One week ago, the No. 19 UConn Huskies men’s basketball team was like Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic after knocking off the No. 1 Texas Longhorns. They were on top of the world. Now after two straight losses, they find themselves wondering if they can salvage the rest of the season.
Jimmy Butler hit a shot with 2.4 seconds left in the game to give the Marquette Golden Eagles a 70-68 Big East win over the Huskies in front of 14,338 at the XL Center in Hartford, CT on Saturday afternoon.
Jerome Dyson had put the Huskies up front by three points with a three-pointer with 54.8 seconds to go in the game. A Dyson foul after a timeout on the ensuing Marquette possession gave Darius Johnson-Odom three foul shots, which he preceded to hit.
Kemba Walker had a chance to give the Huskies but his jumper fell short with 25 seconds left and Marquette gathered the rebounds and called a timeout to set up Butler’s game-winner. Gavin Edwards saw his inbounds pass stolen and that was all she wrote for the Huskies.
UConn falls to 13-8 (3-5 in the Big East) while the Golden Eagles improve to 13-8 (4-5).
Dyson led the way for the Huskies with 18 points to go along with four rebounds and three assists. Walker had 15 points and six assists while Stanley Robinson had 13 points and eight rebounds. Edwards chipped in with nine points and had a game-high and career-high 14 rebounds.
Ater Majok led the Huskies with four blocked shots to go with his seven points and seven rebounds.
Butler led the Golden Eagles with 21 points and seven rebounds. Lazar Haywood added 20 points while Johnson-Odom had 15 points.
The Huskies started out the gates quickly as Dyson scored the first four points of the game. The Golden Eagles responded with consecutive three-pointers. Alex Oriakhi gave the Huskies their last lead of the first half at 8-7 with 17:08 to go.
As the first half would go on, the Golden Eagles would increase their lead to 13 points with 3:05 remaining but the Huskies would close out the half on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 34-29.
Over the first two minutes of the second half, the Golden Eagles would increase their lead to 10 points. The Huskies responded with an 13-4 run to get the lead down to one point at 47-46 with 12:31 to go in the game.
Walker finally tied the game at 54 for the Huskies with a jumper with 8:08 to go to force Marquette into a timeout. Oriakhi gave the Huskies their first lead of the second at 56-54 and the two teams stayed close the rest of the way battling back and forth with the lead.
Sure this team misses Jim Calhoun. He’s the undisputed leader on the floor for the Huskies. If he had been there on Saturday, would they have won this one. That’s a tough one to answer.
UConn has been having problems taking care of the ball and once again it showed. They dominated the glass but Marquette offset that by turning 16 UConn turnovers into 19 points.
The Huskies are now halfway through the Big East season now and can’t even worry about the NCAA Tournament. They need to find their identity real quick and take it one game at a time now. They need to put these losses behind them quickly and focus on the final eight Big East games. They will undoubtedly fall out of the top 25 and probably won’t even garner any votes in my opinion.
UConn will have a quick turnaround as they head to Louisville on Monday night to take on the Cardinals at Freedom Hall. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be nationally-televised on ESPN as part of Big Monday.
Notes and musings:
Marquette Golden Eagles @ UConn Huskies 1.30.10 box score
The starters were Kemba Walker, Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson, Ater Majok and Alex Oriakhi.
The coaches were wearing suits and sneakers as part of “Suits and Sneakers Awareness Weekend” to raise cancer awareness. It’s a three day event that started on Saturday and will end on February 1st.
The Huskies shot 49% (24-of-49) from the floor while the Golden Eagles shot 38.1% (24-of-63).
UConn had just 10 assists on their 24 made baskets.
The Golden Eagles came into the game leading the country in three-point shooting and made 9-of-24 (37.5%). The Huskies made just three of them in the game.
The Huskies shot 70.8% (17-of-24) from the free throw line.
UConn dominated the boards outrebounding Marquette 44-25.
The Huskies had 16 turnovers which Marquette turned into 19 points. Marquette had just three turnovers.
UConn outscored the Golden Eagles 30-20 in the paint.
It’s the first road win in the Big East this season for Marquette. It was also their first road victory over a ranked opponent in three years.
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