Adams finishes as AAC’s No. 2 scorer

MEMPHIS — As UConn’s season came to a close on Friday afternoon in a blowout loss to Houston, so did the career of one of the program’s most intriguing players.

Jalen Adams, who began his UConn career as a heralded recruit, hit a famous 75-foot shot as a freshman and put up impressive numbers (if not wins) over the next three seasons, played his final game as a Husky.

Adams needed 20 points to take over the American Athletic Conference’s all-time scoring mark but, in somewhat of a metaphor for his career, fell short. He finished with 15 points and ended up with 1,706 for his career, four shy of Rob Gray, Jr. — a former star at Houston.

Adams finished 10th on UConn’s all-time scoring list, perched between Wes Bialosuknia (whom he passed in Thursday’s win over USF) and Kemba Walker (1,783).

“As I look back on it, coming in, I was a young child, an immature kid,” Adams said. “I think as I have progressed throughout my time, I became more mature and looked at the bigger picture. I think a lot of people go through different things and I think adversity was probably the best for me. It’s turned me into a man.”

Adams left the game with 51.5 seconds left. He got a hug and some words from Hurley, congratulations from his teammates on the bench. The UConn band chanted “Ja-len Ad-ams!” A few people in the sparse crowd of a couple of thousand stood and cheered.

“I tried to think about the good things more than the bad things,” said Adams, his voice cracking a bit with some rare sorrowful emotion. “Seeing all my brothers standing up for me, I don’t know, just — it hits a soft spot in your heart. All the love that you see on your team is different ... People will never have that same genuine love for you.”

Added Christian Vital, his teammate the last three seasons: “Just to see one of my better friends in college basketball and life, to go out like that, it kind of hurt. Because I know the time he puts in and the talent he has. I know the expectations, especially as guards coming to UConn, it just didn’t go the way he expected or I expected. I wish him the best, and I know he’ll have a great pro career.”

Adams’ 75-foot buzzerbeater to send an AAC firstround tourney game to a fourth overtime in an eventual win over Cincinnati will be his most memorable moment. Adams made just one trip to the NCAA tournament, as a freshman, where the Huskies beat Colorado in their first game before falling to top overall seed Kansas.

He was a first-team allAAC pick as a sophomore, second-team as a junior and third-team this season, in which he missed six games due to a sprained MCL.

Hurley, who coached Adams for just one season, had a couple of clashes along the way and isn’t one to typically get too choked up — got a little choked up.

“He’s grown a lot,” said Hurley. “Listen, he’s had incredible bad luck in terms of timing of a player of his caliber coming into the program. My heart kind of breaks for him because of the conditions that he’s had to play through. Not many players of his caliber have come to UConn and have had to go through the career under the conditions he’s had — the program sliding, coaching transition.”

Jalen Adams