MBB: Huskies Suffer Heartbreak Defeat In Seton Hall Trip
NEWARK - Those who missed the drama and thrills of Connecticut men’s basketball had their fill and then some on Saturday afternoon but a Huskies victory was not to be in their return from an 18-day hiatus.
UConn marked Dan Hurley (a Jersey City native and former Seton Hall point guard) and R.J Cole’s respective returns to the Garden State with a nine-tie, 13-lead change thriller against No. 24 Seton Hall, a contest that required five extra minutes to resolve. Alas for the Huskies, Kadary Richmond’s career day outdueled Adama Sanogo’s at Prudential Center. Richmond capped off a 27-point afternoon off the bench with an and-one opportunity that gave the Pirates the power to withstand a Sanogo double-double (18 points, career-best 16 rebounds), proving to be the winning points of a 90-87 victory. Jared Rhoden’s steal from Tyrese Martin on UConn’s responding possession after Richmond’s eternal lead switcher sealed the visitor’s fate, as did fellow post-halftime standout Bryce Aiken, who scored 17 of his 22 points after the break.
The Huskies (10-4, 1-2 Big East) originally showed little lassitude from their pause induced by the ongoing health crisis, shooting just over 54 percent over the first 20 minutes. However, that number plummeted to 31 percent in the second stage, thanks in part to a standout interior defensive effort from Ike Obiagu. UConn sank 6-of-10 from three-point range in the second half, but only 5-of-21 otherwise, with Obiagu picking up four of his six blocks in that span.
Richmond handled the Pirates’ affairs on the other side. The Syracuse transfer scored 23 points over a nearly nine-minute stretch, one that began immediately after UConn established its largest lead of the day at 54-45 just over four minutes into the second. That lost UConn lead was established through a 10-1 burst capped off by a pair of triples from Andre Jackson. After a Richmond three gave Seton Hall (11-3, 2-2 Big East) a 62-61 lead before the under-12 media timeout, neither team led by more than three for the rest of regulation.
After the hot offensive start to the contest, defensive antics took center stage over the final four minutes of the second half, as a Martin triple with 4:04 remaining was the last successful field goal over the first 40 minutes. Deadlocked at 77 thanks to Aiken and Cole free throws, both sides came up short over the final 30 seconds. Cole’s would-be winner became a shot clock violation after his layup bounced off the glass while a missed Aiken triple was swallowed up by Sanogo, necessitating overtime, UConn’s first extra session since the November 26th win over VCU.
Seton Hall’s attempts to pull away were thwarted by Connecticut triples. The Pirates scored the first four points of the frame before Martin sliced the lead to one, a process that repeated itself when Tyler Polley sank another after Aiken cashed in on an and-one. UConn briefly owned an 87-86 lead on a Sanogo layup but Richmond’s final tallies were enough to preserve Newark’s joy. Rhoden’s fateful robbery of Martin came with just over two seconds remaining before Aiken went to the foul line after an intentional foul followed a Seton Hall timeout. The Huskies, having used up all their pauses were granted a sliver of hope when Aiken sank two free throws with 1.6 seconds remaining but the clock expired before they could get off a would-be equalizer.
Sanogo topped the Huskies’ scoring with his aforementioned 18 points (8-of-16 FG) with Cole (another Jersey City native and St. Anthony High School star coached by Hurley’s father Bob Sr.) following at 15. Martin (13), Polley (11) and Jackson (10) also reached double-figures for UConn. The Huskies and Pirates will meet again on February 16th in Storrs. With the UConn-Seton Hall Big East series resumed upon the former’s 2021 return to the conference, neither team has swept a two-game set in the matchup since the Huskies did so in 2009.
The Huskies return to action on Wednesday night in Storrs, where they’ll battle St. John’s for the first time this season (8:30 p.m. ET, FS1). Saturday’s early Big East window saw the Red Storm (9-4, 1-1 Big East) fall by an 83-73 final to No. 16 Providence.
Geoff Maglioccheti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
