MAUI – The No. 2-ranked UConn men’s basketball team dropped an overtime thriller, 99-97, to Memphis to open the Maui Invitational at the historic Lahaina Civic Center on Monday.
The Huskies trailed by 12 with three minutes left in regulation, but freshman Liam McNeeley led a comeback effort and Solo Ball nailed a 3-pointer with a fraction of a second left, sending the game to overtime. Coach Dan Hurley, angry with the referees from the very beginning of the game, was called for a costly technical foul with 40 seconds left as he argued an over-the-back foul against McNeeley, and the Tigers went up four.
Hassan Diarra scored eight points for the Huskies in overtime, but was forced to heave a shot at the buzzer that was off the mark.
UConn is now 4-1 on the season and 9-4 all-time in the Maui Invitational. After their first loss in their last 17 games dating back to last season, the Huskies will meet the loser of Game 2 between Colorado and Michigan State on Tuesday.
The tone was set early as Samson Johnson collected his first foul about 20 seconds in. It took only four minutes for the first technical to be called against UConn’s bench.
The foul trouble continued as Johnson, McNeeley and Ball picked up two a piece midway through the opening half. UConn finished the game with 29 total fouls, sending Memphis to the free throw line for 40 shots.
UConn struggled to operate through the physicality of Memphis’ defense, but Tarris Reed Jr. (22 points, 11 rebounds) held his own to keep UConn in the game as the Tigers started 3-for-5 from beyond the arc.
Sophomore Jaylin Stewart, only averaging 2.8 points in 12.8 minutes per game, took advantage of his opportunity as the Huskies’ deficit grew to six. He made a 3-pointer and scored seven consecutive points, dunking to tie the game before Reed slammed another to take the lead. The first half was Adama Sanogo-esque for Reed, who went into the break with 15 points and seven rebounds.
He and Stewart combined to score UConn’s final 22 points of the half, enough to keep up with Memphis’ 13-for-23 shooting from the field, 5-for-10 from beyond the arc, and knot the halftime score at 40.
But UConn’s offense couldn’t keep up in the second half.
Ball started UConn’s scoring with a 3-pointer, but it was more than four scoreless minutes before Karaban made his third triple of the game to quell a 5-0 Memphis run. Stewart reentered and almost immediately slammed a putback dunk off a McNeeley miss with 14 minutes to go, tying the game back up at 48.
Stewart didn’t score again, however, and finished the game with 16 points and five boards.
The Huskies started the second half just 3-for-10 from the field in the second half before Hunter and Mahaney traded triples and Karaban hit all three from the line after he was fouled on a 3-point attempt, tying the score for the 11th time. But the shots didn’t stop falling for Memphis.
Hunter, 7 for his first 10 3-pointers, hit one from the corner while drawing the fourth foul on Mahaney and converted the four-point play. He was good again from beyond the arc 30 seconds later, pushing Memphis’ lead to 10 points with 8:09 left in the game.
Memphis’ lead grew to 13 before Karaban’s fourth triple of the game with 3:37 left. Reed dunked twice to keep the game from getting out of hand, but fouled out with about three minutes left.
McNeeley, quiet with just two points through the game’s first 37 and a half minutes, nailed back-to-back 3-pointers and cut the Huskies’ deficit to four with 1:38 to go. The Huskies forced a turnover down three with 14 seconds left, and Ball sent the game to overtime with a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.
Johnson fouled out with a technical foul in the overtime period and finished with just two points, and Ball fouled out with 13 seconds left in overtime.
Originally Published:
