Associated Press

Jerome Dyson is UConn's 12th-leading scorer all time.

This is not how Jerome Dyson wanted his college career to wind up.

The senior guard hoped his final season at Connecticut would end in the NCAA tournament, not the NIT. But he is still determined to go out a winner.

"It's tough, because at times during the season we looked great and thought that there wouldn't be no doubt that we [were] ... getting to the NCAA tournament," Dyson said in a phone interview Sunday. "You really can't do anything about it now. We've just got to come out and win these games now."

Dyson averages a team-high 17.3 points for the fourth-seeded Huskies (18-15), who will visit top-seeded Virginia Tech (24-8) for a second-round game at 7 tonight.

The Huskies did not get a postseason bid when Dyson was a freshman, and lost in the first round of the NCAAs when he was a sophomore.

Dyson was a spectator during UConn's run to the Final Four last year. He missed the team's final 12 games with a torn meniscus in his right knee.

So missing out on the NCAAs this time is especially disappointing.

"It's definitely tough because I have only played in one NCAA tournament game," he said. "To sit there and watch it all happen last year and I wasn't able to play, I was definitely looking forward to getting a crack at it this year."

Dyson scored a game-high 18 points to lead UConn to a 59-57 win over Northeastern in the first round last Tuesday.

He was particularly motivated after being held to eight points combined in the previous two games, a 75-68 loss to South Florida in the regular-season finale and a 73-51 loss to St. John's in the first round of the Big East tournament.

"The way we came out and played in the Big East tournament, even me personally, I just couldn't let the season end like that," he said. "I played so bad in the St. John's game, I knew I had to come out and put together a good game."

Dyson has been named the comeback player of the year by The Sporting News. The Potomac, Md., native also made the All-Big East third team, along with UConn point guard Kemba Walker.

"He's fearless, and can score quickly because he can take it to the rim or he can shoot it, and then he gets fouled a lot," assistant coach George Blaney said. "And I've always called him the best full-court defender in the country."

Sometimes, Dyson moves over to point guard and Walker shifts to off-guard.

"Either one of us can bring the ball up, so it allows us to set our break that way, where either one of us can grab the ball and go," said Dyson, who averages 4.3 assists. "We both love to push the ball, so we keep the game up-tempo as much as we can."

The 6-foot-4, 190-pound Dyson is one of two Huskies who are likely to be chosen in the NBA Draft in June, along with forward Stanley Robinson.

"At the NBA level, he can be a full-time point guard," Blaney said. "He's strong enough, he's big enough, he's got the pro body."

This has been an uneven season for the Huskies, who have beaten Villanova and West Virginia but have also played poorly in losses to Cincinnati and St. John's.

"That's kind of the confusing thing about this team," Blaney said. "It's almost been that way in individual games. We can play exceptionally well and then maybe not so well ...

"We probably didn't have the scoring capability that we've had in the past, and that maybe hurt us more than we realized, but ... our defense is still good. We're still rebounding pretty well. We just need to score a little bit better."

Dyson is the 12th-leading scorer in UConn history (1,615 points), despite missing part of last season with the injury and also nine games his sophomore year because of a team suspension, reportedly for failing a drug test.

"I've learned from everything that's happened," he said. "It's been a blessing in disguise. I've had time to develop as a man and a basketball player, and even to get my education.

"I'm happy about how everything has turned out."