Jeff Jacobs: Romance And Reality Clash, And It's An Ugly Loss For UConn
UConn Huskies forward Kentan Facey (12) looks to rebound a foul shot while boxed out by Cincinnati Bearcats forward Gary Clark (11) and Cincinnati Bearcats guard Troy Caupain (10) in the second half at the XL Center Thursday. Cincinnati won, 58-57. (Cloe Poisson / Hartford Courant)
Jeff Jacobs Contact ReporterJeff Jacobs
The reality of this game? UConn can't make the big plays
HARTFORD — The romance was there. Oh, man, the romance was there for the taking.
There was Shabazz Napier, the drama king of the 2014 national champions, sitting behind the UConn bench Thursday night at the XL Center. The Magic play in Boston against the Celtics on Friday night, and there Shabazz was with Orlando teammate Victor Oladipo. Napier's mom, a regular at UConn games, was sitting nearby.
Napier, the irresistible guard from Boston, didn't invent the last-second shot at Storrs, but he sure came close to perfecting it.
And now here was the rebound of Shonn Miller's missed put-back attempt bouncing way out for freshman Jalen Adams to frantically track down with 1.2 seconds left in this fierce, maddening game against Cincinnati. They're all fierce and maddening and ugly against Cincinnati, aren't they?
Adams is a guard like Shabazz. Adams is from Boston like Shabazz. And as he turned in front of Napier among 13,242 fans and the ball left his hands from 30-odd feet with .5 seconds remaining … these thoughts flashed through the mind.
Cincinnati Bearcats guard Farad Cobb (21) blocks the shot by UConn Huskies forward Shonn Miller (32) as Cincinnati Bearcats forward Octavius Ellis (2) looks on in the second half at the XL Center Thursday. Cincinnati won, 58-57.
Remember Shabazz against Villanova?
Remember Shabazz against Florida?
Was this Shabazz Redux by Shabazz Jr?
When the ball left Adams' hands, it looked to be on line, but, no, the shot lacked enough steam and veered to the right off the rim.
"I thought it was going in," Adams said. "I wish it did."
Romance turned into reality in a heartbeat.
Final score: Cincinnati 58, UConn 57.
As the buzzer went off, UConn coach Kevin Ollie, wanting a call, wanting somebody — anybody — on his team to make a godforsaken layup, followed the refs across the court. He was yelling. He thought Miller had been fouled.
The funny — or not so funny — thing about one-point games is you can pick a number of spots in a game and call it a definitive moment. Ollie had his. With 1:04 left in the game, Adams had a pass picked off by Jacob Evans for a layup to make it 57-55.
"Jalen played good," Ollie said. "I didn't like the turnover when we were up four. They make a layup. I think that's the crucial play of the game."
You want the biggest truth? The Huskies missed a ton of shots at the rim. These are big-time Division 1 players. They got to knock down some. Good defense. Bad offensive finish. You know the drill, Huskies fans.
"We just missed layups," Ollie said. "Getting right to the rim and missed layups. I can't do nothing else. You've got to make the layups. For me, you've got to draw up other plays, I just don't know. We've got to create something when we get to the rim.
"We can't have out two best players 2-for-11 (Daniel Hamilton) and 5-for-17 (Rodney Purvis. You're just not going to win like that."
The Huskies, finding more than their share of problems against the Bearcats' matchup zone, managed only one field goal in the final 6 minutes, 23 seconds. Nothing seems to be going in for Hamilton these days.
"I can't get [Hamilton] back on track," Ollie said. "He's just got to keep taking good shots and try to get him different looks within the offense. [Cincinnati] makes it tough on you. They play the matchup zone. It's not conventional man on man where we can get you shots. He had some good looks. He just didn't make them.
"It starts with myself and the team setting better screens for him. Rebounds. It starts with him finishing plays. It's everybody. But I can't do it. I'm just the coach on the sidelines. It's for me to draw plays and then hopefully we can set some more screens, get some rebounds, he can get some fastbreak points. See the ball going in a little bit, get to the free throw line a little bit more."
But that's the big picture. We know about stagnant offenses. We know about missed shots down the stretch. That is becoming one of the painful narratives of this 14-6 season that will leave UConn battling down the stretch for a NCAA bid.
Instead, let's focus in on the last play.
After Gary Clark completed a three-point play off a foul by Miller (more on that in a minute) to put Cincinnati up by one, Ollie called a timeout. What was the UConn coach looking for on the last possession?
"I was trying to get penetration and trying to get a foul," Ollie said. "I thought we got fouled. The ref didn't call it."
Sterling Gibbs took the inbounds pass, headed for the lane and took a shot that bounced off the right side of the rim with five seconds left. Miller went up above a tangle of bodies and pulled in the offensive rebound. Could he have been called for over the top? Maybe. Miller went up for the put back. The shot missed.
"Shonn was fouled," Adams said.
"I've got to finish the layup," Miller said.
And the foul call again him on the Clark three-point play?
"I shouldn't have let him go in the middle," Miller said. "I let my man go middle. That lost us the game."
There you go. Miller had his own definitive moment.
Ollie, like many of the UConn fans, didn't see the equity. If that one call was a foul, should the other have been, too?
"The ref called the foul on one end and didn't call one on the other," Ollie said. "I haven't seen the tape but I didn't think [Clark] got fouled. I thought Shonn got hit harder than that. I'm not going to go back and forth with the refs, but I don't think he got fouled. But I'm biased. I want UConn to win.
"But I thought Shonn got fouled just as hard as Clark got fouled. If that's what you want me to say until I watch the tape of it, no I don't think [Clark] got fouled, but I could be wrong."
I was sitting at the other end from the Clark play and haven't had a chance to examine the video of that play carefully. Can't say for sure. The Miller play happened right in front of me and my first reaction was that, yeah, there were banging bodies as he went up. I also saw the replay a number of times and his arms weren't hit. There was no obvious hack. There wasn't anything egregious. I also can understand UConn fans' displeasure.
But it was there, the romance was there. That last desperation shot was meant to go in … or maybe not. This isn't 2014.
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