The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
A Vital victory
Senior leads Huskies in final game at Gampel
STORRS — Think Christian Vital was going to lose in his final game at Gampel Pavilion? Not a chance.
This is a guy who still believes UConn will win the national championship. Like, this season. You try telling him he’s crazy.
With eight minutes left on Senior Night and UConn clinging to a one-point lead, Vital took the game over. He grabbed a steal and hit James Bouknight for a transition layup. He came up with another steal and soared in for his a layup
of his own.
He nailed an elbow jumper, then grabbed rebound and hit Brendan Adams, who hit Jalen Gaffney for a layup that put the Huskies up nine.
Vital wasn’t done for the night, but Houston essentially was, as UConn held on for a 77-71 victory at sold-out Gampel and kept its faint NCAA tournament at-large chances alive.
It’s the fourth straight win for UConn, which improved to 18-12 overall and 9-8 in the AAC. It’s also the Huskies’ first fourgame winning streak since the start of the 2017-18 season.
The 21st-ranked Cougars fell to 22-8, 12-5.
Vital, one of the nation’s top free throw shooters, fittingly closed things out by hitting eight straight free throws over the final 48 seconds to close it out. He also passed Jalen Adams for 10th place on UConn’s all-time scoring list and finished with 26 points.
When the game was over, Vital addressed the crowd:
“It’s been a crazy for years for me personally, for my teammate Mo, Al, I
gotta thank that man Danny Hurley, man. We had some brutal times together. But he came in here on a mission ... we’ve had a lot of ups and downs these past two years, but what we’ve done this year is special.” “But we’re not done yet!” Houston scored the game’s first five points, then UConn unleashed a headspinning, 16-0 run, during which the Cougars missed all 10 of their shots. Five different Huskies scored during the stretch, capped by an Isaiah Whaley jumper.
Houston’s Caleb Mills finally ended the drought with a transition 3-pointer to start an 8-0 Cougars mini-run. Houston gradually chipped away until it ended the half on a 10-0 run, capped by a Quentin Grimes try at the buzzer, to give it a 37-30 halftime lead.
Houston hit its final seven shots of the half.
RIM RATTLINGS
⏩ Vital, Alterique Gilbert, student assistant coach (and former player) Mamadou Diarra, walk-on Temi Aiyegbusi and grad managers Paul Wettemann of Guilford and Justin Eaddy were recognized prior to the game as part of Senior
Night festivities. Hurley appeared to shed a few tears when Gilbert and Vital were announced.
Gilbert got the start on Senior Night, his first start since Jan. 26 against Tulsa and his 20th start of the season.