Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media
Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media
Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media
Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media
Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media
“That championship DNA was in the air,” said Hassan Diarra, who boasts more than a few strands of that DNA himself.
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More likely, it was choking full-court pressure and intense defense, along with coach Dan Hurley riding his five (or six) most effective players of the night over the final 10 minutes, that led to the UConn men’s basketball team’s stirring, 66-59 comeback win over Villanova on Tuesday night at XL Center.
The Huskies scored 14 of the game’s final 15 points to improve to 18-8 overall, 10-5 in Big East play. Villanova fell to 15-12, 8-8.
“This could be galvanizing for us, the way we showed so much heart,” Hurley said. “We could have tucked tail and just bailed.”
Trailing by 14 points with just under 12 minutes to play, Hurley appeared to throw caution to the wind. He employed a full-court press that led to turnovers and, if nothing else, slowed the Wildcats’ offense down. He benched team captain and two-time national champ Alex Karaban for a key stretch, during which the Huskies whittled that 14-point deficit down to four.
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Karaban returned in place of Jaylin Stewart, who had a key basket and a pair of huge offensive rebounds late in the game, and the Huskies didn’t lose a step. When Tarris Reed Jr. scored a layup off a pass from Solo Ball as the shot clock expired, UConn had tied the game at 58.
And after Hassan Diarra blocked a Wooga Poplar shot, Liam McNeeley was fouled and hit both free throws, the Huskies had their first lead since the game was 2-0.
Poplar, who scored 11 straight Nova points during the stretch that put the Wildcats up 53-39, was called for a charge, and Reed slammed home a dunk from Ball.
Eric Dixon, the nation’s leading scorer, hit one of two free throws with 51.5 seconds to get Villanova to within three. It would be Nova’s only point over the final 4:10 of the game.
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Reed scored four points over the final 22 seconds to seal the win. The 6-foot-10 junior center finished with 13 points and nine rebounds. McNeeley scored 20 to go with seven boards, and Ball had 13 points and doled out six assists.
For much of the game, things were looking rather bubbly for the Huskies. As in, a loss to unranked Villanova would just about put UConn on the NCAA tournnament bubble, especially on the heels of a disastrous loss at last-place Seton Hall three days earlier.
“We’re desperate right now, we’ve got to play like it,” said McNeeley, a freshman. “We’ve got to play with desperation. I think that’s what we did in those last 12 minutes. But, before that, we were not putting together a good game. We’ve got to play like that all game, every game, for the rest of the season.”
The Huskies missed their first seven shots of the contest and nine of their first 10, digging an early 10-point hole. UConn got to within three inside the first 90 seconds of the latter half, but then things spun out of control.
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Dixon hit a couple of free throws, then Diarra was called for a charge. Tyler Perkins countered with a 3-pointer, Jhamir Brickus stripped the ball from Diarra, hit a layup while being fouled by Diarra and converted the 3-point play.
Just like that, in the span of 54 seconds, Villanova’s lead was back to 11.
The Wildcats’ gradually extended their lead to as much as 14, keyed by Poplar.
“He’s got a chance to be a first-round pick. He’s that good,” Hurley said of Villanova’s 6-foot-5 senior guard.
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Then, the Huskies clamped down on defense, pressed Villanova up and down the floor, and landed a much-needed victory. Is the press something we could see more of from UConn?
“It’s tough when it’s Liam, Alex, Solo and Hass, who’s hobbled, it’s not the most athletic, lengthy, twitchy group to do it,” Hurley explained. “So, just getting Jaylin Stewart in the game and putting him on the ball made us a little more disruptive that way.”
Diarra, returning to the starting lineup after coming off the bench the prior two games, finished with eight points and a career-high three blocked shots.
“Who knows what this is going to turn into for us?” Hurley summed up. “Down the stretch here, we don’t have to get on a flight. We’ve got bus-trip road games, three of the last five at home.”
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That first bus trip is on Sunday to Madison Square Garden, where Rick Pitino and first-place St. John’s await.
Spencer, who’s 44-percent 3-point shooting helped the Huskies to a second straight national title last season in his only season in Storrs, is currently with the Memphis Grizzlies. Newton, last year’s Final Four Most Outstanding Player, is in the G-League. Both sat behind the Huskies’ bench and were introduced to the sellout crowd, separately, during timeouts.
“Those two guys, man. Historical players,” Hurley said.
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Both players had been at recent UConn practices, as had Donovan Clingan, now with the Portland Trailblazers, who was also at UConn’s game in Newark, N.J. against Seton Hall on Saturday.
Spencer had also taken in UConn’s game at Marquette back on Feb. 1.
