NEW YORK – The No. 3 UConn men’s basketball team saw its 18-game winning streak come to an end in an 81-72 thriller against No. 22 St. John’s in a sold-out Madison Square Garden Friday night.
The Big East’s top teams put on a show but the Johnnies prevailed, forcing 15 turnovers and getting to the free throw line 31 times on their way to a third consecutive win over the Huskies dating back to last season. It is the first time St. John’s has won three-straight over UConn since the 1999-2000 campaign.
With the loss, its first since Nov. 19 against Arizona, UConn fell to 22-2 on the year and 12-1 in league play. The 18-game winning streak was the third-longest in program history.
“It was the exact type of game we thought it was gonna be. Just as hard a game as we’ve had this year. In the end, it was always gonna come down to the rebounding piece and just being able to take care of the ball,” said coach Dan Hurley.
UConn was outrebounded, 32-26, and outscored, 16-9, in second-chance points. The Huskies made just five of their 12 free throw attempts while St. John’s went 22-for-31 from the stripe.
Asked about the free throw discrepancy, Hurley quipped: “Will you pay the fine?”
“The free throws, we didn’t make them. We didn’t shoot many, and then when we did shoot them, we missed them,” he said. “So you go minus-17 pointwise at the foul line, and turn the ball over 15 times, and get outrebounded, you’re not gonna win on the road.”
It was the ninth win in a row for the surging Johnnies, who’ve overcome a rough nonconference slate to get to 18-5 and 11-1 in the Big East.
Silas Demary Jr. made his best effort to put the Huskies on his back while facing a double-figure deficit in the final 10 minutes, like he’s done in do-or-die situations before at Providence and against Villanova and BYU. He finished with a team-high 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting and had seven rebounds and five assists, but he was also responsible for nine of the 15 turnovers.
“It was a rollercoaster ride. I mean, it really was. He had some incredible plays,” Hurley said. “We tried to prepare him for (Dylan) Darling, Darling loves to kind of bait you, he times the cadence of your dribble and we tried to prepare him for the way that they were going to attack his ball and just how sharp – when you play these guys, you’ve got to snap every pass, you’ve got to meet every pass, you’ve got to be ball tough. And we were too loose with the ball.”
Alex Karaban had 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the field, Braylon Mullins scored eight of his 11 points in the first half and Solo Ball added eight points, only taking two shots after the break.
In the battle of the two best centers in the league, Tarris Reed Jr. (12 points, six rebounds, three blocks, two steals) was outdueled by Zuby Ejiofor, who was a force to be reckoned with at both ends of the floor as he finished with a loaded statline of 21 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, three blocks and two steals.
UConn did not match up well with the St. John’s frontcourt trio of Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins and Dillon Mitchell, which combined for 50 points and 22 rebounds.
“They’re one of the best frontcourts in the country. Just those three guys play at such a high level, all three of them are super talented and they all bring something unique to the table,” Karaban said. “They’re a great frontcourt and they’re a great team. We knew how talented of a team they were heading into tonight.”
The fanbases, more of a true road environment than a neutral site, went back and forth with the scoreboard early until Karaban landed a 3-pointer from the corner and Reed finished over a smaller defender inside to put the Huskies up six around the 14-minute mark. But Rick Pitino called a timeout to stall the momentum swing and his team came out with a 7-0 run that turned into a 13-1 burst to put St. John’s up by just as much with Demary on the bench.
UConn’s reserves combined for just six points and three turnovers.
“I thought the bench was skittish a little bit,” Hurley said. “When you come in off the bench, we’re up 16-10 and off to a pretty good start, looking sharp, we went bench and it was an immediate 7-0 run. If you’re a bench player and that happens in that particular game, you get a little tight with that rotation. Plus, games like this, your best players are gonna have to go 35 minutes, 36 minutes.”
Mullins’ lightning quick jump shot made for a show early as he saw his second 3-pointer fall to put the Huskies back in front. But UConn, rushed and bothered by the length of the Johnnies, turned the ball over eight times in the first half and couldn’t pull away despite shooting 57.7% from the field and 5-for-9 from beyond the arc.
After a thrilling last two minutes that included a steal and a coast-to-coast dunk from Eric Reibe, the score settled at 39-all at halftime after six lead changes and four ties.
Both teams kept pace through the first three minutes of the second half but Demary went to the bench after picking up his second foul and the Red Storm started running again. They went on a 10-0 surge over four minutes as ball security continued to hurt the Huskies, taking the largest lead of the game after Demary was stripped and extending it with a 3-pointer from Hopkins that made the score 55-45 with 13 minutes to play.
Reed ended the run out of a Hurley timeout and Karaban hit a floater to cut it back to six, but Ejiofor stepped out and hit his 11th 3-pointer of the season.
UConn faced its largest deficit – 11 points with just over 10 minutes to go – since its comeback victory in overtime at Providence, and again fought back with Demary shouldering the load. Mitchell made a steal in the backcourt and finished a two-handed dunk in transition, only to be answered by a monster one-handed slam from the Huskies’ point guard, who shook the World’s Most Famous Arena as he levitated around Ejiofor. Karaban nailed a 3 on the next possession and Demary kept scoring to cut the deficit to one around the five-minute mark.
But it was too little, too late as Darling, a pest on the perimeter, made a 3-pointer to get to nine points in the second half. Pitino’s team dominated the glass down the stretch and Hopkins made three from the stripe in the final minute to put the game away.
“There was not a feeling with the team and the staff that we were indestructible,” Hurley said. “I think we knew that this was going to be a hard game to win, and I think the manner in which we lost is frustrating. Because it was a second half defensive collapse, obviously the 15 turnovers, and then an inability at times to win the backboard.”
