SMU wins the Athletic Conference Championship! Markus Kennedy wins conference tournament M.V.P. I am your host, Christian Hansen, signing out. Stay tuned with VAVEL USA as we bring you recaps and more live coverage from others events.
FINAL- SMU 62 UCONN 54
28.3 Second Half- Markus Kennedy goes 1-2 from the line; SMU 60 UCONN 54
30.3 Second Half- UCONN's Omar Calhoun is fouled on a three point shot and is sent to the line for the 3 shots. Calhoun makes all three SMU 59 UCONN 51
45.1 Second Half- Ryan Boatright has fouled out! Boatright finished the afternoon with 7 points. Nic Moore is sent to the line for two shots where he makes both SMU 59 UCONN 48
1:00 Second Half- SMU 57 UCONN 48
2:12 Second Half- Ryan Boatright picks up his third foul which sends SMU's Ben Moore to the line where he makes both shots. SMU up 7.SMU 55 UCONN 48
2:14 Second Half- Timeout SMU. SMU is now down to three timeouts the Mustangs are leading the Huskies 53-48
2:39 Second Half- SMU beats the shot-clock, misses and grabs the offensive rebound giving them a fresh 35 seconds.
3:22 Second Half- Ryan Boatright sinks both shots bringing the score to SMU 53 UCONN 48
3:22 Second Half- Boatright draws the foul and earns a trip to the charity stripe. Boatright will shoot two after the T.V. timeout.
4:17 Second Half- Foul called on UCONN's Omar Calhoun sending Ryan Manuel of SMU to the line for two shots. Manuel makes the first and misses the second. SMU 53 UCONN 44
5:02 Second Half- SMU's Ben Emeloqu sinks two free throws to extend the SMU lead. SMU 52 UCONN 44
5:20 Second Half- UCONN has gone on a 16-5 run ever since Boatright hurt his shoulder
5:50 Second Half- UCONN's Rodney Purvis's career high is 28 points; he currently has 26.
6:10 Second Half- Yanick Moreira goes 1/2 from the line giving SMU a nine point advantage. SMU 50 UCONN 41
6:37 Second Half- UCONN only down by 8 points what a game! SMU 49 UCONN 41
7:27 Second Half- UCONN's Hamilton drives and hesitates, he pulls up scores and is fouled sending him to the line for the three point play where he sunk the shot. SMU 47 UCONN 39
7:46 Second Half- Timeout on the floor SMU is leading 47 to 36; the crowd is making a lot of noise and the Huskies are enjoying every minute of it. UCONN knows that this is a must win, win and you go to the big dance, lose and go home and prepare for the NIT.
8:23 Second Half- SMU is starting to create distance; currently up by 13 points. SMU 47 UCONN 34
9:18 Second Half- Ryan Boatright returns to the game, UCONN is playing outstanding defense right now. Do they have a comeback in them?
10:53 Second Half- Purvis draws the foul and is sent to the line for two shots and he makes both; Foul called on Nic Moore of SMU. Update on Boatright: Probable to return he has an apperent shoulder injury SMU 45 UCONN 34
11:19 Second Half- Rodney Purvis has 17 points for UCONN and Markus Kennedy has 14 points for SMU. SMU 45 UCONN 30
12:24 Second Half- UCONN's Ryan Boatright leaves the game and is examined, he is holding his right arm and appears to be in pain.
12:40 Second Half- UCONN's Ryan Boatright is just having a off day, currently Boatright is shooting 1-11 from the field and only has 5 points.
13:36 Second Half- Markus Kennedy picks up his third foul and sends Daniel Hamilton to the line for two free throws for UCONN he makes 1-2. SMU 43 UCONN 28
14:20 Second Half- SMU 43 UCONN 27; ball deflected off of a Mustang player and out of bounds; possesion switches over to UCONN.
15:48 Second Half- SMU 41 UCONN 27 and there is a time out on the floor. Once we come back Brimah will be at the line for UCONN after he was fouled by SMU's Markus Kennedy.
17:04 Second Half- Rodney Purvis strikes again from long range for UCONN! Purvis now has 15 points. SMU 39 UCONN 27. UCONN is starting to get it together both defensively and offensively.
18:09 Second Half- Cunningham goes 1/2 at the line for SMU; the Mustangs lead 37-24
18:38 Second Half- Boatright scores! and passes Kemba Walker on the all time scoring list in school history. Boatright sits at number 7 on that list now.
19:14 Second Half- Foul called on UCONN's Daniel Hamilton; Yanick Moreira goes to the line for SMU and makes the free throw SMU 36 UCONN 19
And the second half is underway!
Hey college hoops fans! Make sure you watch the ESPN Selection Show at 7 PM ET! The field of 68 will be announced! Make sure you have your pens, pencils a printer, etc! The madness is finally here America!
My thoughts on the first half- 19 points in the first half? Better off in the NIT. At least UCONN will have a chance to win it. One and done if they got to the NCAA tournament. Brimah a no show again against a good team. He's not half the player that Okafor and Thabeet were. Layup after layup. dunk after dunk.
Halftime- Top performers in the first half: SMU- Markus Kennedy 14 pts, 3 reb, 1 blk UCONN- Rodney Purvis 10 pts.
00:00 First Half- SMU 33 UCONN 19; UCONN only had 2 field goals over the final 10 minutes in the half.
34.9 First Half- SMU the number one seed in the American Athletic Tournament has a 31-19 lead over the 2014 NCAA Tournament Champion UCONN Huskies
1:30 First Half- Ben Moore fires and scores a easy 13 footer to give SMU the 29-19 lead over UCONN
2:15 First Half- Purvis has 10 points the rest of the UCONN team has 9 combined
2:15 First Half- Momentum is starting to shift, the home crowd is getting into this game as Purvis hits another three pointer UCONN 18 SMU 27
3:16 First Half- Rodney Purvis connects from beyond the arc for UCONN. SMU 27 UCONN 18
4:08 First Half- Hamilton at the line shooting for UCONN for the one and one he makes both shots. SMU 23 UCONN 12
5:30 First Half- Foul called on Rodney Purvis of UCONN; Kennedy goes to the line for SMU where he sinks both shots. SMU 22 UCONN 10
6:18 First Half- Markus Kennedy has 10 points for SMU, Ryan Boatright needs to turn into "Boat Show" if UCONN has a chance in this game.
7:30 First Half- SMU up 16-10; UCONN looking a bit ratteled in front of their home crowd.
7:43 First Half- UCONN hasn't scored a FG for over 5 minutes
8:45 First Half- Ben Moore gets called for the foul for SMU. Sending Samuel to the line for UCONN, Samuel makes both shots bringing the score to 15-10 in favor of SMU
10:39 First Half- SMU continues to impress as they now lead UCONN 15-8; UCONN struggling to find their stroke today
11:21 First Half- Ryan Boatright goes to the free throw line following a SMU foul; He sinks both UCONN trailing SMU by 3; 11-8 SMU
11:59 First Half- We are 9 minutes into the game and Ryan Boatright has only put up one shot
12:42 First Half- Markus Kennedy scores giving SMU a 11-6 lead over UCONN
13:37 First Half- Lubin uses his size and strength to gain inside position and score against SMU's bigs. SMU 7 UCONN 6
14:32 First Half- UCONN's Rakim Lubin gets called for the illegal screen
15:16 First Half- Purvis has all four points for the Huskies. He scored a career-high 28 pts. in his last game vs. the Mustangs.
15:16 First Half- SMU 7 UCONN 4 T.V. Timeout
16:16 First Half- Yannick Moreira scores a nice little FG SMU 4 UCONN 2
17:37 First Half- Moreira is at the line for SMU and he sinks both shots; UCONN 2 SMU 2
18:04 First Half- Purvis opens the scoring with a nice little jumper; UCONN 2 SMU 0
18:37 First Half- Stoppage of play as UCONN star Ryan Boatright is laying on the court, hoepfully he is ok
19:24 First Half- Nic Moore fires and misses ball bounces out of bounce possesion switches over to UCONN
20:00 First Half- And we are underway!
Players to watch in todays game: SMU's Markus Kennedy, Nic Moore and UCONN's Ryan Boatright, Rodney Purvis
The game is about to begin!
We are roughly 12 minutes away until the championship game is underway stay tuned!
SMU and Connecticut will meet for the sixth time today. UConn won the most recent meeting, 81-73, in Hartford in March 1. SMU won in Dallas, 73-55, on Feb. 14. The Mustangs swept the season series in 2013-14 (74-65 in Dallas, 64-55 in Storrs). The first game in the series was an 80-66 Mustang victory in Dallas on Dec. 30, 1965.
Regular-season AAC champion SMU has continued its league dominance in the conference tourney, topping East Carolina in the quarterfinals and Temple in the semis to reach today’s title game for the first time. The Mustangs have won three straight games and nine of their last 10, the only loss in that streak came to UConn, 81-73, at the XL Center on March 1.
The Mustangs had defeated UConn, 73-55, on Feb. 14 in their own Moody Coliseum. SMU owns a 4-1 record all-time against the Huskies. SMU is led by AAC Player of the Year Nic Moore (14.3 ppg, 5.3 apg), along with big men Markus Kennedy (11.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg) and Yanick Moreira (11.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg). The Mustangs are the most balanced team in the league, shooting 48.3 percent overall and holding opponents to 38.1 percent. SMU is outscoring opponents by +9.8 ppg and outrebounding them by +6.7 per game. SMU is 8-4 in road games this season, 2-0 in neutral site games.
As a freshman last season, Amidah Brimah became one of the leading shot blockers in the nation and he is on pace to have better stats in that category this year. With 54 blocks in his last 12 games, Brimah is currently averaging 3.39 blocks per game, which ranks 3rd in the country. In regular season conference games only, Brimah was even better, averaging 4.0 blocks per game, which led the league. Brimah has 72 blocks in UConn’s last 17 games (4.24. The 7-foot sophomore currently has 204 career blocks in 72 games (2.83) and stands fifth on the all-time UConn list.
Kevin Ollie is in his third season as the 18th head coach of the UConn men’s basketball program, with a career record of 72-31. He is the only head coach in UConn history to reach 70 victories in his first three years and he joins Jim Calhoun as the only UConn coaches to win the NCAA National Championship. UConn has a record of 167-108 (.607) on ESPN/ESPN2
The UConn men’s basketball team, seeded No. 6, will play for the American Athletic Conference Championship for the second straight year, challenging top-seeded and nationally-ranked SMU (#20/21) this afternoon, March 15. The game will begin at 3:15 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN. The Huskies (20-13), who have won three straight in the AAC Tournament, are coming off a 47-42 semifinal win over Tulsa on Saturday. UConn is led by senior Ryan Boatright, who tops the team in scoring (17.7), assists (3.9) and steals (1.4). Sophomore Rodney Purvis (10.8) and freshman Daniel Hamilton (10.8) are also double-figure scorers and Hamilton leads the team in rebounding (7.6).