STORRS, Conn. _ The evidence that UConn would not be able to match up with Cincinnati, any closer than the other ranked teams the Huskies have played, came quickly.
It took UConn nearly eight minutes to score, and the eighth-ranked Bearcats opened 13-point lead. Now, this wasn't a complete UConn capitulation as seen in other games _ the Huskies kept after it. But they never got closer than six points Saturday and lost 65-57 to the Bearcats in front of 9,170 at Gampel Pavilion, where the biggest crowd there this year left frustrated with their white towels, even as the Huskies were drawing closer in the final minutes.
Down by 19 with 7:58 to play, UConn made a late run and Cincinnati at least had to make free throws in the final seconds to clinch the game.
What offense the Huskies (36.1 percent shooting) could muster came from Jalen Adams, who scored 20 points, and Christian Vital, who scored 18, much of it late. UConn had no perimeter game, making 5 of 17 on 3-point shots. Cincinnati made six 3-pointers in the first half.
The Bearcats got 19 points from Jacob Evans III, 13 points and 11 rebounds from Kyle Washington, controlling the front court. East Hartford's Cane Broome, who transferred to Cincinnati from Sacred Heart, came off the bench to score 10, including a couple of 3-pointers early in the second half to stretch Cincinnati's lead from 11 to 17.
The Huskies cut their deficit back to single digits again, but only in the closing minute.
UConn has lost six games by 20 or more points this season. Not this time, but the Huskies, with three losses in a row, are 11-12 overall, 4-6 in the American Athletic Conference and staring at a desultory final month of the season. Cincinnati (21-2, 10-0), on the other hand, is going places, its program still growing in stature since it moved, along with UConn, from the old Big East into the AAC in 2013.
Yet again, the Huskies started out missing everything in and out of sight. UConn missed its first 10 shots, and by the time Vital got the Huskies on the board with a layup, the Bearcats had hit three 3-point shots and built a 13-0 lead and Gampel fans had been standing, clapping and waiting for 7:46 on the game clock for the first field goal.
UConn was outmuscled, but did keep chasing loose balls and moving it around. The Bearcats established a 13-point lead before Adams began heating up and the Huskies edged their way back in. Adams scored on three consecutive possessions during an 8-2 run, his layup bringing UConn within 21-14 with 4:37 left in the half. The UConn defense settled in, holding Cincinnati without a field goal for 6{ minutes.
Cincinnati was still up seven when Evans hit a 3-pointer to make it 26-16, and another to make it 29-18. Vital answered for UConn, but Keith Williams hit yet another three, at the buzzer, to send Cincinnati into the break with a 32-21 lead. The Bearcats went 6 of 12 on 3s in the first half. The Huskies, after their 0-for-10 starts, made 8 of their last 15 shots.
Adams continued to trade baskets with the Bearcats as the Huskies stayed within 10. But a couple of turnovers helped ignite another Cincinnati run, and Broome hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to give the Bearcats a 48-31 lead with 12:04 left.
