Brendan Adams, Freshmen Power Huskies In Win; Alterique Gilbert Injured

Well, We Didn’t See That Coming …

The Story: A big second half, powered by the reserves and freshmen, led to the Huskies’ 79-68 win over Buffalo last night in the first round of the Charleston Classic. Brendan Adams, stepping in for the injured Alterique Gilbert, scored a career-high 20 points in 25 minutes off the bench, Christian Vital had 16 points and 10 minutes even though he sat a large stretch of the second half and Josh Carlton had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

WHAT’S AKOK A-COOKIN’? It looked like the Huskies (3-1) were digging themselves another early hole until Akok Akok put them on his back and willed them away from the precipice. The freshman forward knocked down a 3, netted a silky smooth reverse layup and had a pair of blocks — all in the first two minutes. He had UConn’s first seven points, and though he had just 11 by the final buzzer, he was all over the court, using his length to disrupt Buffalo and contesting everything he can. He’s going to be good, folks.

GILBERT VS. ADAMS: Gilbert left the game with 6:16 remaining after rolling an ankle — Dan Hurley said he would be “shocked” if Gilbert played in the other two games this weekend — and finished 0-for-4 with four rebounds, an assist, a turnover and a steal in 11 minutes. It was another mediocre-at-best performance from Gilbert, who’s now shooting 10-for-45 (22.2 percent) and 4-for-21 (19 percent) from 3-point range this season and has just not looked the slightest bit comfortable on the court at any point.

Adams, who played 25 minutes, one shy of the career high he set against Sacred Heart, played much more within the offense. Though he’s not likely to score 20 points again any time soon (eight were off free throws), his calming presence and reluctance to freewheel and force things spurred the Huskies’ second-half comeback.

SECOND-HALF DOMINATION: Buffalo led practically the entire first half, though the score was tied at 34 at the break. The Huskies then started to put it together, going on an 11-2 behind Adams and Carlton, who scored all of his 12 points in the second half and did not have a basket until 4:11 after halftime. He’ll be better if/when he learns how to beat a double team and finish — at the end of the game, he power dribbled, expecting to shake a defender who did not appear, then shot the ball into the bottom of the rim — but the Huskies are getting more Good Carlton than Bad Carlton this season.

BOUKNIGHT DEBUTS: After missing the first three games because of a suspension, James Bouknight made his debut against Buffalo and finished with eight points and six rebounds. He checked in with 9:19 left in the first half, the fifth and final guy off the bench, and played well in 11 minutes. He adapted early: After he secured a defensive rebound and tried to go coast to coast before coughing up the ball, he found himself in a very similar situation two minutes later and instead stopped to set up the offense. He flushed an alley-oop from Jalen Gaffney near the midpoint of the second half and later pump-faked a defender at the top of the arc, stepped up and knocked down a 15-footer. It was a solid debut from the freshman, who no doubt will carve out minutes going forward.

WHAT DID HURLEY SAY? “To come here and beat them by double figures, take control in the second half, I’m obviously thrilled with the win.”

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: UConn got 34 points from its bench, a mark only eclipsed over the past 12 months by the game against Temple in March in which Vital didn’t start but scored 26 points. That’s unlikely to be duplicated, but it shows the depth the Huskies have: At one point, Hurley went with a lineup of Adams, Carlton, Gaffney, Bouknight and Sidney Wilson, and it’s fair to wonder whether he can legitimately go 10 deep this season. UConn had 14 assists and 17 turnovers, several of which were just silly and can be easily cleaned up, and outrebounded Buffalo 48-40.

BOTTOM LINE: This was a really interesting game for a lot of reasons, primarily because of Bouknight’s debut but also because it was interesting to see how the Huskies were going to stack up against Buffalo, the best team in the state of New York. The Bulls are sneakily tough — they have a new coach but have won an NCAA Tournament game in each of the last two years — and the goodwill and progress gained from the big win over Florida could have been obliterated with a loss last night. Gilbert’s going to miss some time, so the Huskies will learn what they’ve got in Adams, Gaffney and Bouknight, and the next game will provide an even higher step up in competition. These are the types of games the Huskies will need to get used to playing — the competition is only going to get tougher, especially beginning next season — and the underclassmen will need to answer that challenge. So far, so good.

UP NEXT: The Huskies will face future conference foe Xavier, the No. 18-ranked team in the AP poll, in the semifinals of the Charleston Classic tonight. The Musketeers (5-0) demolished Towson before UConn and Buffalo took the court, winning 73-51 behind 12 points and 12 rebounds from Tyrique Jones.

Women Set For Ohio Swing

The Story: Fresh off a mollywhopping of Virginia, the women’s basketball team will head to Ohio for a pair of games, with Ohio State up first on Sunday (ESPN, 3 p.m.).

RETURN TO NORMALCY: Yes, the Huskies have several glaring weaknesses this season, but it was good to see them dismantle the Cavaliers at home on Tuesday. They distributed the ball well, they shot well and they defended well, and that’s with Christyn Williams having a blah second half and Olivia Nelson-Ododa limited because of foul trouble. It they’ll have to show they can do that on the road against Ohio State (2-1), which should be a better team than Virginia but one that has its own issues as of late.

WHAT DID GENO SAY? “Our ball movement from Day 1 to today is drastically different. There’s still a lot of work that we have to do but I like the direction that we’re going in.”

ABOUT OHIO STATE: The Buckeyes went just 14-15 last season after winning 28 games in each of the previous two. They’re led by Dorka Juhasz, a sophomore forward from Hungary who is averaging a team-high 12.3 points and 10.7 rebounds per game, and Braxtin Miller, a junior who transferred from Oklahoma State who, amazingly, is not related to former all-everything tOSU quarterback Braxton Miller. (That’d be very George Foreman-esque, if true.)

Goodbye To Seniors — And ECU!

The Story: The football team plays its final home game of the season tomorrow when it hosts East Carolina at Rentschler Field (noon, ESPN3). It’ll be a hearty goodbye for 15 seniors — and East Carolina, which we hope never stinks up the building again.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: It looked early in the season like this game would be one of the few the Huskies could circle for a guaranteed win. Instead, that’s changed in recent weeks. The Pirates (3-7), who are 14.5-point favorites, led then-No. 17 Cincinnati, which is in the driver’s seat for a New Year’s Six game, 40-28 entering the third quarter before losing on a field goal as time expired, then lost to then-No. 23 SMU in Dallas by eight points. One positive? The Huskies have a pretty good running game and ECU is allowing 206.1 rushing yards per game, the worst non-UConn mark in the AAC.

TIME FOR KRAJEWSKI? They say that if a team has two quarterbacks, it actually has none, so what do you call a team with three quarterbacks? Hopefully a winner, as Steve Krajewski could be in play to return as the Huskies’ quarterback. Krajewski had the most inspiring performance of anyone at the position when he when 22-for-33 for 273 yards, three touchdowns and an interception against UCF in late September, but it was discovered the next day he had broken a collarbone and would be out six to eight weeks. Well, tomorrow is eight weeks, and Edsall said after the game Krajewski would be the starter going forward, so is it his time to shine?

UNDERRATED, AGAIN: The Huskies have one of the top offensive line prospects in the nation in Matt Peart, a redshirt senior who has started every game since the start of his redshirt freshman season — 46 in total. Peart, who was born in Jamaica, won’t get the credit for his performance that he deserves, having played during UConn’s down years and been part of an offensive line that, especially this season, underperformed. But Peart, who could be a second-day selection in the NFL Draft, should be able to put that experience behind him as he’s playing for cold, hard cash come next fall.

AND DON’T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU…: This will be the final appearance at Rentschler Field for East Carolina, which we’ll be glad to never see return. (Can you believe it’s been 10 years since UConn won at Notre Dame?) Forget that the Huskies went 1-4 all-time against the Pirates, or that the Huskies will need games to fill their schedule as an independent. On Sunday, we’ll never have to think about the state that isn’t a state ever again.

Morning Reads

MAKING THE JOURNEY: Senior Batouly Camara, who is recovering from a knee injury, wrote about how she approaches uncertainy and discomfort not just in playing for the women’s basketball team but also in life. (The Daily Campus)

BUILDING BLOCKS: The men’s hockey team (3-5-2) will try to build on a strong weekend against UMass Lowell when it faces No. 12-ranked Providence at home tonight and on the road tomorrow night. (UConnHuskies.com)

KEEP SOARING: The women’s hockey team (7-4-1) will face No. 6-ranked Boston College in a home-and-home series this weekend. They’ll visit the Eagles this afternoon before hosting the return game tomorrow afternoon. (UConnHuskies.com)