The name UConn Huskies carries certain weight.
The pressure of that history is there in the crowd at the Amway Center as former greats Richard Hamilton, Ray Allen and Nykesha Sales (on the women’s side) dotted the arena throughout the week to see if their Huskies could recapture some tournament magic and force their way into the NCAA Tournament field.
That tournament reputation has long been what UConn is about. Someone always makes the big shot and the team always survives and advances. It does not matter if the team is the top seed or the fifth seed, like it was this week at the American Athletic Conference Tournament.
UConn prevails. The team always finds a way.
“They pretty much set the stage,” Sterling Gibbs said. “They have done so much for the program. You don’t want to let those guys down. At the same time, you are playing for each other. You are playing to get to the NCAA Tournament and to get far in the NCAA Tournament.”
It was Jalen Adams in the first game Friday to help the Huskies survive four overtimes. It was Daniel Hamilton and Shonn Miller in Saturday to blow out the regular season champion Temple Owls.
In Sunday’s championship it was that legacy on the line. The legacy of the seniors that helped push UConn past foul trouble, past the struggles of foul trouble and into the NCAA Tournament with the American Conference’s automatic bid as the tournament champions.
It was graduate transfer Sterling Gibbs hitting three big 3-pointers in the second half to hold off a hard-charging Memphis team. It was senior guard Omar Calhoun hitting big shots to grow that lead. It was graduate transfer Shonn Miller and redshirt junior Rodney Purvis making big plays time and time again as UConn won the American Athletic Conference Tournament Championship Game 72-58 over Memphis.
Through foul trouble, through runs conceded and droughts, UConn always had the answers.
“We have had leads before and the team we’re playing will make a run,” Shonn Miller said. “We wanted to stay mentally and physically tough and know we needed a key stop at whatever time in the game. We got those and got the win.”
The Tigers, like they have all tournament, had no quit and made its push with some stellar defense and solid inside play. Foul trouble and lack of depth caught up to Memphis as UConn found the right guy at the right moment to hold them off for the win.
It was Sterling Gibbs draining a 3-pointer coming out of a timeout that took the lead from four to seven and kickstarted a 10-0 run to put the game finally out of reach.
This was not the Tigers’ first scoring drought either. They went more than six minutes without a field goal early in the first half to see a 6-6 tie become a 20-7 deficit. UConn had the lead and was not going to let go.
The Huskies were determined to get to the foul line and drive into the basket. They got Shaq Goodwin in foul trouble and eventually Trashon Burrell and Dedric Lawson would join him. A lot fell on Lawson to carry the offense with Goodwin out. Lawson scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
He, like the rest of the Tigers, found their struggles shooting the ball. The team as a whole made just 6 of 26 shots in the first half in shooting 37.5 percent for the game. By the time the shooting got going, it was enough to climb back into the game, but never enough to get over the hump.
“We didn’t change our game plan,” Ricky Tarrant Jr. said. “They came out early and made a lot of tough shots. So, it was just all about energy and effort. I give credit to UConn. They’re a great team, and it’s just the ball didn’t land our way today.”
The Tigers’ lack of depth thanks to injuries and foul trouble just became too much. The Huskies were able to get down and play defense.
Shonn Miller scored 13 points on 4-for-6 shooting. Gibbs had 13 points on 3-for-10 shooting. Daniel Hamilton, the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, had 12 points with 11 rebounds, on 3-for-11 shooting. Rodney Purvis scored 12.
It was strange game for UConn on that front. Shots were falling but not from the team’s key guys all the time.
The team just stepped up. That is what UConn always seems to do. The Huskies rise to the moment and finally broke through for the American Conference Championship.
“Adversity is what builds us,” coach Kevin Ollie said. “I’ve had lecture over lecture with these guys on adversity and being tough, and I just think that’s what really makes us go at University of Connecticut. Our pillar in our program is recovery. You’re going to have to be able to recover from mistakes, you’re going to have to be able to self-correct. And I think those guys are really getting that now.”
UConn had a lot of adversity to overcome. This was not exactly the season the team wanted or expected. It did not feel like a UConn season entering the tournament as the fifth seed and needing to fight its way into the NCAA Tournament.
Then again, the Huskies always seem to rise to the occasion and find their way in. They always seem to fight their way forward and play their best basketball in March, no matter the circumstances.
This week in Orlando was UConn basketball at its best. This was UConn basketball fighting and clawing its way into the field and overcoming adversity and disappointment. From the heartbreak of losing this tournament title game for two consecutive years to the thrill of needing a full-court shot to force a fourth overtime and survive.
The Huskies have a long history of doing this. And they added another chapter to that story.
