This year’s version of the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team is a lot like the Boston Red Sox of the early 2000’s.
Just when things get good, they suck you back in, only to end up disappointing you.
On his senior night at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, IN, Notre Dame Fighting Irish senior Tory Jackson scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half to lead them to a 58-50 win over the Huskies in front of 9,149 and nationally-televised audience on ESPN.
The loss drops the Huskies to 17-13 (7-10 Big East) and all but assures them of playing in the NIT instead of the NCAA Tournament. It’s the third straight win for the Fighting Irish (20-10, 9-8 Big East), who bolster their chances for a NCAA Tournament berth.
Once again Kemba Walker paced the Huskies with 15 points and he also pulled down six rebounds. Jerome Dyson chipped in with 10 points and four assists but had five turnovers. Gavin Edwards added a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds off the bench but also had four turnovers.
Carleton Scott had 12 points and 14 rebounds for the Fighting Irish while Farmington, CT native Tim Abromaitis finished with 10 points and four rebounds.
This was not a pretty game by any stretch of the imagination. The score at halftime was 20-17 in favor of UConn and could have been much worse for the Irish had UConn not gone the last 6:36 of the half without a point.
UConn had led by 10 points at 18-8 on an Ater Majok layup with 8:58 to go in the half. The Irish closed the lead down to four points at 18-14 before a Donnell Beverly layup made it a six point game. Scott nailed a three with 2:46 to cut UConn’s lead to three and that would close out the scoring in the first half.
The Irish came out firing in the second half starting out on a 7-0 run to take a 24-20 lead. Edwards would finally get the Huskies on the scoreboard with 17:36 remaining to cut it to a two point lead at 24-22.
The Huskies would then go the next 6 minutes and 42 seconds without a field goal until a Walker jumper broke that up. During that time the Huskies would score only two free throws by Stanley Robinson while the Irish had opened up a 10 point lead before Walker’s jumper.
UConn tried to fight back at the end but would never get any closer than six points the rest of the way.
This game was eerily reminiscent of the loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats. The Huskies were flat all night and never really got into any rhythm. It was like that three-game winning streak never happened.
The main problem for the Huskies this season is that they haven’t been able to play as a team consistently and part of that is taking care of the ball. They turned the ball over 15 times and had just 13 assists. That’s not going to cut the mustard folks.
The Huskies can try to salvage their season on Saturday afternoon in Tampa, FL when they’ll take on the South Florida Bulls. Tip is scheduled for 2 p.m. and the game will be broadcast locally on My-TV9 and SNY.
Notes and musings:
UConn Huskies @ Notre Dame Fighting Irish 3.3.10 box score
The starters were Kemba Walker, Jerome Dyson, Stanley Robinson, Ater Majok and Charles Okwandu.
The Huskies shot 35.4% (17-of-48) from the floor while the Irish shot 36.5% (19-of-52).
UConn had 13 assists on their 17 made baskets.
On a positive note, the Huskies were 13-of-15 (86.7%) from the free throw line. Unfortunately, they let the Irish get to the line 27 times (17-of-27).
UConn barely outrebounded the Irish 36-35.
UConn had five points off of seven Notre Dame turnovers. The Irish had 15 points off of 15 UConn turnovers.
Notre Dame outscored the Huskies 26-16 in the paint.
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