michael coen
College football and college basketball writer
NEW YORK — He hit himself with a rebound, absorbed a foul with 20.4 seconds left, and took a long celebratory walk from one end of Madison Square Garden to the other as an appreciative fan base realized the job was nearly done. started. Everything that divided No.18 university university They have already overtaken the No. 1 team at the time and won three consecutive games against powerful opponents. Baylor and Texas’ 15 earlier this week included two by true freshman Liam McNeely, head coach Dan Hurley’s rising star and the Huskies’ shining main character, on a night when Cote shined with his future pro. It was a free throw. He buried the first one and drilled the second to preserve the team’s 77-71 victory over No. 8 Gonzaga and stabilize a temporarily shaky campaign.
“He was great tonight,” Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said when asked about McNeely. “He really, really was. And listen, UConn — God, they just have the heart of a champion, man. Danny.” [Hurley] It’s like pulling that out of them. Basically, I knew it was going to be a physical fight, so I thought I was up to the task. They just made a few more of those baskets. ”
Much of that goes to McNeely, a former five-star recruit and one-time commit at Indiana. McNeely scored a career-high 26 points on the brightest stage of his young career, overwhelmingly electrifying his parent college crowd on a night where some players scored victories. His more experienced teammates struggled. In such a noisy, high-pressure environment, the Huskies’ frequent reliance on McNealy, a baby-faced teenager who scored 11 of the team’s final 24 points, meant Hurley was on a team chasing third place. This reflects that they see long-term potential. Consecutive national championships. He anchored the offense by making 7-of-13 shots from the field and 10-of-12 attempts from the free-throw line, all while grabbing eight rebounds and providing four assists on pick-and-roll opportunities. When you look at the recorded version, you can see that certain events have been condensed. Far-reaching influence is usually reserved for upperclassmen.
And the Huskies needed everything McNeely gave them to offset leading scorer Alex Karaban’s brutal shooting. Starting center Samson Johnson suffered a concussion. He described Hurley as “just starting the game in shocking fashion,” making an alley-oop on the first possession and then jamming with a one-handed lefty shortly after. And due to foul trouble on an impactful sophomore solo ball, he was unable to reach double digits for the first time all season.
“His performance tonight should push him to the top of the list of best freshmen in the country that I’ve seen,” Hurley said. [relying on] Volume scoring. And he’s the second best player after Alex, so there’s a lot of pressure on him.”
Part of that pressure was due to the large crowds of University students who streamed into the city hours before tipoff in Metro-North rail cars, sweltering with the body heat of a standing-room-only crowd that flowed through Grand Central Terminal. – Brought to you by supporters. Dressed in holiday costumes for New York City Santacon. For decades, Connecticut residents have made the biannual pilgrimage to the high-profile game at Madison Square Garden. Whether it’s the Big East Tournament in early March or a high-profile regular season game like Saturday night’s Hall of Fame Series vs. Gonzaga. The Huskies have appeared and won so often in this historic building that fans call it “Storrs South,” after the university’s campus in Storrs, Connecticut. Last year’s team, which finished 37-3 overall and won the program’s second consecutive national championship, won by an average margin of 14.3 points per game in all seven times it played at MSG.
As fans poured into Manhattan on Saturday, a call-and-response chant of “Yukon!” echoed through the subway station. someone shouted. “Husky!” the people around him shouted back. And it went on and on. The arena buzzed with similar anticipation as the University of Connecticut welcomed Gonzaga into a drunken battle. Nearly 19,000 fans, many of whom were clearly engaged for hours by the time they arrived at the arena, gave the venue the feel of a UConn home game. At 7:41 p.m., when the Bulldogs jogged onto the court for their final warm-up, they were met with boos, forcing the speech announcer to yell to introduce the visitors. There were boos again when a pregame video praised Gonzaga’s pedigree under legendary head coach Mark Few, who has been at the helm since 1999. But when the camera panned to UW players and coaches locking arms and singing the national anthem, the crowd cheered.
“It was like competing for an award,” Few said.
And that’s exactly the kind of support Hurley begged for after his team’s disastrous loss at the Maui Invitational. The Huskies entered the game ranked No. 2 in the country, but suffered consecutive losses to Memphis, Colorado, and Dayton. Back in Connecticut, Hurley, in his postgame press conference after a 99-45 win over Maryland Eastern Shore, offered a message of grace and perseverance to college fans who had come to expect near-perfection in back-to-back games. and the incredible support.” There are some biased results in domestic titles. The standards that Hurley and his staff wanted from their players haven’t changed — the Huskies are still chasing a three-peat — but in the NBA lottery, Stephon Castle (4th overall) and Donovan Clingan (7th) Lost 2 stars to. Overall), plus two more veterans on two-way contracts in Cam Spencer and Tristen Newton meant it would take some time for the Huskies to rebuild.
But as the supporting cast pushed UConn to its fourth straight win Saturday, Hurley’s progress became increasingly apparent. Sophomores Jaylin Stewart (two 3-pointers) and Jayden Ross (two assists, one rebound, one steal) made key contributions. Taris Reed Jr., a transfer from Michigan State, had key moments, contributing 12 points with six rebounds and three blocks. And then there was the revelation talent of McNeely, the No. 18 overall pick in the 2024 recruiting cycle. His four free throws and an acrobatic layup with just minutes left put Connecticut in the lead for good.
That’s why it felt so appropriate that Saturday’s game ended with McNealy gaining so much momentum by dribbling through the final seconds of the win.
“I’ve never played in Mecca before,” McNeely said. “But it was a great, great first experience.”
Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball with an emphasis on the Big Ten for FOX Sports. please follow him @Michael_Cohen13.
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