USF rolls over Huskies
TAMPA — When the season started, UConn coach Dan Hurley pointed out numerous times that the Huskies needed three players in particular to step up and play at allconference levels if the team were to have any success this season.
Now that league season has begun and UConn, incredibly, is off to its fourth straight 02 start in American Athletic Conference play, that has not happened. At all.
South Florida, a perennial conference doormat whose best player is out for the season, dominated UConn in just about every facet on Saturday afternoon en route to a 7560 victory before 4,694 at Yuengling Center. The Bulls, who entered the game with the league’s lowestscoring offense but tallied their secondhighest offensive output of the season. They outrebounded and outhustled the Huskies, and the 345thworst freethrow shooting team in the nation even hit 21 of 29 from the charity stripe.
Total domination — enough to get Hurley thinking about a complete overhaul of the team’s lineup and going with the talented younger players over the struggling veterans.
“We’re in a tough spot,” the Huskies’ secondyear coach noted. “It’s hard to play a lot of younger play
ers in any good conference. Obviously, our core older players are struggling. There’s not a lot of direction for us at this point, coming out of the last two games we just played.”
Those three players Hurley was hoping for allconference performances from — seniors Christian Vital and Alterique Gilbert and junior Josh Carlton — continued to struggle. Vital was 3for10 from the floor and missed all four 3point attempts. Gilbert scored just four points and took just three shots (all in the first half ), though he did distribute the ball nicely in the latter half and finished with eight assists.
And Carlton. Whoa, Carlton. The 6foot10 center went his fifth straight game without scoring in double figures, finishing with just two points and zero rebounds in 10 minutes of action. It was his first game without a rebound since Dec. 2, 2018 against Arizona.
Carlton allowed Michael Durr to grab an offensive rebound, then fouled him while converting the putback 37 seconds into the second half. He didn’t play again the rest of the way.
Meanwhile, freshman James Bouknight was the team’s leading scorer for a second straight game with 11 points, and fellow frosh Akok Akok followed with 10 despite missing most of the first half with foul troubles. For the final five or so minutes of the game, Hurley went with a lineup of three freshmen (Bouknight, Akok and point gaurd Jalen Gaffney, who was a bit slowed by an ankle issue), sophomore Brendan Adams and junior Isaiah Whaley.
A preview of coming attractions?
“Yeah, we’re getting close to that point,” Hurley confessed. “Obviously, we could do that at every position except the five. You’ve got two older players there. I did like what Isaiah (Whaley) did, at least defensively. Obviously, there’s offensive struggles there with him, in terms of finishing, but he brings effort and heart and intensity. But yeah, we’re getting close.”
Only problem is, it’s tough winning with younger players. Hurley labeled Akok the team’s best player after the game, while Bouknight may be the most athletically gifted. But he knows going with a youth movement could essentially raise the white flag on this season.
UConn (95) jumped off to a 60 start, but Akok picked up his second foul 41⁄2 minutes into the game, and the loss of the rimprotecting freshman was evident. USF (87, 11 AAC) used a 100 run late in the half to open up a 3727 lead, and owned a 3932 lead at the break after Gilbert hit a long 3pointer — his only basket of the game — with
9 seconds left.
Bouknight started the latter half in place of Tyler Polley (three points in 13 minutes), and Whaley soon joined the rotation when Carlon was yanked. Whaley finished with seven points and five rebounds in 21 minutes.
“I’m just trying to do what I can when my number’s called,” the 69 junior said. “Whenever one of my teammates is struggling, I’m just trying to step up and do what I can to give my team a boost.”
USF quickly opened its lead back up to 12 within the first 90 seconds of the latter half. The Huskies’ deficit was 11 (4938) when Hurley was hit with a technical foul with 15:41 remaining.
“I just felt, at that point, the game was being refereed incredibly inconsistently,” the coach said. “It had
impact on the score and our ability to win the game. But when you look up at the board and it’s 236 (in free throws) and you see clear fouls ... I’ll send my clips in. I’m not sure if there’s any recourse that way. Again, it had nothing to do with our performance, their performance.”
“Frustrated with the way we were playing,” Hurley added. “Frustrated with some of the brutal calls.”
Indeed, a cap on yet another frustrating opening week of AAC play for UConn.
“For this team to be good, we need the two senior guards to play at or near an allconference level, and we need Josh to play at or near an allconference level after being the most improved player,” said Hurley. “That rests on my shoulders, and their shoulders, to try to very quickly ... spend a lot of time soulsearching and trying to repair the psyche of a number of guys who’ve been struggling for a while.”