The Dynamic Duo
The Story: Christian Vital and James Bouknight are both from New York City and the grizzled veteran and the star freshman are forming a potent 1-2 punch for the Huskies.
BOUKNIGHT IS GOOD: Bouknight and Vital combined for 43 of 78 points in Sunday’s win over USF and the ills of a first-half of struggling to score has come to an end. Bouknight’s scoring has opened up the entire offense. He has 10 straight games of scoring in double figures and is averaging 12.7 points per game on 47 percent shooting and 37.5 percent from 3-point range.
It is almost inconceivable to think of UConn without Bouknight in a starting role. He didn’t even play the first three games of the year because of suspension and didn’t enter the starting lineup until late January when Tyler Polley went out. Now? Bouknight is the future of the program.
DON’T FORGET OLD MAN VITAL: Vital is a senior and is the all-time leader in made 3-pointers in the AAC and has scored more than 1,500 points in his career. Vital is going to leave UConn with an underrated career due to his being part of the three worst seasons in the past 30 years. After a tough start to the season, however, Vital added 24 points on Sunday and is slowly raising his field goal percentage to 37.8 and 3-point percentage to 32.5. Vital is shooting over 90 percent from the free-throw line and is becoming a go-to scorer, averaging 15.1 points per game for the Huskies.
WHAT’S NEXT: UConn is 15-12 and 6-8 in the AAC, but we think they are dangerous teams as the month turns to March. Team Rankings gives the Huskies a 6 percent chance at winning the AAC tournament and getting to the NCAA. The Huskies are favored in three of their last four games with a date with Houston the lone potential upset. The Huskies are tied for seventh in the AAC, two games behind sixth-place Wichita State. The Huskies host UCF on Wednesday.
Morning Reads
CT SCOREBOARD PODCAST WITH CALHOUN: Jared Kotler’s podcast had our John Silver last week, and then followed up with a Division III basketball coach for this week’s pod. Oh, his name is Jim Calhoun. (Sound Cloud)
GENO, TAURASI HONOR BRYANT: Kobe Bryant’s daughter Gigi wanted to be the next great UConn player. The basketball great and his daughter died in a plane crash earlier this month and Geno Auriemma, Diana Taurasi and others spoke at the public memorial on Monday in L.A. (ESPN)
