UConn men beat Temple 72-66 on Senior Night in Storrs
Seniors finish on a positive note in finale at Gampel
Storrs — UConn needed a morale-boosting win as badly as air to breathe Wednesday night.
The Huskies could finally exhale after a gritty 72-66 victory over Temple on Senior Night in the regular-season home finale before 7,674 fans at Gampel Pavilion.
It was just their second victory this season this season against an American Athletic Conference team currently ahead of them in the standings and only third win in a month.
"It definitely changes the spirit," junior Jalen Adams said. "We just had fun. It was enjoyable for us and the fans, so it was great to play like that. ... It's just a great confidence booster for us."
There's been so little to celebrate during UConn's rocky season as losses have piled up. The Huskies were determined to send their seniors off on a high note. They reversed a recent trend and locked down on defense, holding Temple to just 36 percent shooting, including 6-for-31 from the 3-point range.
They delivered big shots down the stretch, with Adams leading the charge with a game-high 25 points and eight assists while playing all 40 minutes. They improved to 1416 overall, 7-10 in the AAC.
"Great game for us," coach Kevin Ollie said. "We need that game. I thought we battled all night . ... We put on the board last night for our seniors to play with heart. So that was all that was, just playing with heart, playing unselfishly and playing for those guys and hopefully have this home crowd leave Gampel for the last time this season with a win."
The game followed a different path than the first meeting at Temple, which rolled to an 85-57 win a month ago. This time, redshirt junior Terry Larrier, one of the UConn veterans honored during Senior Night, wasn't sidelined with an injury. Larrier finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.
Also, the Owls (16-13, 8-9) didn't have as much success containing Adams, who greatly impacted the outcome.
Trailing 34-32 at halftime, Adams fueled a 10-0 run that handed UConn a 42-34 lead by setting up Josh Carlton for an inside basket and burying one of his five 3-pointers.
From there, the Huskies tried to put away the Owls, who stuck around despite missing a ton of layups. Their lead eventually disappeared as Shizz Alston, Jr., converted a 3-pointer to cap a 7-0 run and push Temple in front, 54-53, with just under five minutes left. But UConn didn't fold. The Huskies received clutch shots from two unlikely sources.
Graduate transfer Antwoine Anderson buried a foul-inducing 15-footer and hit the free throw to put UConn on top for good, 59-56, with 4:02 remaining. He then added another jumper.
"I like taking those shots," said Anderson, who had 10 points. "Those are the shots that I make all the time."
Clinging to a 61-60 edge, Adams drew the defense and found freshman Tyler Polley (seven points) who fired in a huge 3-pointer. It was his first field goal of the night after missing his first five shots came at the 1:25 mark.
Adams then set up sophomore Christian Vital, who had a career-high 12 rebounds, for a layup and scored himself for a six-point edge.
"Can't ask for a better performance," Ollie said of Adams. "Couldn't get him out of the game. He wanted the ball at the end of the game, which I'm very proud of."
Four converted free throws later, UConn was celebrating a slump-busting win. The Huskies won despite shooting 36.8 percent from the field but made 11 3-pointers. Polley (seven points) and fellow reserve forward Mamadou Diarra, who had six points, two rebounds, a career-best three blocks and provided some valuable interior defense, made a difference.
UConn ends the regular season with a road trip to No. 25 Houston on Sunday before heading to Orlando next week for the AAC tournament.
"We really needed this," Anderson said. "It was really important, especially heading out to Houston. We just want to have momentum and just show everybody the team that we actually are instead of what we've been displaying. I think this will really help us." g.keefe@theday.com