Hartford — Unfortunately, there will be more brutal basketball games like Wednesday's for UConn.

The injury-plagued Huskies are just fighting for survival right now.

Forget about style points.

They need to win any way they can playing with just eight scholarship players, so they'll gladly take the ugly 51-49 victory over Boston University at the XL Center.

After all, beauty is in the eye of the victory holder.

"We can't use us being shorthanded as an excuse," senior Amida Brimah said. "We've got to get better each and every game. All we needed was a win at home for the fans that always come out to support us. ... It was an unpleasant game, but as long as we got the win you're going to get better in all the areas."

It was UConn's first home win after two losses at Gampel Pavilion and first game since learning that injured freshmen Alterique Gilbert and Mamadou Diarra joined Terry Larrier on the sidelines for the rest of the season. The Huskies improved to 3-4.

"We just have to grind it out," senior Kentan Facey said. "It's tough. We have a bunch of guys hurt. We have guys that have to step up into bigger roles in order for us to win. We need to just stay together and grind everything out."

It took a vital contribution from a freshman and a stingy defense to help the Huskies overcome a woeful season-low 32.1 percent shooting from the field and 52.2 percent (12-for-23) from the foul line. They scored their lowest point total in a victory since beating Tulsa, 47-42, in an American Athletic Conference tournament game in Hartford in March 2015.

Christian Vital, a former St. Thomas More standout making his first start, scored 10 of his career and team-best 13 points in the second half. He also had a career-high five rebounds.

"I just want to be solid," Vital said. "I don't want that freshman tag around my name. ... I want to be able to make plays at the end of the game that's going to help us win."

The Huskies also received a contribution from their frontcourt, as Brimah had nine points and four rebounds and Facey added eight points and seven rebounds. They needed every point because the starting backcourt duo of Jalen Adams and Rodney Purvis combined to convert 5-for-25 from the field and score only 13 points. They lacked the firepower that they displayed during the Maui Invitational during which the team averaged 84 points in three games.

UConn held BU (4-3) to an icy 31 percent from the field and forced 16 turnovers. But the Huskies had only two fast break points.

"Our defense really improved from a couple of games in Maui," said coach Kevin Ollie, who earned his 100th career coaching victory. "I was real pleased with that. Of course, we've got to make some more shots. I thought we got some good shots. ... We still played defense and stayed in the game.

"We're just going to try to get better. We've got eight guys and we're going to keep playing with those guys. We're not making any excuses. I was very happy with the win. We're finding ways to win."

The game had all the excitement of a tractor pull. Neither team led by more than eight points.

Both teams struggled to score on consecutive possessions. UConn clung to a 21-17 halftime lead despite being outrebounded by 10 and making just 7 of 26 field goals.

The Huskies turned the momentum by controlling the boards, 26-18, in the second half and receiving an important injection of offense from Vital.

Clinging to a 32-31 lead, Vital buried his second straight 3-pointer. His free throw, which came after chasing down a loose rebound, capped a 9-3 run and handed the Huskies their largest lead to that point, 44-36, at the 2:51 mark.

It still wound up being a nail-biting finish.

Up by three, Vital turned the ball over with 27 seconds left and BU's Tyler Scanlon lined up a game-tying 3-pointer but misfired. Vital grabbed the rebound and got fouled but made just one free throw.

After BU's Cheddi Mosely's three cut the gap to 50-48 with 4.3 seconds left, the Terriers fouled Adams who canned just one free throw.

But the Huskies weren't about to let the win slip away. Vance Jackson smartly fouled Kyle Foreman with 1.8 seconds remaining, preventing any chance at a game-tying attempt. Foreman made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second. Facey secured the rebound as the buzzer sounded.

It was an important confidence-building win for the Huskies, who face Syracuse at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

"As a young team, we just needed just one stepping stone," Brimah said. "Us getting this win will hopefully lead us on to greater things. It was a bad offensive game, but we did a lot of positive stuff like defensively. We're going to take the positives and work on some of the stuff that we've got to get better at."

g.keefe@theday.com