Huskies Come Through Down the Stretch, Beat Tulane
Photo credit – Ian Bethune: SOX & DAWGS
Entering today’s game at Gampel Pavilion, the UConn men’s basketball team was 1-5 in games decided by four points or less (thanks to the New London Day’s Gavin Keefe for that little nugget), so with the Huskies holding just a 51-50 lead with less than five minutes to play, it was a chance for the reigning National Champions to prove that they have grown over the course of an up and down season.
This wasn’t Memphis, Temple, Cincinnati, Tulsa or even the conference leading SMU, whom the Huskies will get a shot at a week from today at the XL Center, but handling a game down the stretch, a stretch where Ryan Boatright heroics were not needed to be victorious, is a sign that this ship is sailing in the right direction, at potentially the right time, even if it was Tulane.
At this point, UConn is not going to get into the NCAA Tournament with an at-large bid, so the postseason AAC title is the all or nothing for this team. The schedule is set up to their advantage, as the final four games are against teams they will have to go through in Hartford, to get to the desired end goal. This is a prime opportunity to finally figure out just who this year’s version of UConn really is.
“I think we’re teetering, not right in the middle, probably at 55 percent, but we can choose to go either way,” Boatright said following today’s win. “We can choose to put our foot on the gas and do what we have to do and have a special season, or we can fall back, not play together, not bring that intensity and we’ll be in the NIT somewhere. We control our own destiny right now.”
The way the supporting cast has played recently, the more this season will shift to Boat’s liking.
Daniel Hamilton, who came in off of a 25-point performance in Memphis on Thursday night, that included a missed three that would have forced overtime, played a big role to wrap this one up for UConn, assisting in the Huskies final six field goals. He finished with just seven points on the night, but also had nine boards and nine assists.
“Whatever we have to do to win, that’s what I’m going to do,” Hamilton said after the game. “If it’s scoring, passing or rebounding, it doesn’t matter. Whatever we have to do to win, I’m going to try to go out there and do.”
Another player who was a major factor in today’s win was Omar Calhoun, who, despite scoring twelve, made an even bigger impact on the defensive end, in his twenty-eight minutes.
“Omar came in and what I really liked was his defense down the stretch,” head coach Kevin Ollie noted. “We knew every three-point play was going to be coming for his guy, so he did a good job with that. I keep stressing that with him, he can stay on the court if he plays better defense and I think he stepped up to the plate and showed he can play down the stretch, which is a confidence booster for me.”
Calhoun concurred.
“The coaches told me what they want me to do to stay on the court and impact the game, so that’s what I’m committed to, in order to hopefully make a run and do some positive things” he said. “Just on the defensive side, lock in there because the coaches aren’t really worried about my offense. Defensively, I just need to lock guys down, communicate and be a backbone when I’m out there, so everyone else’s game can increase.”
Amida Brimah scored a team-high nineteen points on eight-for-eight shooting and Boatright put in sixteen, had four rebounds, two assists, four steals and a block, in playing the entire forty minutes.
The way this season has gone, it’s anyone’s guess if the Huskies can build off of this win, but with four games to go before crunch time in Hartford, the time is now.
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