A Miracle Run In The Making? Top-Seeded Houston Next…

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Do You Believe in Miracles?

The Story: We do, and every miracle has a starting point. UConn won its first postseason game of the Dan Hurley era as the No. 9-seeded Huskies defeated No. 8 seed USF 80-73 in the opening round of the AAC tournament in Memphis. Christian Vital led the Huskies with 25 points as UConn hit 13-of-24 3-pointers to put away the Bulls.

Jalen Adams added 19 points with six rebounds and five assists before fouling out with 4:06 left and Tarin Smith scored 14 points for the Huskies. For USF, Laquincy Rideau returned after missing two games with a foot injury and scored a team-high 19 points.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Easy. It was Vital. He didn’t score until he nailed a 24-footer nearly 11 minutes in, but he made several shots with a hand in his face and was 6-of-9 from 3-point range. He’s a 40 percent-plus 3-point shooter on the season and when he gets hot, he has no qualms about jacking up shots. That’s good when he’s making them, and he made them in bunches yesterday.

“We’re not thinking about going back to Storrs right now, to just be honest with you,” Vital said. “We’re thinking about Houston, our next matchup, and going to the next round … with a lot of confidence, with a good group of guys who feel confident, not only in themselves but in each other. We have been through a lot this year. And now it’s March. Now it’s time to lay everything out on the line.”

WHAT WE LIKED: Wow. The shooting, especially in the first half, was incredible. Just 11 days prior, the Huskies were 0-for-15 — 0-for-15! — from 3-point range in a home win over the Bulls. On Thursday? UConn hit 9-of-11 3-pointers to open the game and shot 66.7 percent in the first half, including 64.3 percent from 3-point range. They had even made 70.4 percent of their shots five minutes into the second half. The Huskies’ eFG% in the first half was a mind-boggling 88 percent. UConn cooled off in the second half and blew its 18-point lead. There were some Maalox moments late (hit your free throws!), but the Huskies are now 16-16 overall and have a date with No. 1 seed Houston scheduled.

SMITH GETS OFFENSE GOING: Smith has had a rough year with inconsistent shooting for the Huskies, but he scored the first seven points for the Huskies, including a 3-pointer and finished with 14 points. Per Mike Anthony of the Hartford Courant, Smith told the USF bench to “wake the f— up!” after drilling the 3. No, Tarin, we hope everyone remains sleeping on your jumper.

WHAT DID HURLEY SAY? “To get Jalen back, you could see the way offensively, in particular, things have changed. He just gets so much attention, and he just makes the right play so often. And when you have a guy, a player of his caliber, on your team and you have a guy shooting the ball the way Christian is and some of the other pieces we have, you always have got a chance. When you have the most talented player in the conference on your team, you always have a chance.”

WHALEY SIGHTING: Desperation or genius? We are leaning desperation, but with Josh Carlton in foul trouble and Eric Cobb auditioning to be a matador in Spain, Hurley turned to little-used Isaiah Whaley, who hasn’t had a consequential game this season. He entered averaging 0.5 points per game but scored eight points and played hard in 11 minutes. We give credit to Hurley for having faith in Whaley. We give incredible credit to Whaley for being ready. Whatever happens this afternoon against Houston, that performance is the kind of thing you want to see out of UConn players.

Here’s a stat on Whaley: He had scored only seven points since Nov. 27 but had eight yesterday.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: The Huskies were crushed on the boards against USF in the two previous meetings. The great thing about shooting so well? The other team can’t rebound. UConn, incredibly, held its own on the boards with USF, losing the battle 33-30. The Bulls had the 14-7 advantage in second-chance points, but a lot of those were scored late in the game.

HOUSTON AN IMPOSSIBLE CLIMB? The reward, of course, is regular-season champion Houston (29-2). The Cougars watched UConn put on a scintillating shooting performance but are one of the top defensive teams in the country. Led by Corey Davis Jr., who is averaging 16.6 points per game, and Armoni Brooks, scoring 13.7 points per game, Houston beat UConn twice this year in close games and is fighting for a better NCAA tournament seed. If Houston wins the AAC tournament, it could potentially be a No. 2 seed. A loss to UConn? It could knock the Cougars down to the dreaded four line and a date with a top seed in the Sweet 16. Much is on the line for Houston.

BOTTOM LINE: UConn gets what it wanted: A crack at Houston and a chance to make history in the AAC. The Huskies aren’t really the No. 9 team in the AAC, as losing Adams for a month and losing six of seven games without him knocked them down pretty far. But, now that they have Adams, they have a puncher’s chance against the Cougars. It’s going to be a tall task, but if the shooting remains strong from 3-point range and Adams is going well, stranger things have happened.

Is it time to get excited yet? Of course. If you are a UConn fan, this might be the last game of the year and it’s a game against the No. 11 team in the nation. Don’t start looking ahead, however, until this one is in the books. If the Huskies are still alive tonight, we might take the Daily into the weekend. In the meantime, for the next several hours, the dream stays alive. Irrational hope is what March Madness was built on. There’s no shame in taking part in it.

SMU, Memphis, Tulsa Advance

MEMPHIS 83, TULANE 68: Jeremiah Martin had 21 points and seven assists as No. 5 seed Memphis scored 52 points in the first half, a season-high, to cruise past No. 12 seed Tulane. Kyvon Davenport had 17 points and seven rebounds and Mike Parks Jr. had 14 points and 13 rebounds. Tulane became the first team to fail to win a game against an AAC opponent all season.

WICHITA STATE 73, ECU 57: Markis McDuffie scored 15 points and Jaime Echenique had 14 points and nine rebounds as the sixth-seeded Shockers won easily against No. 11 seed ECU. Jayden Gardner scored 16 points and Shawn Williams added 14 points for the Pirates, who trailed by 27 points at one point in the second half.

SMU 74, TULSA 65: Jahmal McMurray scored 27 points as No. 10 seed SMU kept alive its streak of reaching the tournament quarterfinals in every season by beating No. 7 seed Tulsa despite using only seven players. Jeriah Horne had 19 points and seven rebounds for the Golden Hurricane.

Morning Read

NO COMPLACENCY: Even though the women’s basketball team has won 24 conference championships, Geno Auriemma said this year’s AAC title was one the Huskies truly had to earn. (Hearst Connecticut Media)

WILLIAMS STATES CASE: Walk-on cornerback Kyle Williams, from Hamden, is hoping that he has taken advantage of opportunities during spring practice to become a regular in the defensive backfield next season. (Hearst Connecticut Media)

FOOTBALL HOSTING FANFEST: Ever want to see the Burton Complex or meet some players? The football team will hold a FanFest on April 6 instead of the annual spring game — something we support considering the timing and cold weather of the past few years. (UConnHuskies.com)

STEPHEN REJOINS VIKINGS: After spending a year with the Seattle Seahawks, former UConn defensive tackle Shamar Stephen has returned to the Minnesota Vikings on a three-year contract. (Vikings.com)

MIXING IT UP: With its starters struggling to last beyond a few innings, the baseball team will turn to Kenny Haus and Jimmy Wang for two games as part of a four-game series against Michigan State beginning this afternoon in Greenville, South Carolina. (UConnHuskies.com)

FIVE ALIVE: The softball team is scheduled to play five games over three days as part of the Mercer Classic in Macon, Georgia. (UConnHuskies.com)

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