The UConn men’s basketball team is in beautiful Mail, Hawaii, for the Maui Invitational. This three-day tournament serves as a solid test for teams early on against solid out-of-conference competition. While many chalked Monday as the team’s first big win of the year, the Huskies fell short to the Memphis Tigers, losing 99-97 in overtime.
Connecticut took a while to get out of the gate in Monday’s contest. Not only did Samson Johnson, Liam McNeeley and Solo Ball each miss time with a pair of early fouls, but Memphis was pushing the pace early. While the Huskies never turned a rock over off the inbound, Memphis set the tone early with a full-court press and relentless defensive pressure, which shut down many scoring lanes for UConn. Despite this, the Connecticut bench did a good job keeping the program afloat, and this success can be attributed to two players in particular.
All year long, a significant question of whether Johnson could stay disciplined on the ball and limit his fouls or not has existed, and early he was unable to. Picking up a pair of fouls gave Dan Hurley and the Connecticut coaching staff no other option but to relegate Johnson to the bench. While losing Johnson was an early setback, Tarris Reed Jr. answered the call for the program in a big way.
The Michigan transfer was a man among boys in the first 20 minutes. He was doing it all, whether it was bullying his way to the rack, dominating the boards or holding down the paint defensively. Reed Jr.’s success shined brightly in the paint. The big man accumulated 15 points on 7-10 shooting, including seven boards and a pair of rejections in 17 minutes of work. Reed Jr. created offense by getting in a good position for second chance points on the boards and asserting himself when the Huskies couldn’t buy a bucket.
Jaylin Stewart is a player in this year’s squad battling for minutes, and he showed up in a bag way when the Huskies needed him most. He was the second biggest reason why the first half finished knotted up at 40 points apiece. It only took the 19-year-old 12 minutes of game time to set a career-high in points. Stewart racked up 14 points on a more than efficient 6-7 shooting from the field, including a pair of triples. However, outside of this, points were scarce for the program. All other UConn scorers combined for 11 points on 4-19 shooting. Conversely, the Tigers had many different scoring options.
PJ Haggerty led the way for Memphis, scoring 10 first-half points. While he did this on less than efficient 2-6 shooting, he proved to be a throne in UConn’s side, finding ways to get to the charity stripe and going 6-8 from the line. Tyrese Hunter scored nine points thanks to a trio of threes. While the deep ball didn’t hurt Connecticut too much early on, the Tigers’ high ability to shoot the three proved fatal down the stretch. UConn’s inability to defend down low in the first half hurt the Huskies, leading to numerous free throws.
The second half was more or less the same story as the first 20 minutes, though the Huskies hit some road bumps early on. While Karaban stepped up his performance, accumulating 11 points on 3-6 shooting, the program did not have a reliable shot maker for much time.
While Reed Jr. continued his excellent first half, he fouled out after racking up four second-half fouls. However, it wasn’t just Reed Jr. who got the whistle. Not only did it only take Memphis a little over 10 minutes to get into the bonus, but the program was whistled 15 times in the second half, meaning the Huskies surrendered many more free throws than they would have liked; this allowed Memphis to pull away, thanks to the play of Haggerty and Hunter.
Not only did the duo combine for nearly 30 points in the second half, but they were making the right plays to bury Connecticut. With 3:18 left in the contest, Haggerty made a pair of free throws, giving Memphis a 79-67 advantage. This should have been the nail in the coffin. This was seemingly an insurmountable deficit, a comeback that not even the Huskies could mount. It makes sense, as Hunter torched the program from downtown up to that point, going 7-10. However, a flip seemed to switch for the Huskies.
The program finally got the stops they needed; Hassan Diarra did an excellent job handling the ball, drawing a foul and cashing in on crucial free throws down the stretch. Not only this, but McNeeley shook off his shooting slump, scoring his first points of the half thanks to a massive three with two and a half minutes left to bring it to a seven-point game. The freshman followed this up with the biggest shot of his career up to this point, nailing a three from the Maui logo near half-court. Suddenly, the Huskies only trailed by four points. A Karaban layup and pair of free throws from Diarra later, and the Huskies only needed three points. However, time was of the essence. The Huskies needed a triple, and with 14 seconds left, UConn needed its biggest make yet.
After inbounding the ball, the Huskies did a good job moving around, doing anything they could do to get into space and get a clean look. However, Memphis locked the Huskies up, not allowing them any breathing room. After the ball changed hands a few times with no open looks, Ball gained possession of the rock and put up a heavily contested three with almost no time left. The sophomore sunk the miracle three, and with a little over a tick left, there was nothing that the Tigers could do. The Huskies had the momentum, and this game was headed for overtime.
All night, this game was played like a fight out of a Rocky movie, and the third period was no different. Both sides traded blows, and both programs were looking to make plays to knock their opponents onto the canvas (or hardwood, in this case.) However, both sides took this idiom a little too literally. After a pull-up jumper from Memphis’ Colby Rodgers, Johnson and Tigers forward Dain Dainja got into a scuffle that saw Johnson shove Dainja to the ground. However, after review, both athletes were deemed at fault, and the officials gave both big men technical fouls, meaning no free throws were assessed. However, this was Johnson’s fifth foul of the contest, meaning his night was done. This was a crucial turning point, considering that Reed Jr. had already fouled out, meaning Karaban was tasked with holding down the fort down low.
Both programs continued to trade blows, and each responded perfectly to the other. However, it was those in stripes delivering the knockout blow to Connecticut. With less than a minute to go in a tied game, Karaban let it fly from downtown. His shot barely rimmed out, and McNeeley did an excellent job high-pointing the rebound and throwing up a putback attempt. However, the officials deemed this a loose ball foul, giving the Tigers a pair of free throws. Hurley exploded at this call, and a technical foul was quickly assessed, a call that could have been made at numerous other points of the night. This was a massive four-point swing that put the Huskies out for good. UConn could not come back, falling short 99-97.
While this loss was a setback for UConn, who came into this year looking to sweep this tournament, the weekend is not all lost. The program can still leave Maui on a positive note, as they have two more games to play. Not to mention, the season is far from over, as some massive out-of-conference competition remains a perfect opportunity for the Huskies to play their most complete basketball. While bad calls aside, this was far from the program’s best performance, this loss will sting for the Huskies. Knowing the UConn mentality, the program will learn and adjust from this loss, as losing is something that Hurley does not accept, and the only place for this team is up.