UB's upset bid falls short
This would have been an upset that would have made headlines across the nation. Just like North Carolina nine years ago. And Pittsburgh two years ago.
In the end, it was another close call with no reward Thursday night for the University at Buffalo.
Playing for a potential winning shot, Rodney Pierce's pass in the lane was intercepted in the final five seconds and two Connecticut free throws put the game away as the Huskies escaped Alumni Arena with a 68-64 victory over the Bulls.
A raucous crowd of 4,899 saw UB's second close shave against a No.‚2 team in the last three years as the Bulls fell here to Pittsburgh, 70-67, in 2006. While Pitt is a perennially strong program, this would have certainly been the biggest upset in modern Big 4 history, a win over a program featuring a Hall of Fame coach and two national championships in the last nine years.
It nearly happened as UB had the ball with the shot clock off and trailing, 66-64, in the final 35 seconds. A basket for overtime … and maybe a three-pointer for the win … was within the Bulls' grasp.
But Pierce, the former Hutch-Tech star who had brilliantly scored a career-high 28 points to that point, drove the lane and opted to pass the ball instead of take the key shot with 7-foot-3 Hasheem Thabeet closing on him. The feed to Max Boudreau was deflected and grabbed by backup guard Kemba Walker. He was fouled and clinched it on two free throws with six-tenths of a second left.
"I was driving to the basket and I saw Thabeet step up so I was trying to make a bounce pass to Boudreau for a layup," Pierce said. "It was a one-on-one play so it was either get to the basket or kick it to my teammates for a jump shot."
Still, everyone in the building was surprised Pierce passed the ball.
"Shocked," said UConn coach Jim Calhoun. "It was one of those games where I'm happy to go home 8-0 but really feeling bad for the Buffalo kids because they played well enough to do something special in their minds."
"We did a lot of things right to be in that situation on the last possession," said Bulls coach Reggie Witherspoon. "You know full well these teams are ranked high for a reason and fully intent on just manhandling you. I thought our guys responded."
The Bulls held the Huskies even on the boards (37-37), allowed six offensive rebounds and committed just seven turnovers. They simply had no answer for Thabeet, who led UConn with 21 points, a game-high 18 rebounds and four blocks.
"It's too bad he didn't go to the NBA after last year," cracked Witherspoon.
Pierce scored the game's first six points and made his first seven shots from the field, quickly giving the Bulls and their fans belief that an upset was possible.
"We were locked in early on," said UB freshman forward Mitchell Watt. "Rodney was producing offensively. We were ready for this game. We weren't shell-shocked to play the No.‚2 team in the country. We were ready to lace it up and give a good effort."
The Bulls led by as many as eight points in the first half and went to the break tied at 32-32, but the UB offense went dry with just five points in a 7•-minute span late in the second half. UConn took its biggest lead of the night, 63-56, on a Thabeet putback with 4:19 left.
To their credit, the Bulls were far from done. It was 66-60 with 1:39 left as Thabeet hit one of two from the line and UB then made its final push.
Pierce hit two free throws with 1:15 left and two more with 40.6 seconds to go to cut the Bulls' deficit to two and leave Calhoun with his hands locked on his head in mock terror.
But Calhoun certainly had reason to worry when Walker was trapped in the left corner and was whistled for traveling with 37.3 seconds left. Pierce tried to drive against Thabeet and missed his shot but grabbed the offensive rebound and got a timeout with 19 seconds left.
That set up the fateful finish that UB fans will long remember for all the wrong reasons. The Bulls have little time to rehash this one as they host Florida International at 3 p.m. Saturday.
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