The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Anderson is Huskies’ latest Mr. Big Shot
STORRS » Clutch Shots 101 could be a course taught at UConn. Certainly, there have been enough prized pupils from the men’s basketball team over the years.
Tate George and Ray Allen hit a couple you might remember. Kemba Walker owns an entire highlight reel of big shots, as does Shabazz Napier. Ryan Boatright added his name to the list in the 2015 AAC tournament. A year later, Jalen Adams hit a 75-footer that may have been the most improbable of all.
Adams, of course, is back with the Huskies for his junior season. But he’s got a new teammate whose cache of buzzer-beaters is even more impressive than his own.
Antwoine Anderson moves over to the Huskies as a grad transfer after completing his career at Fordham this past season. The 6-foot-1 guard started all 32 games last winter for the Rams, finishing fourth on the team in scoring (11.1 ppg) and second in both assists and steals. Over his three years at Fordham (he sat out his freshman season as a partial-qualifier), Anderson averaged 8.1 points per game.
That may not sound overly impressive. But a closer look at his career with the Rams reveals a knack for hitting
buzzer-beating shots.
Two years ago, there was a 3-pointer with three seconds left to beat URI in the regular-season finale. Last Feb. 4 in Philadelphia, Anderson hit a 3-pointer at the second overtime buzzer to give the Rams an 86-83 win over St. Joseph’s. A couple of weeks later, he hit a 17-footer at the overtime buzzer for a win over VCU.
So what does it take to hit a clutch shot? Not being afraid to fail, according to Anderson.
“Somebody’s got to take the shot,” he reasons. “If it goes in or it doesn’t go in, it’s not the end of the world. That’s the mindset you’ve got to have, to want to take those shots.”
Anderson — who, perhaps not coincidentally, is working on a graduate degree in Psychological Education — also points out that his buzzer-beaters in college aren’t the only big shots of his career.
“My whole life, honestly, the ball was always in my hands in late-game situations,” the Rochester, New York native said. “Especially when time was running down. I had some in high school, as well, and when I was younger, against fifth and sixthgraders.
“So, I’m used to it. I want the ball in those situations.”
Anderson will get the ball in every situation this season for the Huskies. Although the backcourt is the one area where UConn is stacked with talent, led by Adams, redshirt freshman Alterique Gilbert (who sat out nearly all last season after shoulder surgery) and sophomore Christian Vital, Anderson will see plenty of minutes as a veteran presence.
Asked if Anderson will “complement” the Huskies’ guards, Kevin Ollie replied with an incredulous look.
“Complement?” the head coach asked, rhetorically. “He’s gonna make them compete a little more, too. He’s really good. He’s what we need — a push guard who loves to play defense, got a chip on his shoulder.”
Anderson agrees with that assessment.
“My whole life, nothing’s really been given to me,” he noted. “I’ve always had to work for it.”
In fact, that’s one of the main reasons he chose to transfer to UConn. Several other schools — Seton Hall, Georgia Tech, NC State — had talked to him and said he could come in and be a starter right away.
“But I wanted to work for it,” Anderson said. “I didn’t want anything to come easy. I wanted to challenge myself, be around other good players and get to where I want to be.”
Anderson was on UConn’s campus for most of June and July, getting to know most of his new teammates.
“If we establish a toughness, mentally, I think we can go a long way,” he said.
Growing up in Rochester, Anderson got to watch a lot of Jonny Flynn at Syracuse. He said that Flynn and Kemba Walker were his two favorite players growing up (though he was a Duke fan, largely because of the Blue Devils’ uniform color).
Now, he’ll get to don the same uniform as Walker for one season. He’s already got a nice cache of Kembalike clutch shots on his resume. And that chip on his shoulder, too.
“Those guys stepping up a little bit (in competition) want to prove themselves,” said Ollie. “He’s kind of what we need.”