Tulsa
Connecticut
TULSA FALLS SHORT AGAINST UCONN 47-42 IN AAC SEMIFINALS
3/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 14, 2015
Box Score | Notes | Box Score
Hartford, CT - The hometown favorite UConn Huskies (20-13) used a 14-2 run to close out the game for a 47-42 victory over Tulsa (22-10) in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament on Saturday in front of a mostly Huskies crowd of 10,114 fans at the XL Center.
Tulsa led by nine points, 40-31, with 5:47 remaining in the game, until Phil Nolan's tip-in, Rodney Purvis layup and three-pointers by Daniel Hamilton and Ryan Boatright tied the score at 41 with 1:44 left on the clock. The Hurricane managed just two free throws, both the first of 2-shot fouls, in the final 3:41.
Boatright made 4-of-4 free throws in the final 0:11 to send the Huskies into tomorrow's American Championship game against the SMU Mustangs. Boatright ended with a game-high 21 points.
Tulsa will await its postseason fate as selections will be announced Sunday night.
"Obviously, it was a tough loss for us. I thought our guys competed their butts off. We played extremely hard. We rebounded the ball well," said Haith. "Under the circumstances, you know, playing in a tournament setting, the atmosphere today, I thought our guys handled everything well, other than just winning the game at the end."
Tulsa out-rebounded the taller Huskies unit 40 to 28, but dismal shooting was a thorn in the side of the Hurricane on Saturday. Tulsa shot just 29-percent from the field and 16-percent from three-point range. Tulsa's Shaquille Harrison led the Hurricane with nine points, and Rashad Ray added 8 and James Woodard had 7 points.
The Hurricane took its largest lead of 10 points when a Rashad Smith layup made it 38-28 with 6:35 left in the game.
Although Tulsa jumped out to 7-0 lead, the Hurricane didn't shoot particularly well in the first seven minutes, knocking down just over 20-percent of its field goals. The Tulsa defense held UConn scoreless until the 12:10 mark when Ryan Boatright his first of three straight three-pointers.
With that first UConn basket, the Huskies went on a 13-4 run to take a 13-11 lead with 8:28 remaining in the first 20 minutes. Tulsa knotted the score at 17 and took an 18-17 lead on two Brandon Swannegan free throws at the four-minute mark. The Hurricane maintained the lead for the remainder of the first half and too a 23-19 lead into the locker room.
The Hurricane was aggressive on the boards in the first half, out-rebounding the Huskies 25 to 10, including 11 offensive rebounds as every Tulsa player grabbed at least one rebound through the first 20 minutes.
Harrison and Woodard led the Hurricane with five points, while Boatright had nine points to lead UConn in the first half.
Tulsa took its shooting percentage up a few notches to end the first half at 30-percent, converting 9-of-30 field goals, but hit just 2-of-11 treys for 18 percent. UConn shot 38-percent from the field on 8-of-21, and 50-percent from three-point range (3-of-6).
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