PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — In his first game back since a fainting episode Wednesday against Auburn, graduate student Isaiah Whaley came through clutch to help the UConn men’s basketball team escape a defensive slog of a Battle 4 Atlantis finale in the Bahamas.
Whaley hit three 3s, including one to force overtime and another to kick off the Huskies’ scoring in extra time, to help No. 22 UConn grind out a 70-63 win over Virginia Commonwealth Friday, its second time playing in overtime in three games.
With wins over Auburn and VCU and a loss to Michigan State, UConn (6-1) comes away with a third-place finish in The annual holiday event.
Not to be overlooked, R.J. Cole led the Huskies in scoring and also had his clutch moments, finishing with a game-high 26 points. Whaley, who also had the win-sealing dunk-and-one with four seconds to play, was the only other UConn player to reach double figures with 16.
The game was ugly, defined by three- and four-minute scoring droughts, a copious amount of forced and unforced turnovers and a lot of foul calls.
After the game’s first basket, a Whaley 3, UConn trailed the rest of the first half. A pair of free throws at the 4:23 mark tied things up at 20 , but VCU got going offensively, scoring eight straight points, and UConn struggled with their defensive pressure, committing a slew of turnovers.
Whaley gave the Huskies some life with a second-chance layup, then forcing a steal with less than 30 seconds remaining leading to a Jalen Gaffney basket. Cole was fouled on his last-ditch effort at a half-court shot, making two of three from the line, to pull UConn within two (28-26) at the break — a respectable outcome considering UConn had has many turnovers as made field goals in the half (eight) and shot 27% (17% from 3).
Finally converting on their shots, the Huskies came out of the half with a 7-0 run to retake the advantage on a Cole 3-pointer for the first time since it was 3-0. The teams traded leads before Gaffney’s free throw granted the Huskies their biggest lead at 41-37, but VCU quickly responded with six unanswered points to crawl back ahead and later extend the lead to three with a 10-3 run.
After the under-eight timeout, Cole took over with a 3 and and-one to tie things up two separate times. VCU managed to pull ahead by four at the 3:21 mark, but Martin’s trey cut the deficit to one on the next play. A pair of VCU free throws allowed the Rams to creep ahead by three with 2:32 to go.
Whaley’s 3, his second of the game on perfect shooting, tied things up with just over a minute to go, but neither team was able to convert on their final possession, Cole’s 3-point attempt with less than a second remaining bouncing off the back of the rim.
Whaley got UConn on the board with another 3 to start overtime, and Cole and Adama Sanogo each sank a pair from the free-throw line to push the gap to seven. The closest VCU would get to catching up would be with six seconds left, pulling within four, but Whaley’s and-one ensured the Huskies win.
