Gibbs Leads UConn Over Memphis

It wasn’t always pretty, but UConn managed to outlast Memphis on Saturday, 81-78 to earn their 11th win of the season.

Sterling Gibbs had his best game in a UConn uniform, scoring 26 points, hitting five three-pointers and knocking down seven of his eight free throw attempts, including four consecutive with under a minute remaining in the game.

Memphis’s Shaq Goodwin played only four minutes in the first half, hampered with foul trouble. After intermission, he dominated the Huskies. He scored 19 second half points, including 11-12 from the foul line as he seemingly drew a whistle every time down the floor. Goodwin finally fouled out with 69 seconds remaining — nice.

After the game, Kentan Facey called Goodwin “a load.” Gibbs called him “a beast.” Phil Nolan laughed when asked if he was happy that he only has (at most) two more games against Goodwin during his college career, saying flatly “yes.”

For their part, both Facey and Nolan performed admirably. Facey (seven points, five rebounds, five blocks) was UConn’s most productive big man at times. Nolan’s seven points were his most since the second game of the season. You’ll be shocked to learn he also drew a charge on defense.

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While Gibbs carried the lion’s share of the scoring responsibilities, Shonn Miller was banging inside, drawing fouls. His nine free throw attempts were a season-high. Miller had 11 points, yet oddly only three rebounds.

Let’s race through the bad news part of the recap.

Memphis’s Trahson Burrell buried a three with three seconds left from the cursed corner. One, the Huskies were pretty bad at guarding against the three all game. The Tigers were 8-19 (42.1%) from deep. As a team, they’ve been under 30 percent on the season. Some of it was luck, but a lot of it was UConn allowing a ton of open looks. Two, burn that corner to the ground. Perform an exorcism. Do something. That corner can not be allowed to continue haunting the Huskies.

Rodney Purvis kept his double-digit scoring streak going (now at 21 games). He exploded for 11 first half points, many at crucial times when the Tigers were up by a few scores. The bad news: Purvis scored only two points after halftime on 1-4 shooting.

Daniel Hamilton also had a rough game — his second in a row. Kevin Ollie said he was satisfied with Hamilton’s energy level but the shooting results were similar to the Temple game earlier in the week. He was 2-11 from the floor (0-5 in the second half). Fortunately, Hamilton made his presence felt in other ways. He led the team with eight rebounds and four assists. He also managed to score in double-figures (12) by hitting six of eight free throw attempts.

Ok, back to some good news! Speaking of free throws, the Huskies were great at getting to the line on Saturday. Their 33 attempts were the most they have attempted this season. Drawing fouls has been a problem for the Huskies, which is a shame because they’re really good at making them. On Saturday they made 26 of 33 (78.8 percent).

It was nice to see UConn win a close game. The Huskies have a great weapon in their arsenal with free throw shooting, but their offensive execution late in games is suspect at best. On Saturday, UConn’s last made field goal came with 3:36 remaining — slightly better than their 4:01 mark against Temple. Gibbs came up huge during the bulk of the game, but it seems UConn may still be searching for the player who will come up big when the team needs a bucket as the clock is winding down.

Aside from free throw shooting, the most impressive stat was the 23 points that UConn scored off of Memphis’s 13 turnovers.

It was important for the Huskies to secure a win on Saturday. They will head on the road for two tough games at Tulsa on Thursday and at Houston on Saturday. They won’t return to Gampel Pavilion for almost a month when East Carolina (non-conference) arrives on campus in February.