Busy schedules and general malaise have prevented us from running our typical post-game recaps this week. Meanwhile, the Huskies have improved their record to 16-11 (9-6 in conference) with consecutive wins over Tulane and at ECU.
At this late point in the season, any win is a good win. However, this week’s victories did little to bolster confidence in a UConn team that has yet to look capable of achieving postseason success.
Against Tulane, UConn shot the ball well (53.1 percent) but was inconsistent on both ends of the floor. In front of a rare lackluster crowd at Gampel Pavilion, the Huskies let a bad Green Wave team stay in the game — the score was 51-50 with five minutes remaining.
Worse still, on Wednesday evening, the Huskies trailed ECU by nine at the half and needed a 14-4 run over the final five and a half minutes to secure their 11 point victory.
Struggles are now commonplace for UConn. It is what it is. Ryan Boatright is a star. Daniel Hamilton will become one (his 17 rebounds against ECU, while remarkable, helped sugarcoat another poor shooting performance). Amida Brimah is a monster of defense and dangerous on offense when provided clear access to the rim. Everything else is either a question mark or one of those emojis of someone crying.
With three regular season games remaining, the Huskies still have a chance to prove their mettle. The first, and best, test will come when #21 SMU visits the XL Center on Sunday afternoon. The Mustangs are the class of the conference, and ran UConn off the court in a Valentine’s Day massacre earlier this month. Besting the Mustangs on the very court that will host the conference tournament would go a long way towards restoring confidence in this UConn team.
It would prove the Huskies capable of beating anyone in the AAC and reinforce their home-court advantage (or home-away-from-home-court advantage) as the remainder of their conference foes descend upon Hartford in two weeks.
A loss (especially a bad loss) would send UConn to Memphis next week reeling and in need of a win and some help to avoid a first-day appearance in the AAC Tournament. UConn currently sits in sixth place, with the top five seeds owning a first-round bye.
Regardless, this has been a difficult UConn team to watch this season. Their roster is full of likable young men, coached by a high-class staff replete with popular former players. Their talent level is reasonable enough to expect success on paper, but their roster construction (no shooting, no ball-handler not named Boatright, inconsistency from the four spot, no bench play) and their inability to improve between games, or adjust during games, has rendered games nearly unwatchable and added to the post-championship hangover that has consumed much of the fanbase.
To turn that around, the Huskies need to win, and soon. Like against SMU on Sunday.
