practice to get him the looks he’s used to, sit down and talk with him, and re-insert him into the starting lineup for their next game at SMU on January 4.
Dan Karpuc is the Connecticut Huskies beat writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @dan_karpuc, “Like” him on Facebook, and add him to your network on Google.
