UConn secured a rare conference-opening win on Saturday, venturing to New Orleans to defeat Tulane, 75-67.
It was UConn’s first conference-opening win since the 2011-12 season. Via our friend Puneet, coming into the game the Huskies were 6-11 in conference openers since 1999, and 180-93 in all other conference games. So basically, any conference-opening win is good news at this point.
Still, Saturday’s game was not easy to watch. Literally. Many fans were left scrambling in attempts to locate televisions that actually received the CBS Sports Network broadcast. Once tuned in, things started fine for UConn. The Huskies shot well (44.4 percent) en route to a 10-point halftime lead.
Hell, even the second half started off well with the Huskies making their first five shots and ballooning the lead to 19 points.
Then everything was terrible for a good half hour. UConn fell apart on both ends of the court. Tulane went on a 17-0 run and eventually retook the lead with four minutes remaining. In that span (15:36 to 4:08), the Huskies were 2-14 from the floor with six turnovers and seven fouls. Despite UConn’s recovery, that stretch took all the joy out of the win.
Fouls were a problem all night for the Huskies. Shonn Miller, Kentan Facey and Steve Enoch all fouled out, rendering UConn’s front court without its best four players (including Brimah) at the end of a close game.
But we’re optimists here at A Dime Back so let’s turn to the good news. Quick props to Phil Nolan who played only the final two minutes of the game due to the aforementioned foul trouble, but came up big on two defensive possessions.
Most importantly, however, Sterling Gibbs really came to life down the stretch, showing some of the closer mentality he was known for at Seton Hall. He hit three big second half three-pointers (one of the Shabazzian variety) and knocked down four big free throws. Gibbs scored 13 second half points.
Free throw shooting again came up big for the Huskies as they made their final nine attempts to seal the victory.
Rodney Purvis dominated the first half. He scored 15 before intermission and had 20 for the game, continuing his streak of double-digit scoring performances. Daniel Hamilton scored 19 points and had nine rebounds. Typical, frankly.
Purvis getting only four shot attempts in the second half was bizarre considering how hot he was in the first half. If there’s been a knock on Kevin Ollie this season, it’s that he is reluctant to stick with a hot hand, and it may have cost the Huskies some momentum during their second half lull.
Husky fans were more upset than usual with the officiating. It was bad, but that’s life in college basketball. Miller and Facey need to do a much better job of adjusting to the sensitivity of the whistles, especially in conference play. Touch fouls, particularly in the post, are frustrating, but you can’t let the referees take you out of the game. Facey registered five fouls in only nine minutes. That can’t happen no matter who is calling the game.
Exacerbating the problem was the lack of production from the bench. Jalen Adams struggled, failing to score a point in 20 minutes of action. The quartet of Adams, Enoch, Nolan and Omar Calhoun scored a combined six points in 61 minutes.
It was disappointing to see the Huskies play such an up-and-down affair immediately following their best win of the season at Texas. They will need to get back on track if they’re going to beat a respectable Temple team on Tuesday. The Owls have played their share of big time teams this season (UNC, Butler, Utah, Wisconsin) and just scored a huge road win at Cincinnati last week. With three early season losses, UConn can’t afford to be complacent in these conference games.
