Survive and advance. The 8th-seeded UConn men’s basketball team (24-10, 14-6 Big East) did exactly that in a gritty 8-9 game in a Friday nightcap win over 9th-seeded Oklahoma (20-14, 6-12 SEC).
Oklahoma won the tip, but UConn was the first team to get going offensively. In the first four minutes, the Huskies got out to a nine-point lead including a great find from Liam McNeeley to Samson Johnson.
One thing that came back to haunt Connecticut early was its inbounding problem. They had an ugly turnover on a long inbound pass to Hassan Diarra, giving Huskies fans flashbacks to the team’s loss at Seton Hall.
The highlighted concern for the Huskies’ defense was putting the Sooners at the free-throw line. Oklahoma ranks 92nd percentile in free throw attempt rate and avoided putting them at the line for most of the first half. On the other hand, it took three media timeouts for UConn to get to the free-throw line, where Diarra made both attempts.
When the offense looked dead at times, Tarris Reed Jr. had Connecticut’s back. He scored eight points in the first half to lead the team, including a spin move in the post that forced Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser to call a timeout with 4:20 remaining in the opening 20.
The offense finished on a sour note for both squads, making only one shot out of 15 combined attempts to go into the locker room. Luckily for the Huskies, they were up at the break with a 32-26 lead and led by as many as 10 points.
That was with Alex Karaban and Liam McNeeley shooting 3-12 from the field combined. UConn head coach Dan Hurley told CBS Sports sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson that the team was taking too long on offense to get into action.
The Huskies had the advantage on the glass in the first half, outrebounding Oklahoma 24-15 including seven offensive rebounds.
Oklahoma cut into the Huskies’ lead that never seemed to grow, whether it was the inability to make a basket at times or giving up way too many fouls. UConn already had committed 10 fouls midway through the second half. The Sooners got within one point at the 9:54 mark in the second half after Mohamed Wague, subbing in for the injured Sam Godwin, made an easy fast-break layup that forced Hurley to call a timeout.
With the game swinging both ways for most of the second half, Karaban’s first 3-pointer was a defining moment. It came at a critical time, extending Connecticut’s lead to four with 4:20 to go as Moser called timeout.
“I just saw I was wide open, and [Reed Jr.] had a great screen,” Karaban said. “I passed one up in the corner, and I should have shot that one too, and I wasn’t going to make that mistake again.”
For a team that has raised questions about its defensive ability all season long, the Huskies held Oklahoma to 32.1% from the field and 17.6% from deep. Oklahoma ended its season on a sour note, missing its last five shots and only making one of its final nine shot attempts.
“We knew that we really had to guard today,” Hurley said following the game at the postgame press conference. “They’reobviously a top 20 offensive team in the country. [Jeremiah] Fears was everything that we thought he was going to be out on the court, [but I] thought we did a better job on him in the second half.”
Fears, Oklahoma’s best player, looked every bit of the NBA prospect he has been hyped up to be. The SEC All-Freshman guard had 20 points on 5-14 shooting.
Another defining moment came at the 3:16 mark when Solo Ball came up with a huge defensive play with a blocked shot on Oklahoma’s Duke Miles.
“He’s been hard on himself about [his defense], wanting to improve that end of the floor,” Karaban said. “He made a key block for us to really get us going offensively and give us more cushion to burn some more time.”
Ball came up clutch with a team-high 14 points and was a microwave in the second half with eight points on 2-3 shooting.
“He’s a microwave-type player,” Karaban said. “He can get going at any moment, and he’s special.”
Samson Johnson had a solid outing in a historic game, scoring eight points and grabbing six rebounds. It is historic because it is his 115th win with the team, making him the winningest player in program history.
“The championship pedigree, it’s still there for us,” Hurley said. “There’s belief in the UConn jersey this time of year with the history of success.”
The Huskies have now won 13 straight games in the NCAA Tournament, tying Duke’s 1991-93 run for the second-longest NCAA Tournament winning streak ever.
With the Huskies still alive, they turn their attention to top-seeded Florida on Sunday afternoon for a chance to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
“Once we get out of the first round, we’ve been pretty good,” Hurley concluded.