The school said in a statement Thursday that Calhoun had not been well the past few days and would not be at the Wachovia Center for the afternoon tip-off.

UConn sports medicine director Dr. Jeff Anderson was with Calhoun at the team hotel, but the school did not say what was wrong with the coach.

The coach ran UConn's practice Wednesday in Philadelphia, and attended the team's news conference.

"Jim was fine at dinner last night. He woke up this morning and didn't feel well," said Tim Tolokan, UConn's former sports information director and a close friend of Calhoun's.

Calhoun's son, Jeff, was at the Wachovia Center and said his father urged him to go watch the Texas A&M-BYU game, which the Aggies won 79-66.

Calhoun missed time in January of 2008 with what the team called a combination of stress and exhaustion. The coach also said then he'd been suffering from a gastric problem, something he's had for years.

Associate head coach George Blaney was to coach the Huskies in Calhoun's absence.

This is the third NCAA tournament game Calhoun has missed. In the two previous instances, UConn went on to win the national title.

In 1999, Calhoun missed a first-round game against Texas-San Antonio. In 2004, he left a second-round game against DePaul after becoming ill.

Calhoun has missed 21 games in his career, including one other game this season — a Jan. 3 contest against Rutgers.

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