The Huskies have lost two in a row after a second-half collapse Tuesday night.
For the first time in nearly seven years, the UConn men’s basketball team has lost consecutive non-conference games, dropping Tuesday afternoon’s Maui Invitational matchup against the Colorado Buffaloes, 73-72 and now sit at 4-2 on the season.
Dan Hurley’s squad looked rejuvenated early, propelling themselves to an early lead that they would hold onto for the majority of the half. The Huskies took an eight point-lead into the break but it all came crashing down in the second half and then they finished with poor execution late to fall to 4-2 on the season.
UConn scored 40 points in the first half while shooting 56 percent from the field and 50 percent from three. Liam McNeeley led the way for the Huskies, as the freshman carried some momentum into the game following a strong finish on Monday. McNeeley scored 16 points in the first half on 4-5 shooting from outside the arc. The second-highest scorer behind him was Solo Ball, who had just six in the half.
The Huskies’ foul troubles continued to pester the team, as UConn committed eight fouls in the game’s first 10 minutes. By the half’s end, Hurley sidelined five of his rotation players with at least two fouls. The team’s poor habits forced some players who haven’t played much so far this year to see some early action — freshman guard Ahmad Nowell played 10 minutes while sophomore center Youssouf Singare played three.
For Colorado, it was junior guard Julian Hammon III who led the way with eight points in the opening frame, although each of the team’s five starters finished the half with a negative plus-minus rating. As the half wound down, the Buffalo offense went cold, unable to convert on a single field goal in the final seven minutes. When the halftime buzzer sounded, UConn boasted an eight point, 40-32 lead.
Colorado would not go quietly, however, coming out of the locker room scorching to begin the second half. They shot 9-11 to open the final 20 minutes of play en route to an 11-0 run, taking their first lead since the opening minutes of the game. The Huskies offense sputtered, thanks in part to an apparent left hip injury to McNeeley. Athletic trainers escorted him off the court and into the locker room, but the freshman would eventually return.
Hassan Diarra and Samson Johnson teamed up multiple times down low to find easy baskets around the rim. From beyond the arc, Ball continued to hit threes at an efficient clip. Behind McNeeley, he led the team in scoring on 4-6 shooting from three in 32 minutes.
With five minutes to play, Johnson fouled out. With two minutes to play, Tarris Reed Jr. — who erupted for 22 points and 11 boards Monday — fouled out as well. Hurley’s lineup downsized significantly without the presence of a bonafide big man, and Colorado capitalized. The Buffaloes continued to feed their big men down low, most notably center Elijah Moore, who finished the game with a team-high 16 points.
UConn’s attempts to pull away never materialized, and with 20 seconds left, Colorado pulled ahead. Defended tightly by McNeeley, Colorado forward Andrej Jakimovski drove to his right, and almost without looking, underhanded a layup up and in to give the Buffaloes a one-point lead.
UConn held the lead for 35 minutes and 51 seconds of the second half, while the Buffaloes only led for 57 seconds total. Unfortunately for the Huskies, they were the only 57 seconds that mattered.
The Huskies did have a chance to steal back the win. With 5.9 seconds on the clock, the offense failed to find a good look at the final buzzer. What was seemingly a broken play resulted in Diarra putting up a deep, contested three. The shot ultimately clanked off the glass and out of bounds as the final horn rang out.
For the Buffs, Hammond III and Moore tallied 16 points each, trailed closely by Jakimovski with 12. For UConn, only three players reached double digits, down from five yesterday: McNeeley had 20, Ball 16 and Diarra 11. It was an especially difficult shooting performance for Alex Karaban, who posted six points on 12.5 percent from the field. As a team, UConn shot just 11-27 from the floor (4-15 from three) in the second half, inefficient compared to their first-half efforts.
The back-to-back national champions have now lost back-to-back games, doing so for the first time since January 2023. The Huskies’ next game will determine if they finish seventh or eighth of the tournament’s eight total teams, which will be Thursday morning at midnight (12:00 a.m.) ET on ESPN2, with the opponent being the loser of Dayton and Iowa State.