Shabazz Napier is a showman. On Wednesday night, in his last home game as a UConn Husky, he gave the crowd quite a performance — and left them wanting more.
The star guard capped his Senior Night in a sold-out Gampel Pavilion by hitting seven three-pointers, part of 26 points. Napier’s hot shooting (8-13 from the floor, 7-11 from three) set the tone for UConn, who shot over 47% as a team. Fellow senior Niels Giffey chipped in a career-high 16 points — effectively serving as Napier’s sidekick.
Rutgers (11-19, 5-12) did their best to make it a game. While it never truly felt like they could win, they did keep the score close. Guard Myles Mack scored 16, including four threes, and took advantage of UConn’s generally lazy defense.
While the final score of 69-63 is certainly a positive for UConn (24-6, 12-5), the grandeur of Senior Night will be the lasting memory of the evening. Walk-on (and official A Dime Back spokesman) Tor Watts was the first player to receive recognition. Followed by Lasan Kromah and Tyler Olander — Connecticut family in tow. Niels Giffey walked to half court with his mom, who traveled from Germany, and excitedly took pictures during and after the game.
Napier was the last to receive his plaque. His mother — #1 seed in the UConn Mom Tournament — Carmen Velasquez, and other family members strolled to mid-court and hugged coach Kevin Ollie. Napier then broke from the ceremony to run over and embrace his former coach, Jim Calhoun.
The ceremony was typical of a UConn program that does a phenomenal job of celebrating their current players and monumentalizing their former ones. When Wednesday’s game was over, Ollie stated that he wants his team among those celebrated in UConn’s past. As most fans meandered towards the exits, Ollie took the microphone and told the crowd that he planned on seeing them again, after UConn wins the National Championship.
Notes:
- Tyler Olander made the most of his final home game. Given the start by Ollie, Olander contributed two buckets and grabbed three boards. Nice to see him do well.
- It was a very quiet night for Ryan Boatright and DeAndre Daniels. The duo combined for only seven points in 41 combined minutes. Daniels suffered from a bit of foul trouble, but UConn will obviously struggle to win down the stretch with that lack of production.
- Phil Nolan loves to draw charges, and he did so several times on Wednesday. Additionally, watch this.
- Napier, who often claims to ignore crowd noise, mentioned after the game that the “MVP! MVP!” chants from the crowd were ringing loud and clear with him on the free throw line.
Up Next:
The Huskies will close their regular season with their toughest matchup of the season, as they travel to Louisville on Saturday (Mar. 8th). The game will tip at 2pm and can be seen on CBS.
