By PAUL GOTHAM
BUFFALO, N.Y. — It wasn’t until the closing seconds that Chris Jans allowed himself to believe.
The KeyBank Center clock read 6.4 seconds remaining, and Teddy Allen had sunk a pair of free throws. The fourth-year coach realized then what his No. 12 seed New Mexico State Aggies had accomplished.
“At that point, I kind of turned to the bench. I’m, like, you know, we did it. It was just an unbelievable feeling. It’s hard to describe.”
Teddy “Buckets” Allen left no doubters as the Aggies upset No. 5 UConn, 70-63 in West Region action, Thursday night.
The 6-foot-6 guard set an arena record for NCAA Tournament performances scoring 37 points on 10-of-24 shooting.
“I was just ready to play,” he said. “I’m a hooper, and right now at the level I’m at, this is the biggest stage, and this will be the worst time to fold. So I just know, and I also know if we’re going to advance in this thing, I got to be playing good, so I just came ready and you have to block all the other stuff out.”
“Buckets” scored 18 of New Mexico State’s last 21 points to clinch the program’s first NCAA Tournament win since 1993.
“We are going to know if we’re soft,” Allen said paraphrasing the message Jans delivered to his team prior to the game. “That’s what he said. We’re going to know if we’re soft today, and I just wanted to come out and prove we ain’t soft.”
Allen’s 3-pointer over the outstretched arms Tyler Polley gave the Aggies a 52-48 lead and he snapped a 58-all tie with another triple over Isaiah Whaley with 1:43 left in the game. After an RJ Cole layup, “Buckets” scored five straight including a length of the floor drive for an and-one and a 66-60 lead with 27.5 on the clock.
“It was one of those classic cases of ‘What are you doing? Heck of a play, Teddy,’ ” Jans said. “I wanted him to kind of burn some clock and get fouled and go to the line. He had other plans. Players make plays. Players make plays, and that’s why he has earned the honors and awards and reputation that he has earned because of his ability to make plays.
“Our kids have done an excellent job of understanding that and trying to get him the ball in the right spots and kind of let him do his thing at times, but that play right there, that obviously felt like that was a big game changer, and it was a heck of a play.”
Allen’s performance came against a UConn team ranked 31st in the nation holding opponents to 40 percent from the floor. After missing his first four shots of the game, “Buckets” connected on 50 percent of his remaining 20 attempts.
“The types of shots that he hit, you know, some of them were unguardable, which we still could have survived some of those unguardable rainbow, long two fade-aways,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley said. “You just don’t see a guy — I don’t think we’ve seen a guy take the type of shots he took during the course of the season or seasons. Our mistake here and the one thing we talked about for days was to not take the gyrations and the fakes and to not foul. He has a knack for getting fouled shooting jumpers.”
Allen’s 37 points broke the record previously held by Jameer Nelson who scored 33 points in a Saint Joseph’s win over Liberty University in the 2003 NCAA Tournament. Allen matched Niagara University’s Juan Mendez for the overall record.
“He is a unique player,” Jans said of his star. “He is a bad shot taker, and he is a bad shot maker, and when he makes one of those, he can go on a run, and people that watch us know what that does for the team. All of a sudden he is on an 8-0 run and the game changes.”
Allen had 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting at half before exploding over the final 20 minutes. He finished 13-of-13 from the free throw line.
“It just felt like he was getting some edges early,” Jans explained. “You know, he was getting by his guy, getting his shoulder by his guy, and, unfortunately, he missed some shots early that he normally makes.
“We felt like we had to get some space and get him downhill and creating space for others.”
Clayton Henry connected on both of his 3-points attempts in the win. Johnny McCants and Mike Peake hit one apiece on as many tries while Jabari Rice was 3-for-6 from long range.
“We did a great job of setting the tone in the first half,” Rice said. “Going into the locker room, everybody knew that we can’t come out flat, and they’re going to come out hard. We just matched that intensity.”
Cole led UConn with 20 points. Adama Sanogo had 10 points.
New Mexico State will play the Vermont vs. Arkansas winner on Saturday.
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