Huskies battle back, chomp Gators in Gainesville

It seems like the words “toughness” and “heart” have lost all meaning in college basketball. They’re difficult to define in the context of sports and are often used haphazardly to describe successful players and teams.

But if you want to know what toughness is, look no further than Ryan Boatright, who was visibly limited by injury on Saturday and still played 39 minutes, hitting key free throws down the stretch to lift UConn to a 63-59 win at Florida.

He later described his left thigh contusion as one that has turned his leg “45 different colors,” but he stayed in the game knowing that a win in Gainesville could change the course of the season.

And the free throws he hit in the final moments rendered meaningless a 2-11 shooting performance from the field. He still led UConn with 14 points.

If you need an example of heart, look no further than the defense that the Huskies played over the final 11 minutes, turning a double-digit deficit into a victory.

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Amida Brimah had been a non-factor on both ends of the court, then suddenly became a defensive extraordinaire, blocking and altering shots, and forcing Florida into firing lower percentage looks. He finished with 10 rebounds after looking overmatched against quality competition earlier in the year.

“Our defense in the last 11 minutes was some of the best I’ve seen at UConn,” head coach Kevin Ollie said after the game.

Oh, and speaking of heart, how about Omar Calhoun? The guy who seemed cursed last year and missed the first seven games of this year, who kept the Huskies in the game by shooting 5-8 with a couple threes and scoring 12 off the bench.

The Huskies are a deeply flawed team, there’s no question. But Saturday proved that at times, the sticktoitiveness that has become a trademark of Kevin Ollie teams can be enough.

For nearly 30 minutes, UConn appeared lucky to just be in the game. There was no offensive cohesion, Florida was executing and Brimah hadn’t even taken a shot.

Sometimes, the only thing you can control is your effort, and the Huskies would not be rattled on the road in the final minutes.

Rodney Purvis, who had made only one shot, hit two threes in the span of 1:59 late, the second one giving UConn its first lead of the game with 5:36 to play. He hit another two minutes later, this one putting the Huskies up for good.

After that, it became a battle at the line, and while Florida shot a woeful 8-20, the Huskies were perfect in the second half. That included six in the last 33 seconds to seal the game, four coming from Boatright, who missed critical attempts in UConn’s losses to Texas and Yale.

Ollie summed it up perfectly: “All the things we haven’t been doing, we did today.”

Stat Sheet:

• Despite struggling from the field, Boatright still managed six assists.
• After allowing Florida to shoot 52 percent in the first half, the Gators were just 8-25 (32 percent) in the second half and 2-13 (15 percent) over the last 10 minutes.
• Terrence Samuel had a season high 10 points, six of them coming from the line.
• Brimah was credited with only two blocks, which he could not believe after the game.
• The Huskies were 17-20 from the foul line on Saturday, one game after going 8-19 in an overtime loss to Temple.

Next Up:

The Huskies stay in Florida and will play at the Sun Dome Tuesday night against South Florida.