#22 UConn overcame the distraction of playing on a court styled after a Florida brush fire to put away the hapless UCF Knights 75-55 on Sunday evening.
In typical fashion, the Huskies stomped on the gas early against an inferior opponent, and led 41-24 at the half, before allowing UCF to close the gap late and add unnecessary intrigue. Still, despite the best attempts by the ESPN crew, the outcome was never truly in jeopardy and UConn sailed to a relatively easy win by the time the clock hit zero.
DeAndre Daniels returned to the UConn lineup after missing the past two games with ankle and back issues. He struggled with his shot, missing his first five attempts, but rounded into form. He finished with 16 points and seven rebounds. The Huskies badly missed his versatility on offense during his absence.
With Daniels back to help out on offense, Shabazz Napier was able to float through the game doing a little bit of everything else. He scored 17 points on 11 shots, while adding a team-high six assists and seven rebounds, as well as three steals. He didn’t try to force the issue, instead allowing the flow of the Husky offense to drive his decision making. Daniels being in the middle of UCF’s flaccid zone defense, certainly helped.
So too did the play of Lasan Kromah. Clearly the best defender on team, Kromah found his offensive game on Sunday, notching a UConn career-high 17 points. Kromah also lead UConn with four steals and tied for a game-high seven rebounds with Daniels and Napier.
All told, UConn (17-5, 5-4) was gift-wrapped an easy win against a bad UCF team, and played well enough to secure it.
Notes:
- Amida Brimah struggled with foul trouble (shocking), but Phil Nolan picked up his slack. Nolan scored 10 points and went 5-5 from the floor. Can’t ask for better from your backup center.
- Ryan Boatright struggled for much of the game before hitting his final two shots in the paint. Boatright has been struggling the past few weeks with his shot, but is continually doing a nice job getting to the line. He was 5-6 from the stripe on Sunday.
- UCF’s Justin McBride was a hot topic for a stretch in the 2nd half. At 6’10” 310lbs (I’d honestly guess higher), he gave the ESPN crew something to talk about when they weren’t building golden statues of Isiah Sykes.
- Napier passed both Jerome Dyson and Mike McKay on UConn’s all-time scoring list. He now sits at 1,647 career points — one behind Donyell Marshall, three behind Khalid El-Amin. 17 more points catches Uncle Cliffy, Cliff Robinson for ninth.
Up Next:
UConn will take on the second of the interchangeable Florida teams when USF arrives in Hartford on Wednesday. The game will be on ESPN or ESPN2 at 7pm.
Tyler, who are a few more massive guys to play? I can only think of Tractor Traylor (RIP), but I feel like there have been a few more in the past 20 years…
That’s a great question, Mike. It’d be fun to research. I remember being awed by how big Roy Hibbert was during his Georgetown days. I’m sure I’m spacing on some obviously gigantic guys.
I’ll post as I think of ’em.
One combo that popped into my head was when Mourning/Mutombo played together at Georgetown. They weren’t massive in the McBride/Traylor sense but just larger than life when on the court together. The way I like to tell it, they used to get Rod Sellers so frustrated that he finally snapped and that was when he bashed Laettner’s head into the floor.
The 2000’s Pitt teams come to mind. Blair specifically. I was at the game when he flipped Thabeet over his back, completing the process of emasculating him in the eyes of UConn fans.