Huskies Survive HUGE Scare With Three-Point Win Over Tulane

By Bob Phillips

Napheesa Collier had a double-double as the Huskies survived a huge
scare from Tulane to win their 101st straight game on Saturday.

NEW ORLEANS—Geno Auriemma has long maintained that his team would eventually lose a game. Last night, his UConn Huskies did everything in their power to prove him prophetic. But in the end, sanity prevailed—as it seems to always do with this team.

Behind Napheesa Collier’s double-double (26 points, 12 rebounds), the top-ranked Huskies held off Tulane, 63-60, before 2,218 fans at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in New Orleans on Saturday. Katie Lou Samuelson added 17 points for the Huskies, who won their 101st consecutive contest. Gabby Williams turned in a solid effort with nine points, 14 boards and five assists while playing all 40 minutes for Connecticut. Kolby Morgan led the Green Wave with 19 points, while Leslie Vorpahl had 16, and Tene Thompson chipped in with 14.

The Huskies opened the game with a 10-0 run, but by the end of the first quarter, the Green Wave had cut the UConn advantage to seven, 18-11. Connecticut led 28-18 at intermission, but Tulane won each of the final two periods—24-20 in the third, and 18-15 in the fourth—to account for the final three-point margin of victory.

“We’re not as good as everybody thinks we are, and today was a perfect example of that,” said a smirking Auriemma after the game. “They think that every shot that they take is supposed to go in, and then when it doesn't go in they pout and they feel sorry for themselves and act like 12-year-olds and that's exactly what happened today.

“Not every shot is supposed to go in,” continued the Hall of Fame coach who re-upped for five more years with the Huskies earlier this week. “God isn’t punishing you. Figure out a way to help us win the game.”

Make no mistake: Tulane is not a bad team. Just average. Very average. The Green Wave are 16-11 overall and 7-7 American Athletic Conference play. Even playing on their home court, in no way were they expected to hang around until the very end of the game. And yet, that is exactly what happened.

“We played everybody, and everybody gave us something,” explained Tulane coach Lisa Stockton. “This team was focused and didn't let anything get them down and they kept battling.”

The Green Wave trailed by 17 points early in the third period, and it looked like just another game with the Huskies on cruise control. But after Tulane pulled within two points three times in the fourth, even the most ardent Husky fans were on the edge of their seats. Indeed, the Green Wave had a chance to tie the game as time expired, but a desperation three-point attempt by Thompson fell short, and the Huskies escaped with their historic winning streak intact.

“What happened today is the wrong team won,” said Auriemma after the game. “We had them down 17 and our guys are used to the other team maybe missing shots or struggling, and this team decided to fight back. We had no business winning that game.

“[Tulane coach Lisa Stockton] missed out on a chance to be Coach of the Year,” he continued. “If a couple of more shots go in she wins it. Traditionally the team that beats us gets Coach of the Year. It was within Lisa's grasp and she missed it,” joked Auriemma.

“This was a wakeup call,” added UConn guard Crystal Dangerfield, a former Morgan Wootten High School Player of the Year Award winner who would be starting for any other team in the country. Normally a reserve, Dangerfield started in light of Nurse’s injury, and will likely continue to do so until the surefire first-team All-American returns to action. “If we don't bring it every night things like this can happen,” said Dangerfield, who scored five points in 33 minutes of play.

Indeed, things won’t be getting any easier for the Huskies, who return home to host 20-5 Temple Wednesday night at the XL Center in downtown Hartford. Top- ranked Connecticut will once again without the services of Nurse, who will likely not return to the Huskies’ lineup until the American postseason tournament at the Mohegan Sun Arena in two weeks. Tip-off is at 7 p.m., and the game will be televised on SNY and streamed on ESPN3.