UConn basketball comes up short to Johnnies 72-52 in Big East Championship

Following back-to-back wins in the first two rounds of the Big East Tournament (BET), the UConn men’s basketball team played for a chance at the Big East championship on Saturday night. The Huskies had a tall task ahead of them, facing the top-seeded St. John’s Red Storm at Madison Square Garden. UConn could not get the job done in front of the sold-out Madison Square Garden crowd, falling 72-52.

It took Connecticut a long time to find their footing; in fact, the Johnnies looked to run away with the contest early on. St. John’s started on a massive 10-0 run. Solo Ball got the Huskies on the board with a solid And-1 finish at the rim.

The Johnnies quickly earned themselves a double-digit lead, and matters went from bad to worse for UConn. After Silas Demary Jr. made a layup around the 13-minute mark, cutting the deficit to nine points, head coach Dan Hurley appeared frustrated with no foul called. The two-time national champion stomped his foot and was quickly assessed a technical foul.

Zuby Ejiofor was the best player on the court for the Johnnies. The former Kansas Jayhawk scored 10 points and snagged five rebounds Saturday night. No matter who guarded Ejiofor, he could not be stopped in the paint, fighting through contact and getting buckets however he pleased.

“He’s one of the best players in college I’ve ever coached against,” Hurley told the media. “I mean, that guy is — I mean, the production — the point production, the rebounding production, the havoc he causes on defense, the relentlessness that he plays with, and then just him as a leader of that team, just his personality. The rage that he plays with, the fire that he plays with; that guy’s just a total butt kicker. He’s on the handful of best players I’ve ever coached against in college. I mean, that guy is a true difference maker that elevates everyone around him.”

Bryce Hopkins and Oziyah Sellers both put together solid eight-point outbursts for the Red Storm. As a team, the Johnnies shot an excellent 15-30 (50%) from the field.

The Huskies struggled to hit shots like they normally do, finishing the first half 9-25 (36%) from the field. The Huskies seldom had open shots, and when they did, they were not cashing in on them. The Johnnies utilized their infamous full-court pressure, taking away offensive possessions from Connecticut.

“Sometimes the press doesn’t get you a lot of turnovers, but what it does get you, it gets you the fatigue element, so their jump shot is not as good,” St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino noted postgame. “That’s happened to me so many times in coaching. You just wear the other team down. These guys, when I called that timeout, I said, We don’t fatigue. You guys, your practice is much tougher than this game. So we don’t fatigue, and it takes away from their jump shot, their movement, because they have great movement.”

Fouling also became an issue for Connecticut, as Eric Reibe went into the halftime locker room with three; Tarris Reed Jr. finished the half with two. Turnovers were also an issue for the Huskies, turning the rock over 11 times in the first half.

“They came out from the start just pressuring and, you know, they set the tone, and we just had to find a way to respond, and we just didn’t do that to start the first half,” Karaban said. “I mean, they pressure, they’re athletic, they could switch; they have a really good defense, they’re super well-coached.”

Eventually, the Huskies made it to the halftime locker room. UConn did a solid job limiting the bleeding, as there were numerous points where St. John’s could have extended the lead even more, yet the program came up with stops when they needed to.

Connecticut went into the halftime locker room down 40-27, a half where they trailed by as much as 17 points. The shooting and turnover discrepancy told the story of the first half. If UConn were to pull off the comeback at “The world’s most famous arena,” they would need to flip this, and fast.

The Huskies did a solid job at the beginning of the half, cutting into the deficit. The fouling was much more limited, ball security was much better, and Reed did an excellent job playing bully ball early on. This resulted in an early 13-2 run for Connecticut, bringing the game to within single digits. Reed added onto a four-point first half, scoring 13 additional points in 17 minutes of work.

While this newfound offense paid dividends for Connecticut, the Red Storm struck back; Hopkins and Ejiofor took over for St. John’s. Hopkins led the way for the Johnnies, scoring 10 points in 19 minutes of work. Ejiofor had eight points of his own, coming from both in the paint and beyond the arc.

After a fastbreak slam from Dillon Mitchell, Demary went down, clutching his leg, before he eventually walked into the tunnel of his own volition. The guard returned to the game just three minutes later. Demary appeared to reaggravate his previous injury nearly three minutes later, leaving the contest again.

“When he came back out there, he just reappeared on the bench. I went over to him, and I said, “Are you good?” He said, Yeah, I’m fine. I mean, the first thing I just had heard that it was a very mild sprain with no swelling. Obviously, we’ll take precautions with an X-ray. But, I mean, we’ll keep our fingers crossed. I mean, it didn’t look — hopefully it’s not something that lingers,” Hurley noted.

The Huskies brought the game to within seven points and had a chance to make it even closer. However, St. John’s hit shots when they needed to, and the Huskies failed to hit shots at a high level, finishing 10-31 (32.3%) from the field and 1-11 (9.1%) from deep. Connecticut was unable to cut into their onset deficit, losing to the Johnnies 72-52.

This loss comes on the heels of “Selection Sunday where Connecticut is likely set on the No. 2 seed line. If UConn wants to make some noise in this year’s NCAA Tournament, they need to put this loss behind them and get back to their brand of basketball, which has made the program successful up to this point. The Huskies will return to action next weekend for the round of 64.