The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Huskies rally from 15 down
STORRS — UConn was already down three players, two of them starters, and Christian Vital’s right shoulder wasn’t feeling too well prior to Wednesday night’s bout with Columbia.
Vital, the sophomore shooting guard, considered joining Alterique Gilbert, Eric Cobb and Isaiah Whaley on the Huskies’ bench.
Ultimately, he decided he could play. And that wound up being a very fortunate thing for UConn.
Vital poured in 29 points, including seven of the Huskies’ final nine points in overtime to spearhead a come-from-behind, 77-73 win at Gampel Pavilion.
“My team needed me,” Vital said, “and I needed them. We had to stick it out.”
Indeed, UConn (5-2) trailed by 15 points early in the second half and by 10 with less than 10 minutes to play. The Huskies gradually crawled back and took their first lead since 2-0 on a pair of Vital free throws with 2:16 left in regulation.
An Adams runner gave UConn a 63-62 lead. Quinton Adlesh countered with a 3-pointer, but Adams hit a lane jumper with 20.1 seconds left to tie the game.
Columbia’s Mike Smith missed a long trey at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
UConn led 75-71 after a Vital wing jumper with 52 seconds left in OT, but Columbia wasn’t done. Nate Hickman scored inside, and after Antwoine Anderson missed a 3-pointer, the Lions had the chance to tie or take the lead. Hickman missed a couple of point-range shots, but UConn knocked the ball out of bounds with 4.5 seconds left.
Patrick Tape took the inbounds pass, but Vital stole it from him with 1.5 ticks left and hit a pair of free throws to seal the deal.
“Very proud of the guys, their resiliency, coming back from 10 points down with 10 minutes to go,” said coach Kevin Ollie.
It was UConn’s first trip back to the hardwood since a dispiriting, 35-point loss to Arkansas in the Huskies’ third and final game of the PK80 Invitational on Sunday out in Portland, Oregon. UConn went 1-2 in that event.
“We toughed it out,” Ollie continued. “We had a tough stretch in Portland, the last three halves. To get back on the plane, fly back commercial, do all the different things they did, get up and fight like this, they could have easily given in. But they didn’t. I’m proud of the guys. Everybody contributed to a great team win.”
Now, it’s important to consider that Columbia is an Ivy League team that is now a mere 1-5 on the season and has yet to play a game at home. Still, the Huskies were down a few key players
— Gilbert (shoulder), Cobb (ankle) and Whaley, who had two wisdom teeth pulled on Tuesday.
UConn trailed 31-16 with 6:46 left in the first half and by 11 at halftime, despite 17 from Vital. Columbia hit seven of its first 10 3-pointers, but the Huskies defended the arc much better the rest of the way, holding the Lions to just 3-for-14 from distance from that point on.
“We really buckled down in the second half,” Vital said. “That’s what I love about this team. No matter the adversity we hit, I feel like we’re gonna win the game.”
UConn also got a huge boost from redshirt freshman forward Mamadou Diarra, who bounced off the bench and notched the team’s first double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
“He gave us a shot in the arm when we needed it,” said Ollie.
Diarra had played sparingly in UConn’s first five games, not playing at all in a win over Oregon and never more than seven minutes in any of the others. He finally got 13 minutes of run in the Arkansas game and played well, grabbing five rebounds.
Through it all, Diarra remained positive.
“I wasn’t really worried about the minutes,” he said. “I was just trying to support my teammates the whole time. Coach always told me, ‘Stay ready, your time will come.’ I just took that with a grain of salt and kept working and waiting for my moment.”
That moment came early in Wednesday’s game, and the 6-foot-9 frosh who missed all of last season with chronic knee issues responded.
“I told him before the game, ‘Hey, we’re down some guys, this is the game for you to step up,’” Vital said. “For him to respond with a double-double just shows where his mindset has been. He’s just staying ready, and I’m really proud of him.”
Ironically, Vital wasn’t getting a lot of minutes earlier this season until exploding for 30 in a win over Boston University on Nov. 19. He struggled since then, going just 1-for-16 at the PK80 before hitting 7 of 12 3-pointers on Wednesday. All with a bum shoulder. Vital’s effort was all the more ... well ... vital, since the team’s top two scorers, Jalen Adams and Terry Larrier, didn’t play well.
Adams missed eight of his first nine shots and turned his ankle late in the first half. He returned in the second and finished with 11 points and seven asissts (along with four turnvers). Larrier struggled to just 3-for-11 shooting and also had four turnovers, but did grab 14 rebounds.
Anderson followed Vital in the scoring column with 14 points. Lukas Meisner led Columbia with 25.
RIM RATTLINGS: Gilbert, Cobb and Whaley all began the game dressed in street clothes. Gilbert, who had season-ending shoulder surgery a year ago, reinjured his shoulder in a loss to Michigan State at last week’s PK80 Invitational. Cobb has now missed four straight games with a high ankle sprain.
Whaley played through the pain of an impacted wisdom tooth at the PK80. He felt better as the game progressed and switched into his uniform for the latter half, though he never got into the game.
⏩ A paltry crowd of 3,808 showed up for the game, easily one of the smallest — if not the smallest — in Gampel’s 27-year history.