Huskies Stop Tigers

Freshman James Bouknight scored 18 points and grabbed 8 boards on
Sunday. He was named AAC Freshman of the Week on Monday.

HARTFORD—The UConn Huskies men's basketball team grabbed a major win Sunday by knocking off the Memphis Tigers, 64-61, before a raucous sellout crowd at the XL Center on Sunday afternoon. Christian Vital led the charge for the Huskies with a game-high 23 points, also chipping in nine rebounds and three assists.  James Bouknight was the second UConn player in double figures after pouring in 18 points to go with his eight rebounds. On the defensive end, Josh Carlton pulled down a team-high 13 rebounds and Isaiah Whaley added seven boards and a team-best six blocks. Bouknight was starting in place of junior Tyler Polley who tore an ACL in practice on Friday and will miss the rest of the 2019-20 campaign.

In addition, the Huskies learned the forward Akok Akok, who landed awkwardly during the game on Sunday, has also torn his ACL and will also miss the remainder of the season.

Memphis came out fast, taking a 10-4 lead after the first media timeout. The Huskies answered with a triple from Vital, then back-to-back basket by Carlton and Whaley to shrink the Memphis lead to two. The Tigers held a 21-15 lead at the 5:21 mark of the first, but UConn put together a 10-4 run to go into the half tied 25-25.

Akok Akok landed awkwardly during the game on Sunday. An MRI on
Monday revealed he had torn an ACL and will miss the remainder of
the 2019-20 season. There is no word on when his return is expected.

Vital scored 18 of his 23 in the second period, and the Huskies went 14-16 from the fouls stripe in the second half. Memphis opened up a five-point lead, 41-36, with just under 12 minutes to play, but UConn responded with five quick points from their senior leader. Vital crashed the glass and put home a second-chance layup, then drilled a triple from the corner following Whaley's block.

The next several minutes was a back-and-forth affair, featuring two ties and four lead changes as the teams swapped buckets. The Huskies took a 58-52 lead with 54 seconds left after holding Memphis without a field goal for nearly three minutes. Bouknight was electric during this period as he scored seven of UConn's nine points.

The Tigers cut the UConn lead to two with 10 seconds remaining, but Vital stepped up to the stripe and drained four free throws to ice the game.

Bouknight Named Freshman of the Week
Following outstanding performances against SMU and Memphis, UConn freshman guard James Bouknight has been named the American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Week. Bouknight scored a team-high 21 points on 9-for-14 shooting and added two rebounds, three assists, two steals and a blocked shot as UConn lost a narrow 79-75 decision at SMU on Thursday.

On Sunday in Hartford, Bouknight poured in 17 points— including 8 of 9 points during a critical 9-5 run down the stretch that gave the Huskies the lead for good—grabbed 8 rebounds and handed out an assist as UConn topped Memphis, 64-61. For the week, Bouknight shot .468 overall and .875 from the foul line.

It is the third AAC honor for Bouknight, who was named the AAC Player of the Week on Feb. 10 and the league's Freshman of the Week on Nov. 25.

—Staff Reports

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