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The back-to-back national championship runs that were littered with one blowout victory after another gave way to this: A second-round NCAA Tournament matchup that almost no one expected Connecticut and Dan Hurley to win. Not against Florida, arguably the hottest team in the country after it won the SEC Tournament last week. Not after such a laborious regular season in which a roster that is far less talented, far less deep than what UConn put forth the last two years, had its numerous shortcomings exposed. Not after the Huskies barely knocked off ninth-seeded Oklahoma in the first round while the Gators racked up 95 points against 16th-seeded Norfolk State.
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And yet, after 20 minutes in the Round of 32 from Raleigh, North Carolina, where many expected UConn’s pursuit of a three-peat to officially perish, the score was deadlocked at the break as Hurley and his staff were vibrating with glee. This was the kind of defensive effort they’d been pining for all season: limiting the nation’s most efficient offense to 38.5% shooting and just 31 points overall. This was the kind of intensity Hurley wasn’t sure existed within his team: five steals, two blocks, nine forced turnovers and nine offensive rebounds. That the Huskies had only made 4 of 18 attempts from 3-point range didn’t matter because of how aggressive, relentless and prideful Hurley’s pupils revealed themselves to be. A byproduct of 13 consecutive NCAA Tournament victories over the last three years.
The compounding nerves and pressure on Florida, a popular national championship pick, were evident from the moment the second half began, both in terms of body language and on-court performance. The Gators missed five free-throws in the opening seven minutes of the second stanza alone after making all seven attempts in the first. They finished 22-for-34 from the line overall in a display that reflected some team-wide angst on this kind of stage. It was perhaps the first time all season that the pressure of chasing a third straight title worked in UConn’s favor, heavy were the expectations for so much of this pockmarked campaign. With every passing minute, the potential for the tournament’s first monumental upset swelled.
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No one could have asked more of starting center Samson Johnson, who turned in perhaps the best performance of his career with 10 points, 10 rebounds and an all-around ferocity that he rarely flashed. Or point guard Hassan Diarra, who has battled tendinitis in his knee for the better part of three months and gritted his way through 32 minutes against Florida, running the offense at one end of the floor and playing smothering defense on Walter Clayton Jr. at the other, limiting Clayton to just 13 points in the opening 35 minutes. Or any of the other players who allowed UConn to finish with advantages in offensive rebounds (14-12), points in the paint (32-24), steals (8-4) and assists (16-12).
But the Huskies could only fight the rising tide for so long, could only neutralize a team with superior talent for a certain number of possessions before the law of averages came into play. Their lead evaporated with 2:54 remaining when Clayton buried his trademark sliding 3-pointer from the right wing, nudging Florida in front for the first time since the waning seconds of the first half. It was the psychological boost that head coach Todd Golden and his team needed to mount a late-game surge that UConn couldn’t match. Six consecutive made field goals over the final five minutes and change — including eight points from Clayton alone, who finished with a game-high 23 — that officially extinguished the Huskies’ pursuit of a third straight national title.
Florida 77, UConn 75. The Gators clawed back from the brink to reach the Sweet 16.
Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.
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