Shabazz Napier carried the flag for UConn down the stretch, finishing with 17 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists. After a shaky beginning that saw Temple open a 15-8 lead and UConn miss a number of open jumpers, UConn was able to exert their patented better-than-Temple-ness and take control early in the second half.
Napier strengthened his case for the many postseason awards for which he is in contention (AAC Player of the Year, Wooden Award, Cousy Award) with another strong game, leading the Huskies to a comfortable win in league play. Don’t take this for granted; you’re going to miss him next year.
Temple, it should be noted, looked at many points like they hadn’t practiced as a team yet this year. UConn’s aggressive defense unsettled them early, and they responded with some embarrassingly amateurish turnovers. They’ve been hugely disappointing all season, and Fran Dunphy has to be pretty frustrated. 100% of Temple Fans Polled (sample-size: 1) are only hate-watching their athletic teams at this point, so he’s probably not going to be in trouble for a while, but seriously, get it together.
I think that this UConn team is underrated (shocker), and I also think that they’re gelling nicely heading into the postseason, especially at protecting a lead. A team that could put a lineup of Nolan, Daniels, Calhoun, Boatright, and Napier (who, on aggregate, shoot 82% from the line) is going to be hard to catch at the end of a game.
