It wasn’t a must-win game, but it was about as close as you can get to one in December
Never question the fight from a Dan Hurley-coached team.
No. 25 UConn outlasted No. 15 Baylor, 76-72, on Wednesday night at Gampel Pavilion in the Big East-Big 12 Battle, giving the Huskies their first marquee win of the year.
It didn’t come easy. The Huskies fell behind by 11 out of the gate as their issues from Maui seemed to crop back up. On offense, there was little movement and when UConn had an open shot, it missed. On defense, Baylor was smoking the Huskies off the dribble, getting to the basket with ease.
But UConn settled down. Buoyed by a raucous on-campus crowd, the Huskies took the early punches. Aidan Mahaney hit two threes that not only stopped the bleeding but gave him some confidence that was missing in the Huskies’ first eight games.
At the next timeout, Hurley head-butted Mahaney out of excitement and Mahaney punched his coach so hard that Hurley joked after the game that he may have cracked a rib.
“He rose like a Phoenix out of the ashes,” Hurley said, even mimicking a bird flapping its wings.
As for Mahaney, games like this are what he had in mind when he decided to transfer from Saint Mary’s and leave his comfort zone.
“This is one of the things that I couldn’t wait to get into over here, having a coach like that, that gets fired up just like the players do,” Mahaney said. “So I felt like we were just in that moment, there was nothing planned, that was just natural energy and aggression coming from both of us.”
UConn took its first lead on two Samson Johnson free throws with 3:24 to play in the first half. He finished with 13 points and made all four of his field goal attempts.
With Alex Karaban missing his second straight game with a concussion, Hurley experimented with his lineups, playing Johnson and Tarris Reed Jr. together at times, something he said he doesn’t plan to make a habit out of. Nevertheless, he heaped praise on Johnson.
“Samson was just an incredible warrior,” Hurley said. “He just played so hard and I’m just so proud of that guy.”
Baylor still led by a point at the half, but after the Bears scored on their first possession of the second, a Johnson three-point play tied the game. Liam McNeeley then scored the next five points, including a rare three-pointer as he stays mired in a slump to put UConn back on top. McNeeley is 3-19 from beyond the arc over his last three games, but his makes have been timely.
UConn led for most of the rest of the way but was not able to get much separation from a Baylor team playing shorthanded itself, without freshman VJ Edgecombe and with Duke transfer Jeremy Roach going down early with an injury.
The Huskies’ defense held serve. UConn forced two shot clock violations in the second half and overall, the guards did a better job of keeping their men in front of them. In fact, if not for 13 Baylor offensive rebounds — and some missed UConn box-outs to go with them — the game probably would not have been as close.
“We still have lots of issues there,” Hurley said of the team’s defense. “But at least got better as the game went on. In stretches.”
And it didn’t falter as the team continued to face adversity. During one timeout, the officials awarded Baylor an extra three points, over-ruling a basket interference call on the court that replay showed actually did occur. It didn’t matter. UConn scored on the ensuing possession to make up for it.
At another point, this time with under two minutes left, Hassan Diarra surprised Solo Ball with a bad pass that bounced off his hands out of bounds. UConn got a stop on Baylor’s next possession.
When UConn was threatened, the team responded in a way it failed to do against Dayton in their final game at the Maui Invitational.
It was refreshing for Hurley to see, and it seems like the team is starting to build its own identity.
“This is like the next wave of UConn players,” he said. “Just go out there, go out there and hoop and let it fly and go make big shots and make big plays and go win a big game and announce yourself.”
UConn will have a chance to announce itself on the road on Sunday with a trip to visit the Texas Longhorns in Austin. The game will air on ESPN at 5 p.m. ET.