April 2, 2011 - Houston.....The NCAA Tournament is simply known as survive and advance. And for the second straight game in the 2011 Tournament, that's exactly what UConn did....Holding off a Kentucky Team they defeated in Hawaii back in November at the Maui Invitational.
The matchup was the UConn Guards against the Wildcats frontcourt of Terrance Jones and Josh Harrellson. The Huskies shot 52% in the first half, and with scoring from seven different Huskies, led 31-21 at the half. Walker 9 points and 6 assists in the first half. The defense clamped down as the Wildcats shot just 9/32 for 28%
Kentucky came out smoking in the second 20 with a 14-2 run to take a 35-33 lead on a Doron Lamb three pointer. When Walker answered, the "rock fight" was on !! 9 ties and 6 lead changes later tied at 48 as points were hard to come by...But a 6-0 UConn spurt, keyed by Walker and Shabazz Napier's only field goal put the Huskies up 6 late. The game came down to a big stop. At 54-52 in the final seconds, Kentucky's Brandon Knight, who had hit two big shots in the Tournament already, was blanketed by Walker. He deferred to DeAndre Liggins who was 1/6 for the game. His three over the outstretched arm of Jeremy Lamb was short, Napier the rebound with two seconds remaining and was fouled. He made both free throws before Knight it a meaningless three in the 56-55 win.
Walker led the Huskies with 18p-7a, Lamb 12p-9r and Alex Oriachi was huge on the glass with 10 boards and 8 points. UConn lost nine games in the 2010-11 season...None came out of conference. But there was one obstacle left in Houston still to come. A cinderella team for the second straight year from Butler....I think you know how that ended....
To watch this game, UConnHuskyGames.com