Being a member of the American Athletic Conference contains few advantages. One of them — arguably — is that you get a nice break in the middle of your conference schedule by playing opponents who can barely field a passable roster. And in sunny Florida, no less.
Such was the case for UConn on Thursday night in its 81-51 blowout of USF.
The Bulls disastered their way to a 4-26 shooting performance in the first half. Only two players scored. The Huskies led 28-13 at intermission.
The 15-point margin was duplicated in the second half as UConn’s offense ran unimpeded and the Huskies eased their foot off the gas on the defensive end of the floor.
The Huskies put up 53 points in the second half, more than they scored in the entirety of two previous games this season. Jalen Adams, Rodney Purvis and Shonn Miller all scored in double-figures in the second half alone. Amida Brimah had 10 points in the game.
The downside of a late February matchup against such a sad opponent is that it’s hard to draw too many firm conclusions. Purvis played very well, burying four consecutive three-pointers at one point. Adams matched his career-high with six assists in a return to the starting lineup. The big numbers put up by the backcourt duo is impressive, but it remains to be seen if the success will carry over to UConn’s matchup against Houston on Sunday.
Perhaps Thursday’s game was a confidence-building win; a nice way to inflate the collective ego in preparation to close out the season. Maybe beating up on a hapless opponent was just what the Huskies needed to regain some of the confidence that has worn off in a year of inconsistent play.
Or maybe it was just a scrimmage; a chance to get Sam Cassell, Jr. some field goal attempts and throw alley-oops all over the court before returning to Connecticut to play real basketball again . We’ll find out more this weekend.
