Sports NEW YORK — He tapped the rebound to himself and absorbed a gross with 20.4 seconds closing, surroundings in motion the prolonged, celebratory stroll from one terminate of Madison Square Garden to the opposite as an appreciative fan nasty identified the job changed into with regards to entire. All that separated No. 18 UConn from a third consecutive victory over a high-major opponent — having already upended then-No. 15 Baylor and Texas earlier this week — were two free throws from valid freshman Liam McNeeley, a budding enormous identify for head coach Dan Hurley and the Huskies’ shimmering protagonist on a night when the court docket shimmered with future mavens. He buried the first and drilled the 2nd to retain his crew’s 77-71 get over eighth-ranked Gonzaga and stabilize a campaign that immediate teetered.
“He changed into enormous tonight,” Gonzaga head coach Trace Few said when requested about McNeeley. “He with out a doubt, with out a doubt changed into. And listen, UConn is — god, they dazzling have the coronary heart of a champion, man. Danny [Hurley] form of brings that out of them. We knew it changed into going to be a physical fist fight, most frequently, and I assumed we were up to that assignment. They dazzling made a pair extra of those baskets.”
A range of which were credited to McNeeley, the archaic five-enormous identify recruit and one-time Indiana commit who poured in a career-high 26 parts on the brightest stage of his younger career, igniting an overwhelmingly legitimate-UConn crowd on a night when about a of his extra experienced teammates struggled. That the Huskies grew to turn out to be so continually to McNeeley, a toddler-confronted youngster who scored 11 of his crew’s final 24 parts, in such a raucous and high-stress environment reflected the prolonged-timeframe possible Hurley sees for his crew, which is chasing a third consecutive nationwide title. To examine him anchor the offense by making seven of 13 shots from the sphere and hitting 10 of 12 attempts from the free-throw line — all whereas snagging eight rebounds and meting out four assists through pick-and-roll opportunities — encapsulated the form of wide-ranging have an effect on most frequently reserved for upperclassmen.
And the Huskies wished every little thing McNeeley gave them to offset the scandalous taking pictures of leading scorer Alex Karaban, who disregarded all seven of his attempts from beyond the arc; the concussion to initiating heart Samson Johnson, who had “started that sport in barely electrifying model,” as Hurley described it, with an alley-oop on the outlet possession and a one-handed lefty jam rapidly thereafter; and the gross anxiousness for impact sophomore Solo Ball, who failed to attain double-pick scoring for the first time all season.
“His efficiency tonight might perchance perchance serene shoot him to the end of any of those lists I evaluation of the ideal learners within the nation,” Hurley said, “this means that of he’s doing it at both ends. He’s doing it on the backboard. He’s no longer [relying on] quantity scoring. And there is lots stress on him this means that of he’s our 2nd-most productive player next to Alex.”
Some of that stress came from the legions of UConn supporters who streamed through Broad Central Terminal within the hours forward of tipoff, flooding into the town on Metro-North Railroad autos sweltering from the body heat of standing-room-simplest crowds — chunks of which were bedecked in holiday garb for SantaCon NYC. For decades, Connecticut residents have made these semi-annual pilgrimages to high-profile games at Madison Square Garden, be that for the Mountainous East Match in early March or marquee fashioned-season matchups, esteem Saturday night’s Hall of Reputation Sequence in opposition to Gonzaga. So frequent are the Huskies’ appearances and triumphs on this storied building that the fan nasty has dubbed it “Storrs South” in reference to the college’s campus in Storrs, Connecticut. Final 300 and sixty five days’s crew, which carried out 37-3 total and captured the program’s 2nd consecutive nationwide championship, won all seven situations it played at MSG by a median of 14.3 parts per sport.
On Saturday, a call-and-response chant echoed during the put together place’s underbelly as followers poured into Recent york: “UConn!” any individual screamed. “Huskies!” those spherical him shouted abet. And on and on it went. The enviornment hummed with the same expectations as Connecticut welcomed Gonzaga into the liquored-up fray. Nearly 19,000 followers, many of whom had clearly been imbibing for hours by the time they reached the realm, remodeled the venue into what felt esteem a UConn home sport. They booed when the Bulldogs jogged onto the court docket for final warmups at 7:41 p.m., forcing the public address announcer to yowl over them for the visiting introduction. They booed again when a pregame video favorite Gonzaga’s pedigree under legendary head coach Trace Few, who has been at the helm since 1999. However when the camera panned to UConn’s gamers and coaches linked arm in arm during an electrical rendition of the nationwide anthem, the crowd roared with pleasure.
“It changed into esteem a prize fight,” Few said.
And that changed into precisely the form of backing Hurley pleaded for after his crew’s resplendent losses at the Maui Invitational, the place the Huskies arrived ranked 2nd within the nation and were impulsively felled by Memphis, Colorado and Dayton on consecutive days. Upon returning to Connecticut, Hurley archaic his postgame news conference following a ninety nine-forty five thumping of Maryland Jap Shore to ask “grace and persistence and dazzling inconceivable toughen” from UConn followers who’d attain to demand attain-perfection amid abet-to-abet nationwide titles affected by lopsided outcomes. The fashioned Hurley and his group were keeping the gamers to hadn’t modified — the Huskies are serene chasing a 3-peat — however shedding two stars to the NBA lottery in Stephon Fortress (No. 4 total) and Donovan Clingan (No. 7 total), plus two extra veterans who earned two-system contracts in Cam Spencer and Tristen Newton, supposed it would take the Huskies a whereas to reconfigure.
However as the supporting solid propelled UConn to a fourth consecutive victory on Saturday, the event Hurley is making grew to turn out to be increasingly determined. There were necessary contributions from sophomores Jaylin Stewart (two 3-pointers) and Jayden Ross (two assists, one rebound, one snatch). There were necessary minutes from Michigan switch Tarris Reed Jr., whose 12 parts were buttressed by six rebounds and three blocks. And there changed into the revelatory brilliance of McNeeley, the No. 18 total player within the 2024 recruiting cycle, whose four free throws and acrobatic layup within the waning minutes nudged Connecticut forward for unbiased correct.
Which is why it felt so apropos that Saturday’s sport ended the model it did: with McNeeley dribbling out the final few seconds of a get he’d largely fueled.
“I had by no procedure played within the Mecca forward of,” McNeeley said. “However it absolutely changed into a enormous, enormous first experience.”
Michael Cohen covers college soccer and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Mountainous Ten. Apply him at @Michael_Cohen13 .
[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily .]
FOLLOW Apply your favorites to personalize your FOX Sports experience
School Basketball
Gonzaga Bulldogs
UConn Huskies
Glean extra from School Basketball Apply your favorites to get info about games, news and additional
