HARTFORD, Conn. _ Every few moments of this season have felt like a true UConn men's basketball season. But Friday night was one of them.
Fighting to keep their season alive, the Huskies reached back for every last ounce of effort and energy they had, and it was enough to knock off Houston 74-65 in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament before another small, but rambunctious crowd at the XL Center.
It was the most exciting game of the season, and easily the Huskies' most meaningful win. Now, all they have to do is get a good night's sleep and dig down for even more, with Cincinnati, the No. 2 seed, waiting in the semifinals Saturday at 5 p.m. The Bearcats breezed past Tulsa, 80-61, in their quarterfinal and have beaten UConn twice by double digits during the regular season.
Jalen Adams, still hobbling on that sprained left ankle, got his pull-up game back and scored 23 points, hitting a slew of big baskets in the second half as the Cougars, an NCAA Tournament bubble team, fought ferociously to beat UConn a third time.
Rodney Purvis scored 18 points and Vance Jackson and Christian Vital 12 each, all hitting critical shots for the Huskies (16-16), who lost the last four games of the regular season to fall to the No. 6 seed in this tournament, forcing them to win four games in four days. They started inauspiciously, struggling to beat No.11 South Florida on Thursday night.
But the Huskies have played some of their best basketball in this conference tournament, winning it last year, and on Friday they flashed some of the program's old March magic, taking control of the game with a 26-6 spurt to end the first half and grappling to hang on to the lead throughout the second.
Rob Gray scored 25 for the Cougars, and Galen Robinson 17. But Houston's three-point game was limited to 6-for-19 on 3-point attempts.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson was wary of this quarterfinal matchup before the tournament began, noting that it would be, in effect, a road game for his third-seeded Cougars. He was right. By the time the game started, the lower half of the XL Center filled up, and it was nearly all UConn fans.
They were quiet as Houston jumped out to the lead. UConn missed nine of its first 11 shots, and Purvis, the hero of the Huskies' win on Thursday, went down to the floor hard and was led off to the locker room to be checked out.
The Cougars led 20-9 with 10:31 to go in the half, as Gray was, as usual, hurting the Huskies from a variety of spots on the floor. But Purvis jogged back out to a nice round of applause, checked back in and UConn began a surge. Amida Brimah and Jackson got to the rim for dunks to get it started, and Vital hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to three.
Adams made a steal and flung it up ahead to Purvis, who powered to the basket and finished, drawing a foul and completing the three-point play to put the Huskies ahead, 24-22. With the building as loud as it has been all year, UConn continued, with Purvis hitting a 3-pointer and Vital hitting a tough shot at the end of the clock to expand the lead to 35-26 with 25 seconds to go in the half.
The Huskies outscored Houston 26-6 to take that nine-point advantage into the locker room.
But, as has happened so often this season, UConn started the second half on the wrong footing. Brimah picked up his third foul in the opening seconds, and Adams turned it over, leading to an easy basket. Damyean Dotson hit a 3-pointer, and Houston trailed by two points.
