After a dismal showing against Syracuse at Madison Square Garden, the 6-3 UConn Huskies host Coppin State Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. in Gampel Pavilion. This will be the final game before a 12-day layoff leading into what will be a critical two-game road stretch against Arizona and Auburn.
Coppin State (0-9) is one of the lowest-rated teams in all of Division 1, currently ranked 347th out of 351 teams in KenPom, which predicts a 78-55 win for the 89th-ranked Huskies. UConn has been struggling as of late, needing overtime to grab wins over Monmouth and Columbia before the disappointing effort in New York City. This stretch has coincided with the absence of Alterique Gilbert, who injured the same shoulder which kept him out most of last year. We still have no update on Gilbert besides that he’s rehabbing and that he needs to make a decision between playing this season through pain or getting surgery again.
Gilbert’s absence has been a real shame for a Husky roster sorely missing its only true point guard. With so many new guys trying to work together, cohesion has been poor on both sides of the ball. Usually, despite offensive challenges, Kevin Ollie’s teams have played great defense. It has looked like this team is capable of doing so, but for too long it disappears and gives up easy chances.
This game, hopefully, won’t be too eventful. UConn should win comfortably, and a team that needs to gel quickly before a tough two-game road test will get a helpful live rep. We also may get our first chance at seeing a dope Kwintin Williams dunk. Fingers crossed.
We’ll have live updates here for those of you who don’t get ESPNews or won’t have a chance to watch. Feel free to share any pre-game thoughts or predictions in the comments and stick around to discuss the action!
LIVE UPDATES
1st Half
Pre-game: Terry Larrier will be starting the game on the bench, as Ollie decides to start with three guards, Jalen Adams, Christian Vital, Antwoine Anderson, and big men Mamadou Diarra and Eric Cobb. Kind of interesting, but I would hardly call it a benching since the stakes here are really fairly low.
20:00 - We are underway!
14:15 - We are not good. Coppin State jumped out to an 8-0 lead and UConn has four turnovers. The Eagles lead 11-8 right now, with five of the Huskies’ points coming from Josh Carlton.
12:00 - UConn briefly tied it up with a Larrier three right after the U-16 but the Eagles are still ahead 14-11. Coppin State is 4-8 from three.
7:15 - The Huskies take the lead, 23-20, but still look pretty shaky. They have eight turnovers in the game so far and are failing to get the best possible shot on offensive possessions.
3:54 - UConn is now comfortably ahead, 34-25. Antwoine Anderson leads the Huskies with eight points while Terry Larrier has six off the bench.
0:00 - UConn leads, 36-31, and has committed 11 turnovers. This was a terrible half by the Huskies against a terrible team. They should be ashamed to be playing so sloppily and only have a five-point lead on Coppin State after 20 minutes.
2nd Half
20:00 - The second half has begun.
15:32 - Six straight points from Adams followed by a Larrier three has UConn leading comfortably 49-38. Adams and Larrier have 11 points each to tie for the team lead.
11:38 - UConn sleepwalking but still ahead, 55-45.