After bursting onto the national scene against Syracuse just days earlier, sophomore forward Otto Porter Jr. didn’t come out hot against Connecticut Wednesday night. Dormant for about 48 minutes, Porter truly woke up in the second overtime and added to his growing legend, deftly weaving through the Huskies defense for the game-winning layup in the No. 7 Hoyas’ thrilling 79-78 victory over Connecticut.
The layup marked the culmination of a final two-minute stretch where the sophomore Wooden Award candidate willed the Hoyas from a 7-point deficit.
First, Porter spotted up from three. A couple of possessions later, the Hoyas worked the ball around the perimeter before Porter found freshman guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera for yet another bucket from behind the arc.
After a strong defensive possession, Smith-Rivera emerged with the ball before feeding Porter at halfcourt. The Missouri native—who accumulated 22 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 steal—took the ball into the teeth of the defense and went up for what would be the game-winning layup.
Of course, for Porter’s Hoyas, the play started on the defensive end. “First, we were just trying to get the stop,” he said. “That’s what I was worried about. Once we got it, I just sprinted the lane. D’Vauntes was able to hit me, and I saw Mikael sprint to the rim, so, I was able to use him to get to the rim.”
If the Hoyas weren’t in the conversation for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, they are now. UConn, despite adjusting to new Head Coach Kevin Ollie and dealing with their barring from postseason play, has been impressive this season. “That’s a terrific team, Head Coach John Thompson III said. “That’s not a good win; it was a great win.”
The first half saw little scoring for either side. The Huskies led 22-19 at halftime, with the Hoyas failing to convert a field goal in the last 12 minutes of the half. Porter looked especially passive, with just 1 point before the break.
After halftime, the game sped up significantly. Behind an awakening from Porter—who played 49 of 50 minutes—and junior guard Markel Starks, the Hoyas began to pull away, leading by 12 with less than 5 minutes to play. Thompson said, “In the second half I think we got more movement. On top of everything else, we did a better job of getting [Porter] the ball.”
But, Shabazz Napier came back from injury and rejuvenated the Huskies offense, cutting the lead to three with little over a minute left in regulation. Smith-Rivera looked to have sealed the game when he stole the ball at half court and finished at the rim to give the Hoyas a seemingly insurmountable 5-point lead.
With slightly more than 40 seconds to play, the Hoyas were looking to run the clock below 10 seconds, but junior forward Nate Lubick was called for a moving screen. After a layup with 9 seconds to go, UConn fouled Starks, who had a chance to ice the game by extending the lead to two possessions. Starks missed the front end of the one-and-one, and Omar Calhoun hit a dagger three-pointer to tie the game at 62. With 2.2 seconds to go, the Hoyas inbounded the ball, but Niels Giffey picked off the pass.
With 9 seconds remaining in overtime, and with the game tied at 69, Porter was blocked, and UConn ran to the other end of the floor with a chance to win the game again, but Boatright’s three went off the backboard.
The Blue and Gray fell behind quickly in the second overtime. UConn hit two quick threes on their first two possessions. Eventually, the Huskies got out to what seemed be a game-deciding 7-point lead. With the game falling out of reach, the Hoyas failed to get a steal on two separate occasions, with Smith-Rivera going to the ground for the ball and coming up wincing in pain on the first. With their Big East lead slipping away, the ball went to Porter, who drained a contested three.
After a UConn shot clock violation, the Hoyas got the ball to the hurt Smith-Rivera who made deep three to move the score to 77-78. On the next UConn possession, Smith-Rivera stole the ball from a driving Napier and passed to Porter, who calmly drove to the basket and put the Hoyas ahead. The Huskies had one more chance, but Boatright’s three from the corner bounced off the backboard.
This win did not only preserve the Hoyas’ lead over the rest of the Big East, but is also extended a season-long winning streak, now at 10 games and provided yet another signature win in a season that has been full of highlights. The white-hot Hoyas take on Rutgers Saturday in a rare 9 p.m. game at the Verizon Center.
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