Epic Comeback Puts Huskies in Sunday’s Title Game
Photo credit: Ian Bethune – SOX & DAWGS
For thirty-five minutes at the XL Center, it seemed as if the run was coming to an end, that Ryan Boatright would not get back to the NCAA Tournament and UConn would not be in tomorrow’s American Athletic Conference championship game. Throw all of that out the window as the program that never dies, continued that motto en route to an improbable 47-42 come from behind victory over Tulsa this afternoon, their ninth consecutive postseason win.
Trailing 40-31 with 4:14 to play, the Huskies went on a 16-2 run, aided by 7-points from Boatright, including a game-tying three with 1:44 remaining, in front of a boisterous home crowd. A Tulsa free throw made it 42-41, before Rodney Purvis put the Huskies ahead for good, with a jumper from the left corner.
“I was in a position to make a play, I either had to shoot it or pass it,” Purvis said inside the Huskies locker room after the win. “The guy kind of stepped back off of me and I was able to raise and hit the shot.”
Following the final buzzer, Purvis looked at the crowd and let out a roar of appreciation.
“[Just] getting to the championship,” he said about that emotion. “We’ve been fighting for this. A lot of people counted us out, but amongst our brotherhood and this locker room, we just believe. We are never going to stop fighting no matter what. I can continue to harp on how up and down this season has been, but like I said, we never gave up on each other and we never gave up on this team.”
In any run that lasts a significant period of time, a team has to be solid on both ends of the court and that was certainly the case today down the stretch, as Tulsa did not make a basket during the final 6:35.
“We knew that in order to win the game, we were going to do it on the defensive end,” Omar Calhoun said following the win. “We were struggling a little offensively, so in order to keep the lead and win the game, we needed to get stops.”
However, the Huskies also needed to score and they got a game-high 21-points from Boatright and 11 from Purvis, the only two players from both teams, in double figures.
“We’ve been through a lot this year and I think everything happened for a reason,” Boatright said from the locker room. “We learned from everything we did wrong and we’re believing in each other. I think the chemistry is at an all-time high, we’re fighting and everyone is staying together.”
The Huskies co-captain knows there is still work to do and he’ll be sure to communicate to the rest of the team exactly that.
“We’re feeling great, but we can’t get drunk off success,” he said. “We lose tomorrow, all of this means nothing. We have one more game, forty more minutes to get where we want to go and we’re going to get back to the hotel and prepare for SMU tomorrow.”
The Huskies will have their entire Nation behind them tomorrow on selection Sunday, as the crowd can give yet another boost to a team that will be playing their fourth game, in as many days.
“It’s been insane,” Purvis commented on the crowd noise. “We can’t even hear each other calling out plays with the intensity and the atmosphere. People are going crazy. It’s been great, we really appreciate it.”
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