The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Huskies topple Tulsa
UConn finally wins for first time in six tries at Reynolds Center dating back to 2015
TULSA — Christian Vital couldn’t help himself. In the waning seconds of UConn’s longawaited first (and, ultimately, final) win over Tulsa at the Reynolds Center, the senior guard eyed one particularly rowdy fan sitting courtside.
“Farewell, buddy!” Vital shouted. “Farewell, buddy!”
Tulsa billed this game as a “Farewell to UConn” as it tried to complete a sixgame sweep of UConn at the Reynolds Center, dating back to 2015. But UConn spoiled the party, nabbing a 72-56 win that also marked its first true road victory of the season.
“Huge credit to our team, coming on the road and beating a team of this caliber — one of the best teams in our conference, and clearly a team that’s gonna be battling or an NCAA bid through the end of the season,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “Hats off to our guys, after all the brutal, close, difficult losses, to come into a place we’ve never won before. I’m happy for the group to finally get rewarded for that.”
All the Huskies needed all along, apparently, was James Bouknight.
Bouknight, the precocious freshman guard, scored a career-high 22 points — including a remarkable 13 straight UConn points during one secondhalf stretch that helped turn a one-point lead into a 10-point bulge.
“Whenever you score like that, I don’t really know what’s happening,” Bouknight said. “I just go and do it. I used to do it all the time in high school. Coach Hurley told me to shoot the ball. He felt I wasn’t aggressive enough in
the first half. He told me, ‘Just shoot the ball.’ ”
Indeed, Bouknight took just two shots in the first half, passing up one particularly wide-open 3-pointer late in the frame.
“I was yelling, ‘Shoot,’ like it was CYO,” Hurley recalled. “He’s got to shoot. He’s got to get 13, 14, 15 shot attempts on this team, the way we’re currently constituted. Every time he catches the ball, he’s got to think, ‘Make a play, drive it, shoot it.’ Because he’s a true talent.”
Bouknight had plenty of help on Thursday. Alterique Gilbert hit all three of his 3-pointers and added 17 points off the bench for UConn (12-10, 3-6 AAC).
“Al’s a good catch-andshoot player,” said Hurley. “Today, he was dialed-in.
Added Gilbert: “Just getting a win feels great, and getting over a little hump on the road feels great as a team.”
Meanwhile, Isaiah Whaley notched a double-double (10 points, 12 rebounds), capped by thunderous putback dunk of a Vital missed 3-pointer that put the Huskies up 10 with 3:23 left.
“That felt amazing,” the junior forward said.
The Huskies began the second half with an 11-2 run to take an 11-point lead. But Tulsa (15-7, 7-2) responded with a 10-0 run of its own, led by Martins Igbanu (game-high 29 points), and it looked like UConn was in for another squandered opportunity.
Then, Bouknight took over. He scored on a putback of a missed Vital 3pointer, kicking off a run of 13 straight points by the freshman — including three straight 3-pointers at one point.
Tulsa countered each of the first three baskets, but a 7-0 UConn run — kicked of by a Bouknight trey and capped by Josh Carlton’s steal and layup, put the Huskies back up 10.
Tulsa would get back to within five, but key plays down the stretch by Gilbert and Whaley kept the Golden Hurricane at bay, and UConn finally broke through with a road win.
“It’s such a good feeling to win a game,” said Bouknight. “Winning is so much better than losing. Everyone’s happy, laughing, smiling. We want more wins like this. We want to feel like that after every game we play.”
RIM RATTLINGS:
⏩ Brendan Adams made his first collegiate start, in
place of Akok Akok. It was the Huskies’ fourth different starting lineup this season, but expect Akok back in the starting lineup on Sunday against Cincinnati at Gampel Pavilion.
“That was a one-time thing,” Hurley said. “We’re on our way to building a championship organization. On your way to doing that, with the young players, there are teaching and learning moments along the way. There’s a standard these three freshmen have to learn to uphold, of how a championship organization operates. We’ve got to get that message across to our players. You have to do everything right in a championship-level program. It was just a teaching moment for Akok.”
⏩ Vital hit a pair of 3-pointers and now has 237 for his career, two behind UCF’s Matt Williams for second on the AAC’s all-time list. Temple’s Shizz Alston holds the league record with 250.
⏩ Sid Wilson (knee) sat out his third straight game. There is hope that the redshirt sophomore forward could be ready to go on Sunday at Gampel Pavilion against Cincinnati.