SPORTS
Beating Theni
At Their Own Game
JIM SHEA
Special to The Jewish News
im Calhoun can get
ugly. He'll slap a player
upside the psyche,
stomp around on his ego, get
in his face and under his skin.
During a game, when his de-
meanor rivals Cujo's, the
University of Connecticut
coach is a raging stream of
consciousness.
"Bad lifestyle," he screams
in response to a Murray Wil-
liams mistake.
"Weight training," he spits
disgustedly at strength coach
Jay Hoffman.
"You couldn't guard a
couch," he informs Tate
George, who during his career
has been blamed for every-
thing from mental lapses to
the decline of the dollar on
world currency markets.
The Wrath of Khan is noth-
ing compared to the Wrath of
Calhoun. And even though
the players have learned to
dismiss the bleep-bleep
delivery in favor of the
message, no one wants to be
on the receiving end of a
Calhoun tirade.
Except for Nadav Henefeld.
When Calhoun finally got
uptight and personal with the
freshman forward from Israel
during the Connecticut
Mutual Classic in December,
Henefeld wasn't chagrined.
He was delighted.
"It was one of his greatest
moments when Coach finally
cursed him out," says Hoff-
man, one of Henefeld's closest
friends. "He was so happy. He
thought he was being pam-
pered a little and he didn't
like it. He didn't want his
teammates to think he was
special. It was, and is, very
important to him to fit in."
The 6-foot-7, 226-pound
Henefeld is one of the keys to
the No. 8 Huskies' surprising
success. He is averaging 10.7
points, 6.2 rebounds and 28.1
minutes per game. He
already holds the school
record for steals in a season
(95) and is second nationally
in that category. So adept is
the former Israeli soldier at
commandeering the ball, that
one New York City tabloid
has tagged him "The Gaza
Stripper."
j
Henefeld nails a basket against Fairfield University.
Nadav Henefeld, an
Israeli citizen, came to the
U.S. just hoping to play a
little basketball. Now
NCAA opponents are
wondering how to stop
him.
Before UConn's game with
St. John's Jan. 27, Henefeld
was presented with a plaque
naming him Big East player
of the week. He earned the
honor for his play against
Syracuse and Georgetown
two weeks ago, and is the first
freshman to win the award.
He has also been Big East
rookie of the week twice.
Walking to mid-court to ac-
cept the plaque, Henefeld was
greeted with a thunderous
standing ovation from the
foaming-at-the-mouth Husky
fans, who appreciate his
diverse, team-oriented game.
Ben Knows
The Day'
IN adav "The Day"
Henefeld at East-
ern Michigan
University?
EMU basketball coach
Ben Braun can be
forgiven if he gets a glaz-
ed look when the UConn
phenom is mentioned.
Braun got to see the
Israeli ace "up close and
personal" when the
Henefeld-led Israeli na-
tional team beat the
Braun-coached U.S. squad
for the gold medal in last
summer's World Mac-
cabiah Games in Israel.
The showings by
Henefeld and his fellow
Israelis had Braun plung-
ing into Israel's
recruiting waters — only
to find such "big fish" as
St. John's and the Uni-
versity of Connecticut al-
ready there.
Henefeld chose the
UConn Huskies and has
since earned national
plaudits for his play.
"I should have started
the summer before," rued
Braun, who also found
himself and EMU
outclassed by the much
bigger recruiting budgets
of the two Big East Con-
ference schools. As recent-
ly as last month, for in-
stance, Howie Dicken-
mann, UConn assistant
coach, was on a recruiting
trip to the Jewish state. ❑
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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