![]() ![]() Then he was laying on the court, with fear and panic delaying a UConn celebration Wednesday night as medics rushed the court. He played terrific defense in the victory over Auburn, one of the best games of the young college season. I was just happy we were able to break through, because there were a lot of moments where it was tough.” We knew this was going to be a tough game. But we have figured out how to win.”Ĭole added, “Just a bunch of adversity. And now you’ve got to play a proud program like VCU … a high-major program that really took it to us. “We beat the hell out of each other,” Hurley said of the Battle 4 Atlantis bracket. No November game or tournament is going to make or break a team, with almost four months remaining in the season, but UConn did establish a baseline and set a certain 2020-21 trajectory. 1 seed Fairfield Prep in the Class LL quarterfinals No. Andre Jackson shot 1-for-6, but had 14 rebounds. The Huskies did the dirty work though, winning ugly by grabbing 19 offensive rebounds, making 23 of 28 free throws and holding VCU to 22 of 62 from the field. UConn committed 22 turnovers and shot 33.3 percent (20 of 60) and this game, the tournament’s 10th, had the look and feel of something that everyone - from players to coaches to refs to fans to arena ushers - had grown almost disinterested in. It doesn’t matter what the game looks like.” When they gave me the call to say I could go, a lot of emotions. ![]() ![]() I really wanted to play (Thursday) and I was shut down. “I’ve been having to use the bathroom every other second. “Just constant fluids and foods, eating and drinking non-stop,” he said. He’s our most important player.”Īnd he was just an onlooker the day before, held out for precautionary reasons after falling unconscious after playing 43 rugged minutes in the Auburn victory, fatigued, dehydrated. “In terms of skill level or putting up gaudy numbers, no, he’s like the best all-around player,” Hurley said. UConn never trailed again, leading by as many as eight, finally freeing itself and celebrating around Whaley, the fifth-year senior affectionately known as The Wrench for the many ways he can fix or affect a game. Whaley’s 3 with 1:05 left in regulation pushed UConn into a 56-56 tie that forced overtime, and he opened the scoring in the extra frame with another 3, 1:06 in. Whaley was the only other player in double-figures, scoring 16, including all three of his 3-pointers - his first three of the season. Ultimately, though, UConn’s athleticism and will won out, with senior point guard R.J. UConn was outplayed for long stretches by VCU, which shakes up games with a menacing defense that gave Huskies and their dearth of ball-handlers fits. With that opportunity by the wayside due to the late-game breakdowns of a four-point loss to Michigan State, they needed 45 more agonizing minutes of play to earn the next best thing. UConn preferred, of course, to play Baylor in Friday morning’s championship game. That’s an ocean-width’s difference between 1-2 and 5-2. The Huskies went 2-1 in the Bahamas through three wars, as coach Dan Hurley said. It was a mess, as if the ball was coated in Crisco, a just-hold-on experience that was excruciating in its aesthetics and execution - but beautiful for the Huskies in the body of work it left them to bring back to Connecticut. UConn closed the Battle 4 Atlantis with a third-place game that that looked as if it was played in the back of an 18-wheeler speeding through the winding walkways of this gigantic resort. Just, when that play happened, a lot of emotions of this whole time of being here.” It didn’t matter how it looked or how we did it. “We knew it was going to be ugly, but the goal was just to come out with a win. “We were just really desperate to win that game,” said Whaley, who fainted at the end of Wednesday’s double-overtime victory over Auburn, was held out of Thursday’s loss to Michigan State and returned Friday as the heart and soul of a team that needed a lot of both. ![]()
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