RALEIGH, N.C. — The bid for a three-peat is alive and intact.
For the moment.
UConn, the two-time reigning NCAA champions who’ve endured a season of angst, survived Oklahoma, 67-59, in a tense first-round game Friday night at the Lenovo Center.
The victory was UConn’s 13th consecutive win in the NCAA Tournament spanning the past three seasons.
“The championship pedigree, it’s still there for us,’’ coach Danny Hurley said. “There’s belief in the UConn jersey at this time of year with the history of success. Somebody’s going to have to put us down in this tournament for us to go away.
“I think we’re a dangerous team because most people picked us, I think, to lose the first game. And I don’t think many people will give us a shot in the second one.’’
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Indeed, the degree of difficulty now ratchets up for UConn, with No. 1 seed Florida standing in the way of history.
The Huskies (24-10) and Gators (31-4) play each other at 12:10 p.m. Sunday at the Lenovo center for a spot in the Sweet 16.
“The only three teams that have been able to (win back-to-back titles) since the tournament expanded are us, Duke, and Florida,’’ Hurley said. “There’s a lot of honor in us being able to face the last team that went back-to-back (Florida in 2006-07).’’
Florida absolutely annihilated Norfolk State, 95-69, in Friday’s first evening game at Lenovo.
The Gators, led by Walter Clayton Jr., a future NBA star who led all scorers with 23 points, is a beast, an offensive powerhouse.
Even though UConn held the lead for 38 minutes in the game compared to just 17 seconds for Oklahoma, the stress level on Friday was very much on-brand with the angst the Huskies have lived with all season.
Oklahoma took only one lead in the game, 47-46, on a basket by Bronx native Mohamed Wague with 9:03 remaining.
The Sooners had the game tied only once as well, 54-54, with 5:57 remaining.
It took some late heroics by Alex Karaban, the only returning starter from last year’s Huskies team.
He hit a huge 3-pointer to give UConn a 60-56 lead with 3:35 remaining, and then he made a runner for a 64-58 lead with 2:15 remaining.
“I just saw I was wide open,’’ Karaban said. “I’d passed [a shot] up in the corner a little earlier that I should have shot and I wasn’t going to make that mistake again. I saw it and just had to let it fly.’’
Hurley, after Karaban passed up that shot he referenced, had a word with him.
What did he say?
“Shoot the f’ing ball,’’ Hurley said.
Hurley called the stress of this game “a microcosm of the season.’’
“But the thing about this team is we’re really battle-tested, and we’ve had to fight so hard all year,’’ he said. “We showed a lot of toughness down the stretch to execute some things and make some critical shots and make some critical stops.
“But yeah,’’ Hurley went on, “there was a lot of suffering going on.’’
If UConn is going to survive and advance to the Sweet 16, is going to need to be much more fluid offensively than it was Friday night.
Huskies forward Liam McNeeley, one of their top offensive threats who averages 14.5 points per game, struggled, scoring eight points on 2-of-13 shooting. Hassan Diarra was 1-of-6 from the field and finished with four points.
UConn got a big game off the bench from Tarris Reed Jr., who scored 12 points on 6-of-8 from the field in his first NCAA Tournament game.
UConn outscored Oklahoma 20-7 in bench points.
UConn, which has struggled defensively this season, held Oklahoma to 32.1 percent from the field, including just 17.6-percent from 3-point range.
Oklahoma’s leading scorer was Jeremiah Fears, a future NBA star, but Fears was 5-of-14 from the field.
“As much as our defense has [struggled] a lot throughout the year,’’ Hurley said, “It advanced us today.’’
So, for at least another day, UConn powers on with its pursuit of history.
