The Huskiest Husky

Khalid El-Amin is Connecticut’s point. And counterpoint.

He is 200 pounds of complexity and contradiction, packed on a 5-foot-10 frame.

He arrived as a bearded freshman last season, looking not a day under 29.

A Muslim, he fasts during Ramadan, except on game days.

He is the son and brother of imams--religious leaders--in Minneapolis.

And at 19, he is a married father of two.

Seen from afar, he is the Huskies’ stocky, cocky sophomore point guard.

Up close?

“Fascinating,” said Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun, who needs El-Amin’s leadership more than ever as the Huskies--No. 1 for a few more days--prepare to play No. 4 Stanford on Saturday in Palo Alto after losing for the first time Monday, to Syracuse, while high-scoring Richard Hamilton and starting center Jake Voskuhl were on the bench because of injuries.

Hamilton, the versatile junior swingman who is one of the leading contenders for national player of the year, probably will play Saturday, his injury no worse than a thigh bruise.

Voskuhl, however, is out indefinitely because of a stress fracture in his foot.

That leaves UConn without its 6-11 center and best interior defender when it can least afford it--against Stanford’s physical front line.

UConn didn’t respond well without Hamilton and Voskuhl in the 59-42 loss to Syracuse. El-Amin, who has scored big several times in the last two seasons but has been hampered by a sore hamstring recently, didn’t pick up the slack--scoring only six points on two-for-12 shooting.

El-Amin, though, has a solid backer in Calhoun, who loves the feisty intelligence of a player who doesn’t act or play the way he looks.

“Khalid is the classic example of don’t judge a book by its cover,” Calhoun said. “You might say he’s abrasive. I say, ‘No, he’s energetic, and a very caring teammate.’ ”

Hamilton, a quieter sort, often takes a back seat to El-Amin, who does lots of talking.

“He’ll drive you crazy at times,” Calhoun said. “Sometimes you want to say, ‘Khalid, will you just shut up?’ And yet I don’t want him to shut up.”

Maybe El-Amin wasn’t a born leader, but he arrived in Storrs, Conn., as a fully formed one. On his recruiting trip two years ago, the players organized the usual pick-up game to size him up.

El-Amin ended up running the show, setting up plays, directing traffic.

“I saw a team that just needed one sparkplug,” El-Amin said as he steered the Huskies to the final eight in the NCAA tournament last spring. “I think I was the sparkplug.”

Most impressive was that the players accepted that.

El-Amin stepped in at point guard as a freshman and has started 56 of 57 games in less than two full seasons with the Huskies.

“Even coming on his visit--he wasn’t even here yet, and he was yelling at guys, telling ‘em where to go,” said guard Ricky Moore, the only senior starter. “And everybody liked it, Well, some guys didn’t like it, but as a captain I liked it, knowing it would make my job easy.”

Hamilton, the unassuming superstar, doesn’t begrudge El-Amin anything.

“I think sometimes just playing with him gives me enthusiasm,” Hamilton said. “I’m more of a laid-back person. Khalid’s more excited. He always brings a lot of enthusiasm, regardless of what he’s doing.

” . . . If you’re sitting in a room, the first person that’s going to say something, that’s Khalid for you. Regardless, he’s going to set the tone from the beginning. Let you know about himself, let you know what he’s about.

“I’m more about letting everybody talk, say their little part, then I’ll say my little part. I think we play off each other great.”

Little surprise then, that when the Huskies took an overseas tour last summer and stopped for camel rides in the Mideast, it was El-Amin who grabbed the reins.

Even back in high school, others instinctively followed his lead.

When El-Amin sank a game-winning shot from around half court to keep Minneapolis North High in the hunt for one of three consecutive state championships, he leaped over the scorer’s table on his way into the stands to celebrate with his family.

Along came his teammates, right behind him, a scene so amusing it was shown on sports highlights shows around the country.

“He was like the Pied Piper,” said his mother, Arlene. “They didn’t know where he was going. They just followed him.”

The nation’s image of El-Amin, such as it exists, was probably etched after a game at Pittsburgh in December.

UConn scored five points in the final nine seconds for a 70-69 victory.

Hamilton can score from anywhere, averages 22 points a game and has scored 30 points or more four times this season, getting 39 against Boston College. El-Amin is capable of scoring outbursts, yet averages only 13.

But it was the huskiest Husky who drove the lane, spun and nailed a short jump shot with two seconds left for the game-winning basket.

And with that, the fiery El-Amin leaped atop the scorer’s table and taunted the rowdy fans whose upset bid he had just killed. The film clip of that was replayed on highlight shows again and again.

He offers little by way of self-defense.

“You just have to get to know me,” El-Amin said. “I’m not worried about what people think.”

But the Huskies--Calhoun among them--said the Pitt fans had taunted El-Amin with slurs about his race and background throughout the game.

El-Amin had the final word.

“Maybe that wasn’t the best decision, but if you had been there and heard everything they were saying . . . “ Voskuhl said. “That was just a bad experience. It’s not really possible to describe him. He’s a good person.”

Hamilton even laughs at the image of El-Amin on the scorer’s table.

“I mean, that’s just him,” he said. “You know, I’ve seen a high school tape. Exact same thing.

“I was laughing at the situation because that’s him. That’s the type of fire he has.”

El-Amin does not wear his heart--or his religion--on his sleeve, but if you look down at his shoes on the court, you will find printed there the names of his children--Tezzaree, 2, and Ishmael, the son his wife, Jessica, gave birth to in December.

El-Amin was only 17 when Tezzaree was born, circumstances his family grants were hardly ideal, but were no fault of the child’s.

“God would never put a burden too big on you that you couldn’t bear that burden,” El-Amin told the Hartford Courant last year.

His name is a reflection of his Muslim faith. His father, Charles, used to be the prayer leader of the mosque the family attends, Masjid An-nur in Minneapolis. Now his brother, Makram, 29, is the leader of the same mosque.

El-Amin says there is a community of believers in Connecticut, but with the demands of basketball and his own family, he is not able to be much a part of it.

“I have to practice my beliefs on my own,” he said.

During Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that began around Christmas and continued until late January this basketball season, he fasted from dawn to dusk.

He made an exception for game days, having realized during high school he couldn’t play well when he was weakened from hunger.

“I try to make up those days another time,” he said.

“It has gotten easier. You see your teammates eating. It can be hard to fight that off. I love to eat, almost any type of food. I just go out of the room and try to get away.”

UConn fans--still waiting for their team’s first trip to the Final Four after so many close calls--wonder how long it will be before he gets away from them, taking his unlikely body to the NBA.

“[Having a family] makes me work harder,” he said. “I have something to work for, not only myself.”