GILBERT MAKES TRIP
Alterique Gilbert travels with UConn to Memphis and may play Saturday.
MEMPHIS – The UConn men arrived in town carrying something they haven’t had in a while: good feelings that come with a win. And they’ll be more complete.
“It’s definitely a good feeling,” freshman James Bouknight said,
“we have a lot of momentum coming in. And we get Al back.”
Alterique Gilbert, who missed the Huskies’ win over Temple for what the team termed “personal reasons” made the trip and will be “in the mix” for UConn’s match with Memphis at the FedEx Forum on Saturday at 1 p.m. Sid Wilson is out with his knee contusion, but coach Dan Hurley will at least have eight healthy players to rotate against a Memphis team that can wear opponents down.
“He’s up to speed, hopefully he can give us a good contribution,” Hurley said. “Al’s focus here is to play with a lot of joy, a lot of enthusiasm and try to help the team win. … Al’s got a light in his eyes, and a big heart. He’s got an opportunity on the road against a very good team to help us have a chance. ”
Gilbert, who had been struggling during the Huskies’ fourgame losing streak, each of those losses by four points or less, two in overtime, was given time away.
Playing with seven players, and three freshman in the starting lineup, Jalen Gaffney taking Gilbert’s spot at point guard, the Huskies (11-10, 2-5 in the AAC) defeated Temple, leading almost wire to wire.
Memphis (15-5, 4-3) will provide a different kind of opponent — as talented as a any team on UConn’s schedule, but young and hard to predict. Coach Penny Hardaway assembled the toprated recruiting class in the country, but lost James Wiseman, projected as a high pick in the NBA Draft, who left the team to focus on his pro career. The Tigers start four freshman, including Precious Achiuwa, who has 11 double-doubles, averaging 15.4
points and 10.3 rebounds. They’ve struggled recently, losing four of seven games in January, including a 40-point loss to Tulsa.
“They’re really athletic, talented and deep,” Hurley said, “and obviously have had trouble taking care of he ball, but they make up for a lot of mistakes with really elite type of athletic ability. They’ve got a ton of bodies and they just wear you down.”
UConn began the season with 10 eligible players, but lost Tyler Polley to a season-ending knee injury in mid-January. Wilson bruised his knee against Tulsa and is not ready to return, though he made the trip.
In starting the three freshmen, UConn got a burst of energy and Gaffney handled his role with a minimum of mistakes, which will be a key on Saturday. Memphis feasts on live turnovers, and will have 16,000 plus in its NBA-size arena to electrify with easy transition baskets.
“It’s critical that we don’t turn the ball over,” Hurley said, “that we get back in transition and obviously we rebound defensively. We’ve got to try to force them to execute their half-court offense.”
To prepare for Memphis with the quick turnaround, Hurley went with a less-is-more approach, looking to have fresh legs on the court for what figures to be a fast-tempo game with a lot of ball pressure. He is particularly concerned about keeping freshman Akok Akok healthy. The Huskies have played or practiced 13 days in a row, and are in the middle of a grueling stretch with another road game at Tulsa on Thursday, and a return home to play Cincinnati on Sunday.
They have struggled offensively most of the season, especially in conference play. UConn is shooting 24.1 percent on 3-pointers since losing Polley five games ago. One remedy would be for Bouknight, averaging 9.9 points, potentially the Huskies’ most talented offensive player, to avoid the fouls that are limiting his minutes to 21 per game.
“Most of my fouls are like silly fouls,” Bouknight said. “Like ‘putting my hands in the cookie jar,’ as [teammate] R.J. Cole always tells me. Little, stupid things.”
Said Hurley: “Court-awareness, better technique, just being more focused. He just needs to learn and mature as a player and just clean things up. He’s so talented, he’s just a little sloppy.”
UConn (0-4) is still looking for its first road win of the season, and this would be a tough, but satisfying place to break out on offense and get it, as the Huskies continue their farewell tour of The American.
“We’re going to have to make shots,” Hurley said, “we can’t win these games making four threes.”
Dom Amore can be reached at damore@courant.com