The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
UConn to face off against Notre Dame in Jimmy V Classic
Adams scores 31, including runner late to seal victory
HARTFORD — Maybe they’re the Cardiac Kids?
Or maybe the kids aren’t alright just yet.
Certainly, winning back-toback games in overtime is a nice feat for UConn, which hadn’t done so previously in five seasons. That those wins came against a pair of mid-majors — Columbia on Wednesday, and Monmouth on Saturday afternoon at the XL Center — certainly is cause for concern.
But a win is a win is a win. And consecutive overtime wins are even better, even against teams with a combined record of 4-10.
And UConn is 6-2 on the young season, following Saturday’s 84-81 triumph over Monmouth.
“I’ll take the win,” a relieved coach Kevin Ollie said afterwards, “but I’m still not satisfied how we’re getting there.”
The Huskies got there thanks largely to Jalen Adams on the offensive end and Antwoine Anderson on defense. Adams poured in 31 points, including a lane runner with 32.2 seconds left in OT to put the Huskies up for good.
Ollie had called a timeout with 45 seconds left and the Huskies trailing by a point.
“The play was for me to come off the pick-and-roll,” Adams said. “A couple of times before that, I was going by the big and getting to the rim. But I noticed when I came off the screen, he started backing up. So, I knew I was just gonna take the floater, and it went in.”
Anderson stepped up on the other end of the floor, at least in the second half and overtime. Monmouth’s Micah Seaborn poured in 20 first-half points on a variety of drives, bank shots and 3-pointers (four). He scored 16 of Monmouth’s final 18 points during a 22-4 run that almost closed out the half, until Adams knocked down a 30-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Someone had to step up to the challenge of stopping Seaborn. Ollie, even a couple of walk-ons openly asked the team who would do be the man. Mamadou Diarra approached Anderson
personally.
“What’s up?” Diarra asked him. “You’re our defensive guy, I need you to go out there and shut him down.”
“I told them, ‘This is my job, and I’m gonna stop him this half,’ ” said Anderson.
He did just that, holding Seaborn to seven points (and just seven shots) over the final 25 minutes of play.
“I just denied the ball, didn’t let him get as many touches, because he came off with a good start in the beginning of the game,” said Anderson, a graduate transfer guard. “He didn’t need much space to get his shot off, so I kind of just crowded him and made him uncomfortable in the second half.”
Still, Monmouth (3-5) led by four with less than two minutes left in overtime. Christian Vital converted a conventional 3-point play, and after an offensive foul by Monmouth’s Zac Tillman, Ollie called a timeout with 45 seconds left and set up a play for Adams to take it to the hole.
He settled for a floater that put the Huskies ahead. Vital hit 2 of 4 free throws down the stretch to seal the deal.
“I think we just know that it’s all-or-nothing right here,” Adams said about his team’s recent late-game heroics. “We just rely on our defense. So far, our defense hasn’t failed us in these late moments. But, we definitely don’t want to continue to make this a habit.”
Coupled with Wednesday night’s 77-73 win over Columbia at Gampel Pavilion, UConn has now won consecutive overtime games for the first time since 2013, when it won at Providence, then a few days later at home against South Florida.
Even those two former longtime Big East doormats look better on the resume than Columbia and Monmouth. Still, Ollie was happy — if realistic — about the wins.
“There’s a point when we get up, we have to have a killer mindset,” he said. “I think it starts with us going back, playing ‘do-me’ basketball, not sharing the basketball. Then we take bad shots.”
But, Ollie added, “We’re learning how to win. That was a big-time win, being four-down in overtime.”
Indeed, color Monmouth coach King Rice impressed with the Huskies’ resolve.
“I read a lot of stuff, but that’s two overtime wins,” said Rice. “Two overtimes wins, back-to-back. That means their kids are wellcoached, they’re listening to their coach. They continue to fight, even in situations where it looked like we might have had a chance. Those kids are making the right plays. That’s how you win down the stretch.”
Vital added 19 points for UConn, Terry Larrier 16 and Anderson 10. Seaborn finished with a career-high 27.
UConn played very well in stretches, and awfully in others. The Huskies hit 11 of their first 19 shots in the game to take a 29-20 lead, only to miss 11 straight shots during an ensuing stretch and trail by six at halftime. Adams’ prayer at the buzzer was UConn’s lone field goal over the final 7:52 of the half, and it served to mask some of the boos that had already been creeping up from some of the 6,582 in attendance.
The Huskies jumped out of the gates in the latter half with a 13-0 run to go up seven, only to go through an 0-for-10 shooting skein soon after to relinquish the lead.
Monmouth led by three with 1:46 left in regulation, but Adams scored on a drive, then Vital hit a pair of foul shots to put the Huskies back ahead.
With 48 seconds left, Tillman scored on an inside hoop. Adams was fouled with 33 seconds left and hit one of two free throws. Austin Tilghman missed a long 3-pointer in the waning seconds, and Adams had a chance to win it on a 60-footer that was just off the mark, sending the game into overtime.
“We’re finding ways,” said Ollie. “We’ve just got to get everybody to step up. And we’ve got to get our defense better ... It’s just picking up the intensity. I can put a game plan in, but I can’t go play for them. I wish I could. The first three looks (Seaborn) had were wide open, and he’s their best shooter. Our scouting report says it. You can’t give a scorer his first look a wide-open 3. It’s the pride, it’s giving up yourself, sacrificing. We have to take pride in playing defense.”
Ultimately, however, a win is a win is a win. And consecutive overtime wins are even better, no matter the opponent.
RIM RATTLINGS
⏩ Alterique Gilbert missed his second straight game with a sore shoulder. The guard missed almost all of last season after shoulder surgery and has had numerous shoulder issues over the past few years.
Ollie had no real answers about Gilbert’s status moving forward.
“At the end of the day, it’s on Alterique,” said the coach. “We’ll listen to his heart. He’s gonna tell me if he wants to go in another direction ... whatever he wants to do. He’s still sore, though. He can’t get out there and play. Everybody saw that.”
Ollie added: “He’s a hell of an assistant coach, though. He’s in huddles, talking. He’s doing a great guys helping our guys see the game from a different perspective.”
⏩ Eric Cobb (ankle) returned to action after missing the prior four games but played just three minutes, scoring one point and grabbing three rebounds.
⏩ The Guilford Shock boys travel team played a scrimmage at halftime.