UCONN Men’s Basketball: A Week in Review

Double OT Loss @ Temple – February 20

I said in my last article, there needs to be scoring outside of Vital and Bouknight for UCONN. They got that in Isaiah Whaley. Whaley had one of his best games in a Huskies uniform. The 6’8 junior from North Carolina logged 39 minutes and posted 18 points (8-14 shooting) and 14 rebounds. He was the other scorer UCONN needed, however it still was not enough as UCONN went down 93-89 in double OT. The Huskies who trailed by 8 with less than 4 minutes to play, worked their way back into the ballgame shortly tying it at 69 right before the 2nd half ended. This prompted the game into overtime. UCONN, who had a 3-point lead with under 30 seconds, let up a three ball to Temple putting this game into a second OT. In this 2nd OT, Temple took control and did not look back winning this one 93-89.

Home Win v USF – February 23

After a chance to steal one on the road, UCONN headed back to the Gampel Pavilion to take on the Bulls of South Florida. UCONN controlled this game for a majority of the 40 minutes of play and behind great guard play led UCONN to their 15th win on the year. VItal had 23 and Bouknight had 19. The ‘veteran’ and the ‘rook’ is what is holding this team together right now. After losing Akok Akok to season ending Achilles surgery, UCONN needed at least one win this week. They got it on this Sunday afternoon in late February. There wasn’t much notable news from this win besides 4-star commit Jalen Gaffney getting more and more playing time compared to the first half of the season.

Looking Ahead

This week, UCONN faces the two teams right below them in the standings. They face the 14 win Central Florida Knights on Wednesday and the 11 win East Carolina Pirates on Saturday. Again, both are winnable games, but there is a major difference between UCONN on the road vs. at home. Every game from now on is winnable and can help for seeding purposes in the AAC tournament. UCONN is a team that plays down to teams worse than them and up to teams better than them. They are very weird but when the offense clicks behind Bouknight and Vital they can be a scary team.

The Future

No one expects this team to go dancing this season, however they do have a bright future in Storrs. Behind freshman starters Bouknight and Gaffney, it will make the transition back to the Big East in 2020-2021 easier. UCONN’s 12th ranked class from last season and top-50 class this year, including 4-star forward Andre Jackson hope to make an immediate impact on the squad. With a major departure from leading scorer Christian Vital next season, Dan Hurley needs to look to other scorers, and he has got them with the fine job he has done recruiting. UCONN is moving to a tougher scene next season in the Big East, but dare I say is UCONN back?

Only time will be able to tell if UCONN is back. As a lifelong fan of them, I have endured them through the highest of the highs (three national championships) and the lowest of the lows (suspensions, .500 seasons, etc.). UCONN will be back in short notice and when that happens LOOKOUT. Until then, come back here next week for this upcoming week’s review as well as much, much more.

Click here read last week’s recap incase you missed it

Follow me on twitter @MikeKormanik for any discussions you may have as well as for some live tweets of the NBA and the Heat as well and now starting for UCONN Men’s basketball

Also, be sure to check out the Overtime Heroics Forums page here to join in the discussion! 

Check out our partners at Repp Sports! They offer the first-ever crowd-sourced, no carb, no sugar, energy drink called RAZE and much more! Use the link above or add the promo code OTH1 for 30% off at checkout!