Challenges don’t rattle the Huskies who top Florida for spot in NCAA final

UConn’s Neil Giffey slams home two of his 11 points in the semifinal win over Florida Saturday at the Final Four. (Photo courtesy of UConn)

Challenges don’t bother this group. They’ve been battling them for a long time. A year ago, the University of Connecticut’s men basketball team had to pay for the sins of previous teams. They could play but there was no opportunities for post-season play in the NCAA or the Big East tournament.

The NCAA allowed players to leave without penalty and some did. But many remained, winning 20 games and going home once the bright lights of the post-season came on.

This year, the Huskies have been challenged. They lost three games to defending NCAA champion Louisville and were beaten decisively each time. In the NCAA tournament, the Huskies erased an 11-point first half lead and outlasted St. Joseph in overtime to win its opening round contest.

So, what is another challenge in the NCAA semifinal against Florida, the No. 1 ranked team in the nation and the top seed in the tournament? Florida raced out to a 12-point lead after 10 minutes of the first half.

But UConn played with poise, toughness and grit. They didn’t crack. They didn’t panic. They relied on each other. Pulled down loose rebounds. Found the open man and were simply relentless.

UConn outscored Florida, 21-6, in the final nine minutes of the first half to take a three-point halftime lead. In the second half, they extended the lead to as many as 12 as the Huskies earned their fourth ever trip to the NCAA championship game with a 63-53 victory Saturday night at the home of the Dallas Cowboys – AT&T Stadium in North Arlington, Texas.

The Huskies will face Kentucky Monday night for the national championship. It’s the first time since 1966 that two teams that didn’t play in the NCAA tournament the previous year will compete for the championship.

DeAndre Daniels had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Huskies. Shabazz Napier had 12 points, six assists and four steals. Ryan Boatright had 13 points, six rebounds and three assists. Terrence Samuels had four points but he helped speed up the game in the first half and helped the Huskies go on a quick 11-0 surge that got them back into the game. Niels Giffey had 11 points.

“They just believe in each other,” UConn coach Kevin Ollie said afterward. “No matter if they are down, no matter if they’re banned, no matter if they can’t play in the NCAA tournament, they just believe.  They keep fighting.

“I keep telling them, they stay in the middle of the ring, they keep throwing punches.  When everybody counts us out, thinking we’re on the mat, we get back up.”

In its four previous NCAA tournament games, UConn had trailed by at least nine points in three contests.

It didn’t look good for UConn early. Florida led 16-4 with 9:46 remaining in the first half. And the Gators (36-3), winners of 30 straight games, missed on a slam dunk off a UConn turnover that could have extended the lead to 14 points.

“We have been through a lot of dogfights and we continue to believe in each other,” Napier said. “We didn’t point fingers when we were down.  We just understood that this was a game, going to be a game of runs.  We just looked at each other and said we got to put the pressure on, ante up.”

Daniels drained a three-point shot off a nice feed from Napier. After UConn forced a turnover, Boatwright sank a three-point shot on another feed from Samuel. When Florida missed a jump shot, Samuel grabbed the rebound and raced up court. He went coast-to-coast and laid the ball in off the glass to cut the Gator lead to four, 16-12.

On the next Florida possession, Boatright came down with the rebound. He raced up court and found Daniels, who hit a three-point shot to cut the lead to one, 16-15 with 7:05 remaining. In less than two minutes, UConn had outscored the Gators 9-0.

“We’re just tough‑minded individuals,” Ollie said. “When we’re down, we know if we keep progressing and we keep staying together, sooner or later, we’re going to come out.

“Even now, in the tough times, we are going to keep believing in each other.  I keep saying the bigger the problem, the bigger the destiny.  We knew this destiny was coming.  Because our problems that we faced, we overcame them together.  It wasn’t just one individual, wasn’t just one coach.  It was everybody sticking together and that’s what we built UConn on.”

Florida led 22-21 but Napier hit a jumper with 2:20 remaining in the first half to give UConn a one-point lead. A Daniels jumper with 1:37 remaining extended the lead to three, 25-22.

UConn closed out the half with a 21-6 run, making six of 13 shots.

In the second half, Florida cut the lead to three on two occasions. After Patric Young (19 points) hit two free throws with 8:03 remaining in the game, Samuel drove to the basket for a layup. Then, Napier stole the ball and fed Boatright on a breakaway layup to extend the lead to seven, 47-40.

Florida, whose last loss came to UConn in December on a last-second shot by Napier, never got closed than six points the rest of the way.

“We have been saying all year that we have got a complete team,” Boatright said. “It’s not a one‑man team, it’s not a two‑man team.  We got a complete team. They were double-teaming Shabazz a lot, and the unselfish player that he is, he was just giving it up, making plays for his teammates and everybody stepped up.”

UConn’s defensive pressure helped jumpstart its offense.

“It starts on the defensive end,” Ollie said. “We heard it over and over again, (Against) Michigan State, Madison Square Garden was a home court advantage for us (in the East Regional final).  We shot 34 percent in Madison Square Garden.  So what kind of home court advantage was that

“We live and die on defense. We played tenacious defense.  We played relentless defense.  It’s not always perfect all the time, but we’re going to play 40 full.  That’s what I believe in my guys.  They are terrific, terrific people because they do not take no for an answer.  They want to play more.  They are built for one more.”

UConn has now defeated the SEC, Big 10, Big 12, Big East and Atlantic 10 champions on the way to the championship game.

“I didn’t think it was one of our better games and I think Connecticut certainly had a lot to do with that,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said. “I thought we got off to a very, very good start in the game and I thought the reason we got off to a good start in the game was our defense was very, very good.

“I think once they got their defense set, I thought we had a hard time handling their pressure up top, keeping the ball moving, getting down the lane, being aggressive.  We struggled there,” Donovan said.

The Huskies are now 4-1 in semifinal games at the Final Four. They are 3-0 in the championship game.