Uconn Wins!

Uconn 61 Rutgers 50

At this point it doesn’t matter how they get the wins but that they get them. The more they win, the more they’ll believe in the system. Forget needing overtime to get 61 points or the free throw shooting that almost cost them the game and ignore that Rutgers leading scorer was attending his grandmother’s funeral. Let these cubs enjoy this one. Pat Thabeet on the shoulder for finding offense and rebounding. Tip your cap to Austrie hitting threes and driving lanes to easy buckets. Smile that Adrien is a solid basketball player, swishing free throws down the stretch, hitting the boards hard, dishing out of double teams and being an anchor for Uconn.

It didn’t matter how they got the win just that it is now behind them. The losing streak is gone and now they have something to work on. Sure this team has innumerous aspects of their game to work on and Rutgers isn’t a very good team but this win does give Uconn a shot at making the Big East tournament.

Uconn sits at 3-6 tied with three other teams and one of those is St. John’s whom they have beaten. Right now they’re in. The Syracuse game looms large for Uconn’s season. If they can beat them and have a quality victory and stay in the mix of the 4 win teams they will have turned a huge corner but this season is still far from over.

Even with the lack of scoring, Uconn finally overcame the dreaded drought. Their offense flowed with inside to outside passing and great rotation on defense. The hustle and determination to grab the loose balls were just as important as the domination on the glass. The guards took their jumpers when open instead of forcing off balance drives. The big men grabbed boards, boxed out and didn’t give up easy dunks. The small forwards were invisible and find a way into the offense.

The win is what it is, a win. It’s a band-aid to stop the bleeding but the wounds still there. These cubs dug in with only themselves to believe that they could pull out the victory in overtime and they did it. So let them smile and feel good about finding a way to win this one, because Syracuse is coming up and they still remember what happened in the Big East tournament finals last year.