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Message: [QUOTE="SwingDog, post: 3458003, member: 7919"] It looks we have no audio. The best we might get is this quote-filled postgame article, courtesy of The Hartford Courant and writer Dom Amore: [B][SIZE=5]Shorthanded UConn men fight off foul trouble to win at East Carolina behind 27 points from Christian Vital[/SIZE][/B] UConn, its postseason hopes on the line, was living on the edge Saturday. At times, it looked as if the Huskies, despite leading by double digits, might run out of players and the game could slip away. But things are changing for the Huskies, and changing fast. When they needed poise and production, Christian Vital was up to it, on the floor and in the huddles, and when they needed something extra, James Bouknight had it. “Had to turn it up,” Vital said. “Simple as that. … We knew the situation we were in, everyone was locked in. We did a great job of having each other’s back out there. They were going to try to do their stuff to take us out of the game, and for obvious reasons, we’re better than them. If we stayed locked in and stayed focused on the game, it was going to show.” With seven players available, three in serious foul trouble over the last 12 minutes, the Huskies surged to the finish and won at East Carolina, 84-63, in American Athletic Conference men’s basketball before 5,003 at the Minges Coliseum. [B][URL='https://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-mens-basketball/hc-uconn-mens-basketball-schedule-results-htmlstory.html#nt=interstitial-manual']Check out the latest UConn men stats here »[/URL][/B] Vital scored 27 points, hitting a series of 3-pointers in the second half to keep the momentum in the Huskies’ favor. He got plenty of help from Bouknight, the freshman, who had 19 points, with the most spectacular dunk he has shown so far, and 10 rebounds, and Isaiah Whaley, who had 18 points and seven rebounds. “The seven guys that have been playing, that played today, we’ve just been playing so well together,” Bouknight said. “We knew we were going to fight. We knew we were short, so we tried to stay out of foul trouble, but we just played as hard as we could, a next-man-up mentality.” UConn (17-12) has won three in a row, assuring the program’s first winning season since 2015-16, and seven of the last 10 to even its AAC record at 8-8. Even as attrition has whittled down the roster, with Tyler Polley and Akok Akok suffering season-ended injuries and, on Friday, Sid Wilson drawing an indefinite suspension for violating team rules, the Huskies are playing their best basketball right now. They have their most meaningful late-season home game in a while coming up, against first-place Houston on Thursday at Gampel Pavilion. “We’re a good team,” coach Dan Hurley said, “that believes we’re either going to give ourselves a chance to win late, or we’re going to win. When you go through this kind of adversity on this kind of climb back up, developing team toughness shows up.” Alterique Gilbert, out of character, drew a technical foul in the first half, and picked up his third during another tense sequence in the second, which resulted in the ejection of ECU’s J.J. Miles with 15:49 left in the game. The Huskies calmly maximized the consequences, Vital hitting two free throws and Bouknight sending it inside for a dunk by Whaley. “Things got chippy out there,” Hurley said. “Christian was like the one guy I wasn’t worried about. He was a calming influence in the timeout, he was communicating a message that older guys should say, that the only way we were going to lose that game today is if we got caught up in all the bull.” JAMES BOUKNIGHT The Huskies jumped out to a 14-7 lead, and made it 37-26 on Bouknight’s highlight play, reaching far to his right while in midair to catch Jalen Gaffney’s lob, and slamming it down with a full arc. “The pass was very bad,” Bouknight said, chiding his teammate, “it wasn’t a good pass. I just reached, I tried to grab it so I didn’t look like, bad. I just threw it and it went in.” They went to the half with a 42-30 lead, and in the second half Carlton (12:13 left), Gilbert (9:11) and Whaley (4:07) all picked up their fourth fouls, but UConn held on without anyone getting No. 5. Brendan Adams scored 11, Carlton has seven rebounds. Vital had six rebounds, four steals and an assist. “C.V. was great today,” Hurley said, “he played like a senior guard in February or March. We asked these guys to play it like a playoff game today, because we want to play another meaningful game on Thursday." [B][URL='https://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-mens-basketball/hc-sp-uconn-men-advance-east-carolina-sid-wilson-20200229-20200229-j4yrqits35eunerenjb4abeok4-story.html#nt=interstitial-manual']Sid Wilson suspension leaves UConn to face East Carolina with 7 players »[/URL][/B] Playing with seven is bound to become problematic for UConn sooner or later, especially in the conference tournament where winning the trophy and the automatic NCAA Tournament berth might require four wins in four days. They’ve been building an NIT-worthy resume, but things are changing around here — and changing fast. “I used to say all the time,” Bouknight said, “and people looked at me like I was crazy, I still think we can make the Tournament. I think we can win this conference." [I]Dom Amore can be reached at [EMAIL]damore@courant.com[/EMAIL][/I] [/QUOTE]

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