HARTFORD, Conn. _ There's bound to be some gain, as UConn finishes the season with minutes to offer young players. But it won't come without pain.
There was some of both at the XL Center Thursday night. Houston was putting a grown-up bruising on the Huskies, before they staged another of their familiar late-game surges to make a game of it. The Cougars ultimately escaped with a 71-63 victory in American Athletic Conference men's basketball.
No. 9 Houston (24-1, 11-1 AAC) was as good as advertised on defense, holding the Huskies to their second-lowest point total of the season. UConn played some defense, too, especially in the first half, tying the game four times, briefly taking the lead, but in the second half the Cougars had a gear shift UConn couldn't match. With Armoni Brooks hitting a pair of 3s, Houston staged a 17-4 spurt to break the game open.
The Huskies (13-12, 4-8), still without both Alterique Gilbert and Jalen Adams, shot just 41.2 percent from the floor, but their most damaging shooting woes came at the line, 14 for 25, squandering an advantage that might have given them a chance to win. Houston took only two free throws through the first 38{ minutes.
Down by 17 with 7:09 to play, UConn got as close as six with 2:28 to play, but not close enough. Christian Vital led the Huskies with 15 points, five rebounds and four assists. Sidney Wilson added 12 points and Tarin Smith 10. Josh Carlton had 10 rebounds.
DeJon Jarreau led Houston with 16 points and Brooks scored 12. Houston made 11 of 21 3-point attempts, UConn 7 of 21. The Cougars went 8-for-9 at the line over the final 90 seconds to close the game out.
It took UConn nearly four minutes to score, before Wilson hit a 3-pointer from the right wing with 16:04 remaining. The Huskies, though, were playing some spirited defense and the XL crowd was responding to their effort.
They left points at the free-throw line from the start, going 5 for 12, holding themselves back. Trailing 13-7, they began making shots from the floor, Tyler Polley (nine points) scoring off a live-ball turnover to ignite a run an 11-2 run. Vital tied the game at 15 with a 3-pointer with 11:01 left, and freshman Brendan Adams, who has been in a long shooting slump, hit a 3 on the next possession. Adams was 0 for 8 on 3s across the previous six games.
The score was tied three times, and the lead changed four times over the remainder of the half. The Cougars regained the lead, 23-22, on Galen Robinson Jr.'s 3-pointer. Vital hit one to tie it at 29 with 47 seconds left, but Houston got the last word of the half on Jarreau's 3 from the right wing, and led 32-29 at the break. Those missed free throws, four by Carlton, two by Vital and one by Polley, were the difference. Houston did not yet have a free-throw attempt.
UConn started the second half misfiring again, and Houston opened up a 10-point lead, 39-29, on Armoni Brooks' 3 with 16:38 to play. The Cougars kept the pressure on, and building the second-half spurt to 17-4 on another Brooks 3. That gave Houston a 49-33 lead with 11:40 left.
