College Basketball

Napier is the key to Huskies bid to upset Gators

Connecticut left its gym on Dec. 2 with more than a thrilling win over Florida. The Huskies left with a readily available reminder they could beat any team in the country.

After Shabazz Napier’s buzzer-beater sealed the 65-64 win over the Gators, an 8-0 UConn team would finish the season with eight losses, while Florida would win 30 straight games.

As the Gators convincingly claimed the No. 1 ranking the nation, UConn’s season looked like it may have peaked.

There were back-to-back defeats at Houston and SMU. There was a 33-point loss to Louisville. There was a late-season slump from their star — Napier — whose shoulders carried the weight of the team’s success.

But there was always the reminder that there was no ceiling. They had beaten the best.

“How I used it later on in the season, when we [had] difficulties and wasn’t playing up to our capabilities, you put that tape in,” UConn coach Kevin Ollie said on Monday. “[Florida’s] been No. 1 pretty much the whole year, haven’t lost. You can say, ‘You played with those guys.’ Don’t lose sight in the dark times when you fall down and say, ‘We’re going to be here, camp out here. No, we’re going to move on. You know what level we can play at. We’ll get back to that.’

“I think you see our guys rally around that and get back to that championship mentality in this tournament. It’s been great to see.”

Despite the early-season win, seventh-seeded UConn (30-8) is a six-point underdog heading into Saturday night’s game against No. 1 Florida (36-2) — which has won every game of its NCAA Tournament by double-digits — at AT&T Stadium.

The question isn’t whether the Huskies can pull the upset, the question is how they won the first time. Even with all that has happened since that game, the keys for each team haven’t changed. Defense defines so much of what both teams do.

“It wasn’t a particularly good shooting night from both teams, but the defense was stellar,” said Ollie. “They just play so hard. They don’t give an inch on the defensive end and offensive end … just teaching our guys that you can’t take a play off, you can’t relax. For us to beat a team like that, we couldn’t relax. Not one minute.”

Even if DeAndre Daniels steps up down low, UConn’s inferior frontline could falter against Patric Young in the paint and will likely lose the rebounding battle again, meaning the Huskies need to win from the outside. UConn hit 11 3-pointers in the first game, with its experienced backcourt better suited than most to face Florida’s defensive pressure.

UConn only had two players score in double-figures in the first meeting — Ryan Boatright had an eight-point disappearing act — a stat made moot by Napier’s performance. The Huskies need balance, but need Napier’s game-hijacking abilities more.

Unfazed by Florida’s fearsome defense, Napier scored a game-high 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting (5-of-8 3-pointers), though the Gators’ top defender — Scottie Wilbekin — missed the final three minutes of action with an ankle injury.

The matchup of the two seniors — the teams’ two best players — will mean everything again, though Florida coach Billy Donovan will throw as many defenders as necessary to contain the Huskies’ star.

Less Napier, less of a chance for UConn.

“[Napier] is a really, really gifted offensive player and I think a gifted leader, as well,” said Donovan. “Scottie Wilbekin is a great defender and Napier is a great offensive player. I always believe that great offense beats great defense, so this is not necessarily going to be a situation where Scottie is going to be playing Napier by himself.

“We’ve been a team, a defensive team, and we’ve got to try to do as good of a job as we can collectively helping Scottie in whatever situation he may be in during the game.”