A Win for the Ages
The Story: R.J. Cole’s acrobatic scoop shot with his right hand with 5.9 seconds left completed No. 21 UConn’s rally from four points down in the final 20 seconds to knock off No. 8 Villanova, 71-69, in a court-storming win at the XL Center last night.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: This is a game you will never forget. It lived up to the billing an intensity of any Big East game we have been in attendance for as the XL Center was pure bedlam in a win over rival Villanova. The game had as much drama as you can produce in a regular-season game. There was a Dan Hurley ejection, four technical fouls, brilliance from two-time national champion Villanova and senior guard Collin Gillespie, and a comeback that defied belief as the Huskies improbably erased a poor final three minutes with a brilliant final 26 seconds led by assistant head coach Kimani Young.
• We’ll recount the end in a moment, but now for some housekeeping. Adama Sanogo led the Huskies with 20 points while Isaiah Whaley added 13 points and Cole had 12, though none was bigger than his winner.
• UConn picked up its first 20-win season since 2016 and, at 11-5 in the Big East, has a win over a top-10 program. It was the first win over Villanova since the 2014 NCAA Tournament, when the Huskies knocked off No. 2 seed Villanova on their way to their fourth national championship.
WHAT DID HURLEY SAY? “Just a huge win for the program and what an emerging team, a formidable team, that is as good as anyone in this league.”
IMPROBABLE ENDING: UConn was down 4 with 31 seconds left and Villanova, the best free-throw shooting team in the nation, was at the line for a 1-and-1. The salty crowd was getting ready to go home dejected when Villanova’s Caleb Daniels missed, surprisingly, the first one.
• Young called a timeout with 26 seconds left and set up a play for Tyler Polley off a pick for 3. Polley nailed it and the Huskies cut the lead to 69-68 with 20 seconds left.
•The Huskies set up a press and instead of fouling trapped Gillespie on the sideline for a jump ball. After Young set up another play, Cole came off a pick on the right side and made a move to the basket. The senior guard went off the wrong foot, and as a lefty, put up a right-handed, off-balance scoop shot that nestled through the hoop.
COLE DELIVERS: Just for good measure, Cole, the smallest man on the floor who played his way into the big time after being passed over from all major programs in high school, stepped in front of Gillespie, the likely Big East Player of the Year, and drew a charge with 1.1 seconds left.
• When Andre Jackson intentionally missed the second free throw to allow time to expire, the XL Center went bonkers with students rushing the floor in celebration for the first time in program history in Hartford. It was a scene we thought we would never see again and was as organic and unplanned as we can remember. That’s as memorable a regular season win as we here at the Daily can remember.
WHAT DID COLE SAY? “I think it was huge. We took a step forward. Just continue to grind out the season. Huge win for the program, but the season doesn’t end after today. We have to continue to put ourselves in a great position for the Big East tournament and see what we can do out there.”
HURLEY EJECTED: This game almost was known as the game Hurley lost control. The head coach has talked a lot about needing to control himself on the sidelines but couldn’t last the game as he was whistled for a technical with six minutes in the first half.
• Hurley deserved that first technical as he punched the scorer’s table and glared at the referee. As the crowd began a “refs suck!” chant, Hurley fired up the crowd even more, turning to the stands and telling them to keep the pressure on. The refs had enough of Hurley’s demeanor and shockingly sent him off with his second technical.
• Our view? An unwarranted second technical. Still, Hurley has to calm down. That hurt his team and ended up being a six-point possession. We love Hurley and his intensity, but there is a time when a coach has to be able to exercise self-control. Did the ref have a quick trigger? Yes. But this was the second time in two weeks that Hurley has gotten into it with referees. At some point, the powder keg goes off and there is nothing but collateral damage around.
YOUNG COMES THROUGH: Perhaps the most revealing part of the night was the brilliant job Young did in Hurley’s place. Young stepped in and got Cole rest by using his timeouts as additional non-game time rest for Cole. He was able to manage the final minutes if the game beautifully and didn’t panic when down four, having a couple of plays in the bag that the team could run.
• The Huskies executed perfectly in the final 30 seconds, and that credit goes to Young for keeping the team grounded from the time Hurley was ejected to the end. It was a impressive coaching performance after Hurley put UConn in an impossible spot.
WHAT ELSE DID HURLEY SAY? “[Young] is one of the best. He’s one of the best associate head coaches in the country. The smartest thing I’ve done my whole career is recruit incredibly talented young men with unbelievable character and hire the best coaches in the country to work with me. I can’t say enough about how unbelievable this guy is at his job.”
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: Villanova lost despite hitting 12 3-pointers and shooting 44.4% from 3-point range and 45.7% overall. The Huskies did it by turning over Villanova 14 times, including five from Gillespie, who led the Wildcats (21-7, 14-4) with 17 points.
• Jackson did Jackson things. He had a dunk off the opening tip, his only basket of the game, but had eight assists to only one turnover and played stellar perimeter defense in 28 minutes.
• Justin Moore sat out the first UConn game, a win for Villanova, and finished with 12 points and was one of four players in double figures for the Wildcats.
• Remember Eric Dixon? After 24 points in the first outing, he managed only four points on 1-of-4 shooting.
• UConn shot 81.8% from the foul line, besting Villanova’s 78.9% mark. Who would have figured that?
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? The Huskies are now one game behind Villanova for second place but more importantly are a half game ahead of Creighton for fourth place in conference. UConn is also two games ahead of Marquette, which is in fifth place. The top five teams in the Big East regular season have bye to the quarterfinals and it is hard to think of a scenario in which the Huskies drop out of the top five with only three games left.
UP NEXT: The Huskies got what should be a breather on Sunday when it plays at last place Georgetown, 0-15 in the league. That sets up a critical game at Creighton on March 2.
Women Can Clinch Big East Title vs. Marquette
The Story: The women’s basketball team will again be without Paige Bueckers, but what it will have tonight is a chance to clinch the Big East regular-season championship in a game against Marquette at the XL Center (SNY, 7 p.m.)
WHAT’S THE LATEST: There isn’t any update, really. Geno Auriemma said over the weekend it would be unlikely that the Huskies (19-5, 13-1 Big East) are able to get Bueckers back before the end of the regular season, which is Sunday against Providence.
ANOTHER TITLE: UConn could capture a regular-season title for the 28th time and ninth consecutive season with a win over the Golden Eagles (18-8, 11-6 Big East), who did so in two of the three seasons before the Huskies returned to the conference.
• There’s no chance UConn doesn’t win the Big East tournament, which begins next month at Mohegan Sun Arena. In ESPN’s latest Bracketology, the No. 7-ranked Huskies remained a No. 3 seed.
A DIFFERENT LOOK: The Huskies had to sweat it out until the fourth quarter of a 72-58 win at Marquette on Feb. 13, but they played that game without Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Caroline Ducharme, who returned over the weekend.
• UConn held Marquette’s leading scorers, Lauren Van Kleunen and Karissa McLaughlin, under their season averages the last time out. But Liza Karlen and Jordan King stepped up with 15 and 14 points, respectively, to challenge the Huskies.
• Turnovers were a problem in the 90-49 win against Georgetown on Sunday and the Huskies can’t play sloppy against good teams. The 21 turnovers against the Hoyas matched a season high and a better team would have turned them into more than 12 points.
