13 Years Later, Still Can’t Beat UConn
The Story: Despite a maddening first half in which several key players struggled, the women’s basketball team put together one heck of a second-half performance to throttle No. 23 Tennessee 60-45 at the XL Center last night in the teams’ first meeting since 2007. Crystal Dangerfield scored 14 points and Aubrey Griffin had a standout performance off the bench with 13 points and seven rebounds.
EARLY WOES: The Huskies trailed for nearly the entire first half and were lucky to head into the break down only 31-28. Dangerfield, who went 6-for-20, started 4-for-4 but missed six of her next seven shots. Christyn Williams finished with nine points, but she went 0-for-6 in the first two quarters, when she was a nonfactor. Olivia Nelson-Ododa picked up her second foul with 48.3 seconds left in the first quarter and didn’t play at all in the second. And despite all that, UConn hung in there, benefiting from Tennessee’s 15 first-half turnovers.
HALFTIME TURNAROUND: The issues that plagued UConn in the first half were magically cleaned up in the second, when the Huskies started with a feel-good 7-0 run that propelled them to a lead they’d never relinquish. Williams scored twice in the first 55 seconds, Anna Makurat nailed an emphatic 3 and UConn got its transition game going, pushing the lead to as many as 12 points by the end of the third quarter.
GRIFFIN’S GAME: It was just last week that Geno Auriemma publicly pleaded for Griffin to get her game together, and last night, she did. The freshman entered the game in the first quarter when the Huskies were in a bit of a pinch because of Nelson-Ododa’s foul trouble, and despite tasked with facing Tennessee’s taller frontcourt, on the whole, she had no problems. She attacked the rim, corralled rebounds, dove for loose balls and drained open shots. Her 23 minutes were the most she played since her breakout game at Seton Hall in early December, and her 13 points were her most since she scored 14 against Oklahoma a month ago.
LOCK IT DOWN: The Lady Vols incredibly scored only 14 points in the second half as they were outscored 21-7 in the third quarter and 11-7 in the fourth. According to ESPN, the 14 points scored in the second half was a school record. Only three players scored after halftime for Tennessee, which went 6-for-26 (23.1 percent) in the third and fourth quarters combined.
WHAT DID GENO SAY? “Our guys needed a win like that because these guys aren’t sure yet they can beat good teams. Everybody thinks, well, it’s Connecticut. These guys aren’t sure. A game like today, it doesn’t mean we’re going to win a national championship, but it does give them a little bit of confidence that hey, we can play a lousy first half and still win a game against a really good team.”
BOTTOM LINE: After the thrashing at the hands of Baylor earlier this month, the Huskies redeemed themselves a bit with the win over Tennessee. We’re being honest: The Huskies have only four players they can count on, and they’re obviously going to be in a bit of trouble if any of them, let alone all of them, disappear for a significant stretch of the game. Nelson-Ododa struggled once again against a more difficult opponent but will only get better as, remember, she did play significant minutes against marquee teams last season. Williams’ disappearance was concerning, but we’ll chalk that one up to an aberration. If Griffin and Makurat, who had a strong game despite a modest showing statistically, can prove reliable, the Huskies can be a good team. That’s a lot of ifs, though, and we’re eager to see what happens against Oregon and South Carolina. Those will be better evaluations.
UP NEXT: The Huskies will be harshly reminded of their place in the college basketball universe when they make their last trip to East Carolina for an AAC game tomorrow at 1 p.m. (SNY). Then they have to ramp themselves back up for Monday, when they host Team USA in a scrimmage at the XL Center.
The Heartache Huskies Fall in a Weird One
The Story: The men’s basketball team let another game get away late as No. 25 Houston rallied in the final four minutes to send the Huskies to their third straight loss, a 63-59 defeat in Houston.
HEARTBREAK CITY: If you are waking up and trying to figure out what happened, good luck. The game was wild as it was frustrating and the last eight seconds are the most bizarre eight seconds we have ever witnessed. The bottom line? It’s another loss, the fourth by four or less points against a ranked team. It is starting to try our patience. UConn folded late, with a lot of the negative plays coming from vets Alterique Gilbert, who had eight points and six turnovers and shot 3-for-11 and 1-for-7 from the free throw line, and Christian Vital, who shot 3-for-12 for a team-high 14 points. The Huskies outplayed Houston, held their own on the boards and played suffocating defense. But, turnovers, missed layups and bad free throw shooting doomed the Huskies in the end.
Here’s how the night ended: After being a gifted a chance to win the game by Houston melting down, UConn had a chance to tie or win, but a last-second shot by Temi Aiyegbusi was off. If you are confused about that last sentence, well, that is the kind of game it was.
THE WEIRDEST 8 SECONDS EVER: How does Aiyegbusi get anywhere near this game? What is going on? Is Dan Hurley crazy? Here’s what happened.
UConn was down six late when Jalen Gaffney made a layup with 7.6 seconds remaining. Houston’s D.J. Jerreau was whistled for a technical for taunting Hurley and Gaffney hit two more free throws to make it 61-59. UConn had already lost James Bouknight and Sidney Wilson to fouls and Hurley inserted walk-on Aiyegbusi into the game to foul. UConn forced a five-second violation and turned the ball over. Hurley tried to sub his walk-on out but because no time went off the clock, he had to be in the game, according to the officials. Houston left Aiyegbusi open, and he had a good look at a 3. He took a dribble and put up a good-looking jumper that would have tied the score. Instead, it went off the rim. Aiyegbusi has taken three shots all year and over the course of his career has logged less than 30 minutes in four years.
We’ll give him credit for this: He looked composed, made the correct basketball play and took a credible shot with confidence. That’s massive courage out of a player who is a walk-on and a practice player. Kudos for taking the shot. It was the correct play.
WHALEY OF A GAME: Lost in the craziness of the end is that Isaiah Whaley played the best game of his career. He was active and had 13 points, 11 rebounds and four steals. More Whaley time is needed for the Huskies going forward. Whaley’s game helped the Huskies stay competitive on the boards against Houston, one of the best rebounding teams in the nation. UConn was only minus-9 on the boards and held Houston to nine offensive rebounds. He replaced Josh Carlton, who took one shot, scored zero points and had three rebounds in 12 minutes.
REFS CHOKE LIFE OUT OF GAME: The refereeing, as is a theme in college basketball these days, is destroying the sport. We are stunned coaches and administrators continue to allow it to happen. We just don’t comprehend how 53 fouls and 57 free throws in a 40-minute game is possible. Add to the fact that Hurley got a technical and Bouknight’s fifth foul was a technical and we wonder if the zebras were getting paid per foul. Bouknight, Wilson and Vital all ended up fouling out.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: UConn can’t score. No matter how hard it plays, points win games. UConn shot 36.5 percent, was 4-of-16 from 3-point range and went an awful 15-of-23 from the foul line. No Tyler Polley is killing the Huskies’ perimeter game.
NO REST FOR THE WEARY. TULSA NEXT! UConn’s streak of playing ranked teams is over, but it hosts Tulsa on Sunday. Tulsa only beat No. 20 Memphis by 40 points — 80-40 — on Wednesday night. In a nice tidbit, that is the second-largest loss ever by a ranked team to an unranked team. The worst loss was in 1993 when No. 12 Virginia was destroyed by unranked UConn by 43 points in Virginia. UConn was, of course, a team that featured five future NBA players in Donyell Marshall, Ray Allen (who played off the bench!), Kevin Ollie, Travis Knight and Donny Marshall. Doron Sheffer, who could have played in the NBA, was a starting guard. Eric Hayward, Brian Fair and Rudy Johnson weren’t bad, either. Way to go, AP voters, on not knowing a great team when you see it. That team was a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament at the end of the year.
BOTTOM LINE: UConn is this close to breaking through but the losses are piling up. The Huskies are 10-8 and 1-4 in the AAC and are just a play a game away from sweeping the last three against ranked teams. Basketball-wise, UConn is playing better and much more competitive than it has been the last two years. There are massive holes on offense and when the game gets tight. The answers aren’t on the roster yet. The wins and losses aren’t there but we do predict a good run winning games as the schedule eases up. It won’t be enough to get the Huskies into the NCAA Tournament, but it will be good for the team to get into NIT and perhaps make a run there with the young guys.
UConn in Connecticut Ice Festival
The Story: The men’s hockey team will compete in the Connecticut Ice Festival — a Beanpot-style tournament — over the weekend at Webster Bank Arena against Yale, Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart.
WHAT IS THE FESTIVAL? Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold has advocated for over a decade for a four-team tournament like Boston’s Beanpot for UConn’s college hockey programs. SNY has helped put together a two-day event in Bridgeport. Over 700 players will take part in the festival, from juniors to high schools, with the college hockey tournament the main event.
THE DRAW: It’s a four-team tournament with UConn taking on Quinnipiac on Saturday and Yale against Sacred Heart. All games are on SNY. The winners will play on Sunday for the championship. The losers will play a consolation game. The schools are hoping to create an event like the one that takes over Boston yearly. That tournament is a highly sought title for Boston College, Northeastern, Boston University and Harvard.
THIS IS GOOD HOCKEY: Quinnipiac and Yale played for the national title in 2013 and are among the top programs in the country. Sacred Heart has upgraded its program and has been ranked in the top 25 this season. UConn? It’s been a frustratingly slow build by Mike Cavanaugh since upgrading to Hockey East in 2014, but the Huskies are coming off a sensational win over No. 12 Northeastern last weekend.
WHERE IS UCONN IN GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS? UConn is 9-10-4 on the season and is 6-7-2 in Hockey East. They’ve beaten Maine and Northeastern in their last two games and appear to over a bad stretch around the New Year. Vladislav Firstov leads the Huskies with nine goals and 16 points while Ruslan Iskhakov has six goals and 15 points. The Huskies are tied for sixth in the 12-team Hockey East with BU with 16 points. UMass is in first place with 19 points.
Morning Reads
KEMBA AN ALL-STAR: UConn great Kemba Walker is starting his second straight All-Star Game as the Celtics guard hasn’t disappointed his first season in Boston. (Mass Live)
BUECKERS, MIR MCDONALD’S MEMBER: UConn recruits Paige Bueckers, the No. 1 prep player in America, and Mir McLean were named to the McDonald’s All-American team on Wednesday. (ESPN)
GO TO MEMPHIS GAME WITH HUSKY TICKET PROJECT: Our friends at Husky Ticket Project, who donate UConn tickets to local families, are holding a fundraiser and auction in advance of the Memphis game. For $60, you get tickets to the game, a buffet and more. (Husky Ticket Project)
