(PHOTO COURTESY OF USA TODAY SPORTS – KATIE STRATMAN)
UConn dropped Friday night’s game at Xavier 74-68, making it 3 out of 4 losses for the Huskies.
UConn got off to another slow start on the offensive end, scoring only 10 points in the first 10 minutes, but their defense stood tall again, holding Xavier to 10 as well. The offense was cranked up through the rest of the first half, but there seemed to be something missing for UConn. Their shots were challenging, and it seemed to be the Tyrese Martin isolation show with a sprinkle of Jalen Gaffney. This was because, once again, essential pieces of UConn’s starting lineup were in early foul trouble. Adama Sanogo found himself with two fouls early once again, and soon after, RJ Cole found his spot on the bench next to him with two fouls of his own.
The team was struggling to establish any paint presence with Sanogo out of the lineup, and instead of having a facilitator like RJ Cole out there playing aggressive, the brunt of the offense fell onto Tyrese Martin’s shoulders, who stepped up in his absence, getting to the bucket and drawing fouls constantly.
Tyrese looked like he would have to do it alone, but a bright spot came off the UConn bench in the name of Jalen Gaffney. Gaffney provided a spark that UConn desperately needed from the point, slashing his way to a couple of easy finishes at the rim. Gaffney has had a down year in which he was expected to make huge forward leaps and play an important role off the bench. Instead of being the slashing point guard with explosive bounce we have all seen flashes of, he has had turnover problems and a timid approach to the game. He put those stereotypes away for this game and kept UConn in the game while Cole sat on the bench with foul trouble.
UConn survived the early trouble and had the game tied with seconds left in the first half but gave up a contested three to Nate Johnson as time expired that had Xavier leading by three at the half.
The game stayed pretty close in the second half, but Xavier pushed the lead early to eight, but UConn continued to play hard, working the lead back down to four on several occasions. Both teams refused to keep the game outside of these point totals, with the second half living as a four to eight-point Xavier lead. The game stayed fairly stagnant, with UConn threatening but Xavier continuing to stem the tide.
Things once again felt as if they were turning in favor of the Huskies with Tyrese Martin burying a layup to cut the lead to five and picking up Nate Johnson full court in man-to-man pressure, a staple of UConn basketball as of late. Right as Johnson passed over the half-court line, Martin poked the ball away but drew a questionable at best reach in foul that Dan Hurley was not pleased with. The referees were already getting under everyone’s skin, calling questionable fouls against UConn all game. This seemed to be the last straw for Hurley as he got visibly upset, and officials deemed it to be enough of a scene to draw a technical foul.
This foul killed any momentum UConn had as Xavier now had technical free throws as well as the 1 and 1 from the foul. UConn escaped too much damage with only two free throws out of a possible four being made, a huge relief for the Huskies who still had life after the under four time out.
Once again, UConn cut the lead, this time to three points with 1:20 left and the ball. Tyrese Martin took the ball erratically into the lane and was stuffed, but Andre Jackson was right there for the offensive rebound but lost the ball out of bounds, and after realizing the ball was now in the possession of Xavier, threw the ball on the ground, not ridiculously hard, but once again, enough to draw a technical foul and putting Xavier at the line for two free throws.
This proved to be the nail in the coffin for UConn, who couldn’t overcome this deficit and found themselves down six after the final buzzer sounded.
UConn will need to put this game behind them as they move quickly to Madison Square Garden to face off against St. John’s on Sunday, February 13th at noon.
These two teams faced off earlier in the season at Gampel Pavillion and had a game for the ages, ending in a UConn overtime win. The Huskies will look to avoid their fourth loss in five games and take care of business before a home matchup against Seton Hall. The game will air on FOX.
The Huskies drop to 16-7 and are fourth in the Big East Conference.
Go Huskies!
