Terrence Samuel admitted to nerves Friday night in the Sweet 16. The Brooklyn native, playing in his hometown at the Garden, didn’t show it, scoring all 10 of his points in the second half of No. 7-seeded UConn’s 81-76 victory over third-seeded Iowa State.
“It’s like a dream come true,” said the freshman out of South Shore High School, the first member of his family to attend college, on Saturday, in advance of Sunday’s East Regional final against fourth-seeded Michigan State.
“You play in front of your friends, family in an NBA arena in your hometown.”
The 6-foot-4 point guard has emerged as one of UConn’s top reserves, playing two of the best games of his season in the Huskies last two NCAA Tournament victories, after a quiet regular season that included 10 Did Not Plays — Coaches Decision.
Last Saturday, in an upset of No. 2-seeded Villanova, he scored a career-high 11 points in 21 minutes, giving UConn a major lift with point guard Shabazz Napier on the bench in foul trouble. Friday night, he produced in tandem with Napier, and finished the game, making four clutch free throws down the stretch when Iowa State was in the midst of making its run, and received a season-high 23 minutes.
“He stepped up big time,” UConn coach Kevin Ollie said. “We asked him to take Shabazz off of [Iowa State star] DeAndre Kane a little bit; he did that. He was exceptional getting to the basket, getting to the rim.”
Afterward, Samuel’s phone was buzzing relentlessly. He had 170 text messages.
“It took me three hours to write all the text messages back,” he said, smiling. “It’s a great feeling, you got a lot of friends and supporters.”
This was supposed to be the year of the freshmen, when top prospects Andrew Wiggins (Kansas) and Jabari Parker (Duke) took over the sport. Instead, the teams left in the NCAA Tournament, Kentucky not included, are loaded with experience — juniors and seniors who have guided their respective teams to this point.
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, whose Spartans are led by seniors Adreian Payne and Keith Appling, didn’t understand the hype from the get-go.
“Experience is good in coaching and experience is good with players,” Izzo said. “I think it’s a shame that we put so much pressure on these freshmen and sophomores instead of letting them just enjoy their time. Our whole society is trying to speed it up. Trying to put 16-year-olds into Harvard and I don’t understand it. I liked being a snot-nosed kid. That was the most fun I ever had. And we’re trying to take it away.”
Don’t look for Izzo on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
“I despite social media,” he said, pointing to the additional problems he feels it creates for young people.