With or without a shoe, Tarris Reed Jr. put on a show for the ages for UConn men

PHILADELPHIA — Nothing could’ve been more emblematic of Tarris Reed Jr.‘s once-in-a-lifetime night, a night he could not be stopped, than the moment he lost his shoe. And still grabbed his 15th rebound.

“I was hedging a ball screen, and I think (Alex) Wilkins somehow kicked my shoe off,” Reed said. “I was panicking a little bit, I thought someone was going to try to isolate me and score on me, but I ended up getting the rebound. Just wanted to win, it’s literally my last year, each game is numbered.”

Only for a moment could the 6-foot-11, 265-pound Reed be called “Shoeless from St. Louis.”

Said Solo Ball, “Yeah, and he just picked up his shoe and put it back on. Maniac. … Wilt Chamberlain. … Yo, Wilt!”

Reed had never had a night like this before anywhere, and even if he were to play 20 years of pro basketball anywhere in the world, he may never have another — all things considered. The UConn men were playing without point guard Silas Demary Jr., a player as indispensable to their championship aspirations as Reed.

When UConn-St. Joe’s Played In 1965, Toby Kimball Stood Tall

They were having another miserable night shooting from the perimeter and they were facing a relentless No. 15 seed, Furman, playing with nothing to lose, playing, in fact, with the sophistication of a UConn team. They even had a play called “Conn”  on the placards coaches were holding up. “Sometimes it felt like we were guarding ourselves in practice,” Reed said.

But as if someone had told Reed, “Just get 30-plus points and 25-plus rebounds, and UConn will be all right,” he just shrugged in his good-natured way and said, “No problem.” He delivered 31 and 27, the best NCAA Tournament performance from a big man since 1968 and the Huskies’ prevailed, 82-71. Reed, finally helped with some second-half shot-making from Alex Karaban, who scored 22, carried the Huskies to the Round of 32.

They’ll need more, much more, from more people to get by No. 7 seed UCLA on Sunday night, but there’s ample time to think and talk about that. History was made, as lot of little things came together for a tournament performance rivaling Jerry Lucas’ monster games for Ohio State in 1960 and ’61; Elvin Hayes’ three 30-plus, 25-plus games for Houston between 1966 and ’68, and Toby Kimball’s 21-point, 29-rebound game for UConn against St. Joe’s in Philly in 1965.

Reed watched the games on TV all day Friday and picked up on the officiating, more fouls called than he was used to seeing in the almost-anything-goes Big East, and decided he needed to be a little more careful. When he got to Xfinity Mobile Arena, he felt a sudden surge of March Madness energy and felt like it was going to be his night. At the first timeout, he already had eight points and nine rebounds, and he asked someone on the bench if those numbers were accurate.

Silas Demary Jr., Jaylin Stewart to miss UConn’s first round game vs. Furman Friday

“That’s something you can’t even, like … that’s something you just THINK that you can do,” Ball said, “but you don’t know if you can really do it. That’s just, he’s just extremely mentally tough. A great teammate. Man, he’s just an incredible player. Performances like that come once in a lifetime.

UConn, 1 for 14 on threes, led just 40-36 at halftime as Reed, with a double-double in the first 11 minutes, already had 19 points and 17 rebounds at the break. The assistant coaches reminded him that he’d had some dominant first halves during the season, then faded in the second half, and he was quiet for a few minutes before resuming his onslaught down the stretch.

With the Huskies still clinging to a single-digit lead, Reed made three rebounds on one possession to keep the ball in the Huskies’ end, as if they were on the power play, or something. Karaban finally made a three to give UConn an 11-point lead with 2:02 left.

“It felt like he was everywhere,” Ball said. “It felt like he was just around the ball. Wherever the ball went, he was there. He was getting offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds. … That’s just a tough matchup for anyone to deal with for 40 minutes, a guy who’s 40 pounds heavier, that strong, creates that much space, so much double-team.”

Late in the game, when Malachi Smith missed a free throw, the ball bounced right to Reed as all around him were frozen in place. But make no mistake, this was not as easy as it looked. Furman had size and skill up front. Reed was called for only one foul, late in the game, in nearly 35 minutes. His backup, 7-footer Eric Reibe, had four fouls, no points or rebounds, so there was no margin for error, UConn would be headed home without everything they got from Reed.

“It’s up there with one of the greatest performances I’ve ever been around as a teammate,”  said Karaban, who finally broke the perimeter ice and made four 3-pointers, including the aforementioned dagger. “What he did out there, 31 and 27, that’s like video game numbers. Everyone in this program believes in what type of player Tarris can be.”

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Demary wanted to play, but his ankle was just limiting his movement too much in practices. Maybe the time off the court will allow him to be closer to 100 percent Sunday night. Maybe Jaylin Stewart, who has been sorely missed, will recover sufficiently from his knee issues to give the Huskies a few minutes off the bench against UCLA, the No. 7 seed. Based on the victory over Furman, the Huskies (30-5), in their present state, will have a tough time advancing from here to Washington for the Sweet 16.

But for one night, Tarris Reed Jr. took the whole thing, the whole UConn, March Madness, championship-or-bust thing on his broad shoulders and, with his tree-trunk legs, carried his team out of very present danger. No one should forget that.

“Dominant,” was the one word Reed used to describe his performance, and we’ve all heard enough humility from him in in two years at UConn to grasp the kind of performance it would take to move him to say that.

“I’ll go with dominant. It was a dominant game,” he said. “I played with joy, played with passion, having fun out there. (Alex Millender) is over there saying ‘glorious,’ … Dominant, glorious, I’ll let you all decide.”