Despite best efforts, Huskies fall short
HARTFORD — They couldn’t stop Aubrey Dawkins, and for great stretches of the second half, couldn’t buy a basket.
They couldn’t convert their 17 offensive rebounds into many points, and, as usual, couldn’t take care of the ball very well.
But if nothing else, when UConn’s 65-53 loss to UCF on Saturday afternoon at XL Center was over, the Huskies could look each other in the eye — something they had a hard time doing the past couple of days in practice, on the heels of an ugly meltdown loss at South Florida on Wednesday night.
“At least in that locker room (on Saturday),” coach Dan Hurley noted, “we could look at each other and not be ashamed of how we represented the university and the program.”
This is where UConn stands right now — 9-6 overall, 0-2 in the American Athletic Conference (for the third year in a row) and taking pride in a 12-point loss at home to UCF.
“But, after Wednesday’s game and the shame and embarrassment of our effort, particularly in the last 25 minutes of that one, the way we challenged the guys about their effort and com-
petitive nature and character, from an effort standpoint, I’m not sure we could have played much harder,” said Hurley. “The reality of it is, offensively and defensively, as a team we’re still pretty far away from where we need to be here. But I felt great about the effort.”
Of course, this isn’t your standard UCF team, either. The Knights are living up to their preseason billing as AAC champions, improving to 12-2 overall and 2-0 in league play.
Still, UConn outrebounded a team with one of the 40 tallest men in the world, 37-23. And while the Huskies were grabbing those 17 offensive boards, the Knights grabbed none. Zero. Zip. Nada.
But UConn was only able to convert that offensive glasswork into six points.
“Getting an offensive rebound and there’s a 7-6 guy there,” Hurley pointed out, “it’s hard to get the putback.”
That 7-6 guy, of course, is Tacko Fall. And while he didn’t figure much in the box score (three points, five rebounds, two blocks) his mere presence forced the Huskies into numerous awkward shots and, ultimately, 32.2percent shooting.
But the player with the biggest impact was Dawkins, the son of head coach Johnny Dawkins who’s had to sit out the past two season due to transfer (from Michigan) and injury. Dawkins, a 6-foot-6 guard, scored 16 of his game-high 23 points in the latter half on an assortment of 3-pointers, tough turnaround jumpers and
acrobatic dunks.
“He gave us a huge lift,” his proud father said, in an understatement.
UConn got off to a 7-0 start, but UCF countered with a 9-0 run of its own and led for most of the first half. The Knights upped their lead to as much as seven, but the Huskies went into the break trailing by just three (33-30) thanks to the play of Alterique Gilbert, who sandwiched a 3-pointer and a nifty, high-arching runner between a Fall free throw over the final minute.
Gilbert had a game-high 13 points at the break on 5-for-9 shooting, including all three 3-point attempts and a truly remarkable spinning reverse layup he somehow managed to get up over Fall’s outstretched arms.
That tied the game at 21. UConn would tie the game once more.
Vital’s one-handed putback dunk of a Tyler Polley miss just over four minutes into the latter half put a charge in the crowd of 10,541. Fall was then whistled for his third foul, and Vital canned a wide-open 3-pointer from the corner to tie the game at 40.
Collin Smith countered with a conventional threepoint play, however, and UCF would never trail again. The Huskies turned the ball over on their next four possessions, and UCF went on an 11-2 run. Vital hit a higharching jumper to get UConn back to within six (52-46) with 7:02 to play, but again the Knights answered. Dawkins kicked it off with a dunk, and y the time Dayon Griffin canned a pair of free throws with 2:40 left, UCF led by 14.
Gilbert scored 13 of his team-high 18 points in the first half and Vital netted 13 of his 15 in the latter.
“From an effort standpoint, it was representative about what a UConn team looks like, or a team looks like that cares,” said Hurley. “Now, it’s just about moving this thing forward, trying to get better.”
And there’s a long way to go in that department.
“We’re not close to where (UCF is) right now,” Hurley added. “Those guys are men, they’re well-schooled, and they have great habits. They’re led by guys that are locked in. There’s obviously a gap between us and the better teams that we play. We’ve got to keep closing that gap in our efforts this year.” david.borges @hearstmediact.com