HARTFORD, Conn. – UConn desperately needed to protect its homecourt and come away with a quality win Saturday. The Huskies did both.
Ryan Boatright scored 18 points and the Huskies hit six of their last eight free throws on the way to a 62-56 American Athletic Conference victory over Cincinnati before a sellout crowd of 15,564 at the XL Center.
Omar Calhoun scored 12 points and Rodney Purvis added 11 for the Huskies (9-5, 2-1 American). Troy Caupain led Cincinnati (11-3, 2-1) with 14 points.
UConn pulled away to a six point lead in the final five minutes after trailing by four at halftime. Six straight free throws made by Daniel Hamilton and Boatright gave UConn a 62-53 lead with 21.8 seconds left.
“It was a gutty win by our team,” UConn coach Kevin Ollie said. “It seems like it comes down to a possession game every time we play [Cincinnati]. We know each other so well. I thought our defense stepped up in the second half and played remarkably well, holding them to 31 percent. Then we started making some shots. All the guys that came in did their jobs.”
Three consecutive victories since the overtime loss to Temple on New Year’s Eve as been a boost to UConn’s confidence. Now the Huskies go back on the road to play at Tulsa Tuesday and complete the non-conference portion of the schedule next Saturday at Stanford. Conference victories over teams with higher RPI rankings are paramount at this time of the season.
“We’re coming,” said Purvis, who made 5 of 10 shots, including a three-pointer that might have been the game’s biggest basket.
The Huskies made up ground quickly at the start of the second half. Consecutive 3-pointers by Purvis and Boatright erased a four-point deficit and tied the game at 36. UConn took the lead on a bank shot by Daniel Hamilton with 13:25 left that made it 42-40. Purvis took control of the offense at that point, scoring six consecutive UConn points and elevating the lead to 48-45 on a breakaway layup with 10:05 left.
The margin remained at three until a critical sequence with just over five minutes remaining. Freshman Rakim Lubin, who gave the Huskies quality minutes throughout the game, blocked a shot with 5:30 left, and the Huskies executed in their half court offense. Calhoun got a good look from the left corner and swished a 3 to put UConn ahead 55-49. Cincinnati called timeout with five minutes remaining.
UConn trailed 34-30 at halftime and 14 of the Huskies’ points came off the bench. Calhoun was UConn’s most potent offensive weapon before halftime, scoring seven points on 3-for-5 shooting.
Calhoun, slowly evolving back into the threat he was as a freshman, hit a three-pointer and showed his versatility by driving to the basket. He demonstrated patience and poise that had been missing from his game for a long time. He also had a rebound and a blocked shot.
Blocked shots by Cincinnati – the Bearcats had seven of them in the first half – kept UConn from a better offensive performance. The Huskies shot 44.8 percent from the field but didn’t exactly share well. They had five assists on 13 baskets. They also had eight turnovers as Cincinnati constantly went for deflections and steals (seven).
Both teams finished with 15 turnovers – both more than their assist total (9 for Cincinnati and 12 for UConn).
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