For a few hours on Sunday afternoon, we went back in time. A sellout crowd in Hartford buzzed with excitement. A marquee opponent with a legendary coach roamed the visitors’ sideline. Two tough teams played a quality brand of basketball that was exciting and intense. And UConn looked like the defending national champion.
While those descriptors may read like copy from a UConn/Syracuse game a decade ago, they also sum up the Huskies’ 81-73 victory over #21 SMU on Sunday.
Having lost their last four contests against Larry Brown’s SMU team, UConn looked focused and prepared this time around. They opened an early lead and demonstrated a level of execution on both sides of the ball that we haven’t seen this season.
Rodney Purvis carried the scoring load early, netting 12 first half points. The Huskies ran their motion offense with precision. Amida Brimah and Phil Nolan set hard, clean screens as Purvis and Daniel Hamilton maneuvered the baseline, hunting the corners and elbows for clean looks and passing the ball with purpose and precision.
On defense, the Huskies sagged under SMU’s high screens, daring the Mustangs to put up three-point attempts – SMU missed all four of their long range attempts in the first half.
When the second half began, the Huskies struggled to regain their momentum. The XL Center crowd, magnificent for much of the game, was searching for reasons to cheer as SMU took a two-point lead with eight minutes remaining.
Earlier this season, that might’ve been the tipping point for UConn. As a young team, they have struggled in handling adversity and maintaining consistent effort for forty minutes. On Sunday, that’s when they came to life.
The Huskies let loose on a 15-4 run over the next four minutes, as Purvis and Hamilton ignited UConn’s offense. Combined with Boatright, the trio scored 46 points in the second half. As a team, they were 61.9 percent from the floor.
Purvis had the best game of his collegiate career, finishing with 28 points, four rebounds and three assists. Most impressive, he made all seven of his free throw attempts. Also, this.
SMU mounted a late rally, as good teams tend to do. But UConn, displaying a level of poise not seen since last season’s title run, hit their final ten free throws to seal the victory.
On the court, the positives are obvious. Just look at the box score. In addition to Purvis’s breakout game, Boatright continued his climb up the UConn scoring list by shooting six of 11 from the floor en route to 23 points (his twelfth 20-plus point performance this season). Hamilton, despite starting the game slowly, finished with 16 points and a team-best seven rebounds. Combined, those three scored 83 percent of UConn’s points on Sunday.
Other victories are harder to measure. Primarily, the confidence boost that comes with defeating the best team in the conference. And, on the same court that will host the conference tournament in ten days. With the Huskies having now beaten SMU and Tulsa at home, there isn’t a team in the AAC that can’t be overcome in a single-elimination format with a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
The win also demonstrated a cohesion that has been missing all season. The starting five specifically — with Phil Nolan earning another start — played with purpose and precision. This team might not win the AAC Tournament 13 days from now, but on Sunday, they proved themselves capable of beating anyone in the conference.
The Ferrari is out of the garage!
[…] their slim NCAA Tournament hopes flickering. For more, click on the video highlights above or read the game summary from our friends at A Dime […]