Given how the UConn Huskies men’s basketball played in Louisville on Monday, you weren’t really sure how they were going to respond against the No. 2 team in the country in the Syracuse Orange. Unfortunately for the Huskies, Syracuse is at whole nother level above them.
Despite UConn keeping it close for most of the game, the Orange put this one away with a 19-3 run to secure an 85-67 win over the Huskies in front of 33,430 and a nationally-televised audience on CBS at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY on Saturday afternoon. The crowd of 33,430 was the fourth largest in Carrier Dome history.
It’s the sixth loss in the last seven games for the Huskies as they fall to 15-9 (5-7 Big East). The Orange improve to 25-1 (12-1).
Jeremy Lamb paced the Huskies with 18 points and had three rebounds and three steals. Since coming back from his second “suspension” of the season, Ryan Boatright has been playing well. He finished the afternoon with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Andre Drummond was probably on his way to a monster second half before injuring his ankle and ended up with 13 points, a team-high seven rebounds and two blocked shots. Shabazz Napier broke out of his mini-slump with 11 points, one rebound and a game-high seven assists.
Scoop Jardine, who keyed that 19-3 run at the end, led the Orange with 21 points and had two rebounds and six assists. Dion Waiters added 18 points, four rebounds and four assists while Kris Joseph had 15 points. C.J. Fair chipped in with a double-double of 14 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.
Since my browser crashed before I could save what I had written again, we’ll just go with the highlights.
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Photo credit: John Woike – Hartford Courant (No. 21 in gallery)
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