Huskies Win in OT…Finally

Freshman James Bouknight led the way for the Huskies with a career-
high 23-point effort. Nineteen of those points came in the second half.
(Photo by Stephen Slade)

STORRS---The fourth time proved to be the charm for the University of Connecticut men’s basketball team. After frustrating losses in three overtime games this season—two of them in double OT—the Huskies finally put one in the win column Sunday, topping Cincinnati, 72-71, before 9,409 raucous fans celebrating the Gampel Pavilion’s 30th anniversary.

For the second consecutive game, UConn knocked off the first-place team of the American Athletic Conference, following last Thursday's upset victory at Tulsa. And for the second consecutive game, freshman James Bouknight led the way, with a second straight career-high of 23 points—19 in the second half and overtime.

“It’s a validation for all the efforts and what we are trying to build here and just how competitive we've been to win a game like that,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley said.

With members of the first UConn team to play at Gampel looking on, the current Huskies, who had lost a 16-point decision at Cincinnati on Jan. 1, battled back from a 10-point deficit in the first half, going on a 16-2 run in the final 6:00 to head to the locker room with a 34-30 advantage.

Cincinnati, which came into the game riding an eight-game winning streak over UConn, tied the game within the first two minutes of the second half, however, and neither team had more than a four-point lead for the rest of regulation time. Bouknight, senior Christian Vital (19 points) and sophomore Brendan Adams (16 points) provided the offensive sparks for UConn.

Bouknight's step-back 16-footer with 1:06 remaining in regulation deadlocked the game, 67-67, and neither team could score before the final buzzer.

“You execute down the stretch by getting stops, and today we got stops and won the game by playing great defense,” Hurley said.

The Bearcats took the early lead in overtime, 71-68, but a Vital put-back and two Bouknight free throws put the Huskies in front, 72-71, with 1:05 left.

UConn’s defense put the clamps on the Bearcats the rest of the way, including the last possession, when Cincinnati star Jarron Cumberland had the ball, but could not get a shot off in time against Vital’s defense.  

For the game, the Huskies shot just 36.4 percent from the field (36.4 percent) but were 11-for-26 (42.3 percent) from beyond the three-point arc. That long-range magic did not carry into the extra session, however, as the Huskies were 0-for-3 from downtown in OT. UConn was beaten in the paint to the tune of 30-22, but the Husky bench outscored the Bearcat subs 19-11. The Huskies outrebounded their opponents 44-40.

And, as Hurley pointed out, it was the Husky D that ultimately won the game.= as UConn held Cincinnati to 1-for-7 from the floor (14.3 percent), totally shutting down the Bearcats from beyond the arc (0-for-2).

“This was just big for our confidence,” Vital said. “That month of January was crazy for us. We're losing in double OT, OT, late-game situations. So, for us to go beat Tulsa on the road, who was No. 1 in the conference and then finish a close game today is just building up our confidence as a team.”

With the win, UConn improves to 13-10 overall, and 4-6 in the American. Cincinnati falls to 15-9 overall, 8-3 in conference play. The Huskies will continue counting down the final eight games of the regular season this week when they travel to Dallas to meet SMU on Wednesday at Moody Coliseum (7 p.m. ET, ESPNews) before returning home to entertain Memphis at the XL Center in Hartford on Sunday(3 p.m. ET, ESPN).

—Staff Reports

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