The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Huskies halt Gators
STORRS — No Shabazz Napier buzzerbeater need this time around. Just Christian Vital hitting a pair of free throws with 17.3 seconds left, then running out the clock after a steal to end the game.
UConn’s 6259 victory over No. 15 Florida at a soldout Gampel Pavilion on Sunday afternoon wasn’t as sexy as the last time the Gators visited the building. But it was just as sweet — and muchneeded — for UConn.
“I’ll definitely take that, I’ll definitely take that,” said Vital. “Top 15 team, the team produced really well today. We just stuck together, and we’ve got to keep this going.”
That it came on the heels of perhaps the most embarrassing loss of coach Dan Hurley’s short tenure, a 9687 loss to St. Joseph’s before a paltry crowd on Wednesday night at Gampel, made it all the more satisfying for UConn (21).
“The way we responded after Wednesday just shows the character of our team,” said Tyler Polley, who matched Vital for team highscoring honors with 15 points. “We could have come out kind of disappointed, but we came out with that UConn intensity and pride and we got that ‘W.’”
It was the Huskies’ first win over a ranked team since an 8376 win over No. 15 Syracuse almost exactly a year earlier, on Nov. 15 at Madison Square Garden. It was UConn’s first home win over a ranked team since a 7862 win over No. 21 SMU on Feb. 18, 2016.
And, believe it or not, it was UConn’s first win over a ranked team at Gampel since .. yup, that 6564 win over Florida on Dec. 2, 2013 that was capped by Napier’s buzzerbeater — one of the most famous shots in UConn history.
“I felt like we won this game on Thursday, on Friday, on Saturday and in shootaround today,” Hurley said, referring to his team’s preparation. “Just with their approach, accountability and ownership on their part. Ownership on our part as coaches. We didn’t do a good enough job (on Wednesday), I didn’t do a good enough job. We all just looked in the mirror and made sure we’d give ourselves a chance to win by the way we’d prepare, and by being selfaware of the things we all did in Wednesday’s game.”
It didn’t start out that way. Just as in the loss to St. Joe’s, when UConn missed its first nine shots and allowed the Hawks to jump out to a 140 lead, the Huskies couldn’t get anything going offensively. They missed their first five shotst — turning the ball
over five times in that span, as Florida (22) got out to a 60 lead — and nine of their first 10.
“Fans were standing too long,” quipped Vital, referring to the tradition of UConn fans standing until the team scores its first points of a half.
Fortunately for the Huskies, their defense was much better, and they countered with an 110 run to get the lead back. It was largely a clangfest the rest of the half, as the teams combined to miss 20 of 23 3point attempts. But UConn held a 2520 lead at the break.
The Huskies never trailed in the latter half, though it got hairy. They pumped their lead up to as much as eight (3931) with 14:45 to play on a long Vital jumper, but Florida gradually inched back behind the play of point guard Andrew Nembhard (14 secondhalf points).
An inside hoop by Keyontae Johnson got the Gators to within a point (6059) with 1:06 left. Polley missed a 3pointer with 45 ticks left, and Florida came down with a chance to take a lead. But Nembhard missed a jumper, Akok Akok grabbed the rebound and Vital was fouled with 17 seconds remaining.
The senior guard swished both freebies. Nembhard missed a jumper in the paint but got his own rebound and kicked out to Johnson, who eschwed an open 3pointer and made a pass that was deflected by Alterique Gilbert and corralled by Vital, who ran the clock out while the sellout crowd roared.
“Just a great feeling,” Vital said afterwards. “Great feeling.”
Josh Carlton overcame a poor first half and finished behind Vital and Polley in the scoring column with 13 points. Gilbert suffered through his third straight awful shooting game (3for13, 0for6 from 3) and finished with 10 points, but still earned his coach’s praise.
“I was so proud of Al today, just the way he led,” said Hurley. “He played like a point guard, a leader of men. Christian, the same thing.”
Isaia Whaley added seven points and six rebounds off the bench, and though Akok didn’t score, he grabbed eight rebounds — including a pair of big ones down the stretch — and blocked a pair of shots.
Kerry Blackshear led Florida with 15 points before fouling out.
“A game like that, on TV, with the crowd and winning over a Top 15 team, it’s muchneeded for us as we’re rebuilding the program,” said Hurley. “We know where we are right now. We took a step back (on Wednesday). We took a couple of big steps in signing some bigtime guys (2020 recruits Andre Jackson and Javonte BrownFerguson), and we took a couple of big steps today by winning a big game at home with a bigtime crowd.”