UConn’s quest for a three-peat is alive.
Completing it’s not a likelihood for the Huskies, who entered the tournament as an unranked No. 8 seed after two seasons as college basketball’s unquestioned best team. But they got the job done Friday in a 67-59 win over No. 9 seed Oklahoma.
After they started the season as the No. 3 team in the nation, it quickly became clear that the Huskies wouldn’t be the juggernauts of years past. A 4-3 start dropped UConn to No. 25 in the AP poll, and it entered the NCAA tournament unranked with a 23-10 record as the third-place finisher in the Big East.
But as of Friday, the Huskies can still dream of cutting now the nets for a third straight season. UConn opened a 32-26 halftime lead over the Sooners and didn’t trail until Oklahoma took a 47-46 lead with 9:03 remaining.
From there, the game was in the balance until an Alex Karaban block in the final minute set the Huskies up with a three-possession lead. Karaban denied a layup attempted by Oklahoma’s Jalon Moore, setting up a pair of Liam McNeeley free throws on the other end for a 66-59 lead with 29 seconds remaining, and the game was all but over.
The Huskies will face a much stiffer test in the second round on Sunday. No. 1 seed Florida awaits as one of the favorites to win the tournament. To get there, the Gators will have to go through the two-time reigning champions.
This story will be updated.
