Vital proud of his former teammates
Ex-Husky never got chance to play in NCAA Tournament
Christian Vital never got to experience an NCAA Tournament. That doesn’t mean he didn’t help UConn reach one.
“Those guys are taking care of business,” Vital said this week. “I’m proud of them.”
The Huskies road back to the NCAA Tournament was not just one of recent steps. Players on this year’s team aren’t the only ones to leave footprints.
Think back a year-plus ago, March 5, 2020. Gampel Pavilion was full. Houston was the visitor. The Huskies pulled off their fourth victory in a row. It felt like a pivotal moment for a program trying to right itself. There was real momentum. There was so much hope.
Vital, a senior, grabbed the microphone at midcourt.
“Yeahhhhhhhh!” he yelled to a sold-out crowd of 10,167.
He spoke for a few minutes and said, “We’re not done.” He finished with a mic drop, saying “Sniper out.” He expected to reach the NCAA Tournament when he arrived at UConn in 2016. He still expected to after his final game at Gampel Pavilion.
It was not to be during his time in Storrs.
UConn followed that Houston victory with another at Tulane to close the regular season and headed to Fort Worth, Texas, needing another string of victories the team felt it was capable of. The pandemic canceled that event, though, cutting short Vital’s UConn career. No AAC player was playing better at the time. No team was hotter. Then everything ended.
‘It was kind of crazy, but they picked it right back up,” Vital said. “We knew we were going to be in the tournament last year if there actually was one. To see them actually in it, it’s definitely joyful.”
“He’s a big reason why we’re here,” coach Dan Hurley said this week.
Vital downplayed that, but he is taking particular satisfaction in UConn’s success during its first season back in the Big East.
“The guys in the jerseys, the guys who have been in the jersey for this season, they’re the reason why they’re there,” Vita said. “I’m not going to take any credit for that. But just to be able to have that thoughtfulness from Dan, that some of my contributions helped, I appreciate that. It kind of lets me know that the work wasn’t all for nothing. But I’d be crazy if I took anything away from the guys there now. They’ve taken the wheel of the ship and they’re headed in the right direction.”
Vital went undrafted and spent a short time in Germany before signing with the Memphis Grizzlies. He was with the Grizzlies’ G League team in the Orlando bubble. He said Memphis retains his rights for now and that he is working toward figuring out what his next professional move is. He is hoping there is an NBA Summer League.
He is still training — and paying close attention to the Huskies.
“Dan, he’s in his bag right now, definitely in his bag,” Vital said. “He deserves it (the success). We were struggling when he came. Now we’re in the tournament three years later, and that second season we felt like could have been there. The senior class there now, with Isaiah (Whaley), Tyler (Polley) and Josh (Carlton), they were part of those last couple losing seasons. It was just a group of guys who wanted to win, tired of losing. We stopped talking about it and put some action behind it.”
Vital played 127 games at UConn, scoring 1,735 points, 10th on the program’s all-time list. He led the team at 17.3 points a game last season. UConn was 19-12, its first winning season since 2016.
“I’m happy with the momentum we were able to build last year, the group we were able to go to battle with,” Vital said. “They are where they’re supposed to be. They’re going to handle their business. And I’m figuring out this professional road. From right when I got to UConn I made it known — kind of loud — where I wanted to end up next. There is more work to do, I’m comfortable with that because I know I’ll put it in. … I’m apprecia- tive that I got to see a soldout Gampel in my last game there, and we won.”
Vital didn’t see every UConn game this season.
He said he won’t miss the Huskies NCAA Tournament game Friday against Maryland.
“That’s the one moment I’m going to feel like I’m there with the guys,” he said.