The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Too Little, Too Late
Comeback bid comes up short against Tigers
STORRS — Every game, it seems, brings a new ignominious low for UConn.
If it’s not an opposing player exploding for a career-high performance, it’s an opposing team dropping an unprecedented array of 3-pointers on the Huskies.
If it’s not a gut-wrenching, late-game loss, it’s another 20plus point defeat.
It’s always something with UConn, and it’s rarely good.
On Sunday afternoon at Gampel Pavilion, it was something new: a good start and a furious comeback bid, sandwiched around one of the rock-bottom worst 20 minutes of basketball the team has played in a season full of bad ones.
UConn had a 10-point firsthalf lead over Memphis rapidly turn into a 10-point halftime deficit and 23-point deficit midway through the second half. Led by a different group of players over the final 10 minutes, the Huskies actually made it a game in the final minutes.
Ultimately, however, it was too little, too late, and Memphis
walked away with an 83-79 victory.
“I believe you always have to get positives out of a situation,” sophomore guard Christian Vital said. “I think it would be stupid not to. But, it just shows we can fight but we can’t get down 20-plus points ... and expect to win.”
At least UConn (13-16, 6-10 AAC) managed to avoid a ninth 20-point loss of the season.
“We can’t wait to be down 20, 25 and be like, ‘Oh, alright, now we have to start playing,’” Vital added. “We have to start from the beginning of the game.”
The Huskies actually came out hot, hitting their first three 3-pointers en route to a 23-13 lead with 9:10 left in the first half. Then, the Tigers erupted.
Memphis, which entered the game 11th in the 12-team American Athletic Conference in 3-point field goal percentage at 30.7, calmly rained down seven 3-pointers over the final 8 1/2 minutes of the half and had eight by the break. The Tigers hit 9 of 10 shots over that span until missing a pair at the final buzzer, and owned a 41-31 halftime lead.
That’s right — in the span of 81⁄2 minutes, Memphis (18-11, 9-7 AAC) turned a 10-point deficit into a 10-point lead.
And it didn’t stop there, as the Tigers — who, it should be noted, had just lost AAC scoring leader Jeremiah Martin for the rest of the season with a broken foot — knocked down their first two treys of the latter half. When David Nickelberry scored on a layup off an inbounds play with 10:01 remaining, Memphis owned a 61-38 lead.
The Huskies would actually outscore Memphis 41-22 the rest of the way. Jalen Adams, who missed Thursday’s loss at Cincinnati with the flu and had just four points at halftime, came alive with 21 points over that final span.
Nearly as integral was the effort of Kwintin Williams, who didn’t play at all until the 10-minute mark of the latter half. Williams wound up with seven points, a team-high seven rebounds and more highenergy plays than the Huskies have made in a month.
“I really appreciate him,” said Vital. “Obviously, it’s not a secret, he hasn’t been playing that much recently. But, he did a great job coming in today, not thinking about not playing. He just went out and played hard, caught a dunk, rebounded, was physical. I kept telling him, ‘Hey, I appreciate you. Just keep it up.’”
“I thought he played tremendous,” said coach Kevin Ollie. “Hopefully he comes back (Monday) with the same in practice, playing with that energy, and he’ll definitely be playing in the next game.”
Of course, Williams probably thought he was in line for more minutes after Ollie lavished him with praise following an eightrebound effort in 24 minutes off the bench in a blowout loss at Wichita State two weeks ago.
Williams played a combined 13 minutes in the ensuing three games.
Asked if the lack of playing time has been frustrating, Williams said: “Yeah, it is. But I’m just trusting coach. I feel like he’s doing whatever is right for the team, whatever we need to do to win. I just believe in him.”
According to Ollie: “It’s just consistency. He’s doing the job. As a coach, I make a decision — me and my coaching staff. That’s what we do, we go by feel. We go off of practice in this program. Not saying he wasn’t practicing hard, but we have to see that each and every day — the evidence of him coming in and working hard.”
Williams seemed to agree.
“Every practice is different, my energy varies,” he noted. “On rebounding days I bring the energy, and some days we do other things and I can’t use the same kind of brute force and energy in those drills. So, I’m lacking a little bit in different areas.”
The only thing consistent about UConn this season has been different ways to suffer embarrassing losses. And Sunday afternoon at Gampel — furious comeback bid aside — was yet another.
“As long as we still have games left, we still have the chance to fix it,” Vital noted. “That’s my mindset, and I believe that’s my guys’ mindset, as well. Try to get better, try to win the next one.”