We’re on to Cincinnati
Photo credit: Matt Schonvisky – THE BONEYARD BLOG
In what promises to be a flashback to battles of Big East Tournaments at MSG of yester-year, UConn and Cincinnati meet tonight in the quarterfinals of the AAC Tournament at the XL Center in Hartford. It’s always physical and nothing less is expected by all involved.
“Every game is physical, but I don’t think many teams are as physical as Cincinnati,” Rodney Purvis said following last night’s win over USF. “We’ll just try to go out, play hard and out-match the other team’s intensity. That’s the main thing, every possession.”
Huskies co-captain Ryan Boatright agrees.
“It’s going to be a dofight,” he said. “It’s going to come down to who has the most passion and heart, will win the basketball game. It’s going to be tough, they are a physical team, a big team, but we’re a big team too. We just need to come out and match that.”
The Huskies would benefit from another great shooting performance from behind the arc as they did last night. Purvis, Boatright, Daniel Hamilton and Omar Calhoun combined to hit 11-of-17 three’s, including 8-of-11 in the second half. The big three combined for forty-five of the Huskies sixty-nine, in the 26-point win over the Bulls.
“We worked, at the end of every practice, me, Daniel and Boat, actually all the guards,” Purvis said inside the Huskies locker room. “We grab a coach, grab a couple managers and get shots up. It didn’t come as a surprise that we were hitting shots because we are working on it every single day. We were happy that we were able to shoot a great percentage, hopefully we can have a carry over to [Cincinnati].”
Boatright is just happy he finally has some help again.
“I’ve been harping on that all week, all year,” he said on the XL Center floor after the win. “Postseason play comes down to whoever’s guards are playing the best. Great championship teams have great guard play. I told them that and that I need them to step up, which they did. If they play how they played tonight, we’re a great team and we’re tough to beat. They responded.”
For Purvis, it comes as no surprise. He knows the team as a whole is talented and also knows to accomplish their goal they are going to have to play just like that, as a team.
“We’re all players, that’s how we all got a scholarship to UConn,” he said. “No player on this team can go out and win a game by himself. Every day is a team effort, but some guys have their days and other times you need to be there to pick one another up. Myself and Daniel are kind of new to this. We had our ups and downs, but it’s the end of the season now. We’re just going out, playing hard and just letting the rest take care of itself.”
Being new to tournament play, it reminds him of his high school days, playing AAU, but Purvis knows last night was just one game.
“It’s fun playing every single day, just like AAU,” he said. “It’s a tournament and as far as your body and rest wise, you would like to only play three games, but I’ll take it however we need to do it. We have one down and have three more to go.”
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