LAHAINA, Hawaii _ Two teams that appeared in the rankings at the start of the college basketball season were playing for fifth place at the Maui Jim Maui Invitational.
Neither Oregon, still ranked 13th, nor UConn have lived up to preseason expectations, but on Wednesday, the Ducks were primed for a breakout. The Huskies, devastated by injuries and saddled with inexperience, are far from that.
Another opponent jumped on UConn early, and after a long afternoon of playing catchup, the Huskies were beaten, 79-69, at the Lahaina Civic Center. The Huskies (2-4) will return with one Maui win, over Division II Chaminade, and facing a rough road ahead to rebuild a broken season.
Oregon led 10-0 after 1{ minutes, and 30-9. The Huskies reversed things with a 13-2 run, then, after falling behind 19 points early in the second half, slugged away and were within six points on Jalen Adams' basket with 4:08 to go. This is a familiar pattern, too familiar, and again, UConn just couldn't make enough shots, including open looks, to get over the top. The Ducks (4-2) closed it out. Chris Boucher scored 21 and Tyler Dorsey 19 as Oregon, after hitting 11 of its first 12 shots, finished the game at 54.7 percent from the floor.
UConn, outrebounded 35 to 26, got 27 points and five assists from Adams and shot 48.1 percent, but made only 6 of 23 3-point shots. Rodney Purvis scored 13, Amida Brimah 11.
With Terry Larrier out for the season, and the possibility that neither freshman Alterique Gilbert nor Mamadou Diarra will be available either, UConn (2-4) is down to eight healthy scholarship players and can take no opponent for granted, including Boston University at the XL Center on Wednesday. Against Power Five level competition in this tournament, Oklahoma State and Oregon, the game just appeared to move to fast for the Huskies, who made spirited, but futile comeback rallies in both losses.
The news that Larrier was lost for the season to a torn ACL cast a shadow over the Huskies as the game started, and an Oregon team, considered one of the best in the country, broke out of its early-season struggles and exposed UConn's vulnerabilities.
The Ducks, who lost to Georgetown and went to OT to beat Tennessee in the first two games in the tournament, hit their first eight shots, and 11 of their first 12 _ five of those 3-pointers _ and simply blew the Huskies away in the opening minutes. Those shots, too, were open and earned with flawless, lightning-fast ball movement.
Oregon led 10-0 after 85 seconds, and opened it to 30-9 with 10:47 left in the half. Dorsey hit two of the 3-point shots and Dillon Brooks had seven points in the first 10 minutes.
The Huskies dug in and began scoring, Adams on a couple of drives through the lane and Purvis with a 3-pointer with 8:34 left in the half, but even after an 8-0 run UConn was 13 points behind. But UConn kept at it, as Oregon, inevitably, cooled off. Brimah scored on an offensive rebound, and finished off a pass from Adams and the Huskies were within 32-22.
Purvis hit a 3-pointer to pull the Huskies within nine. Vance Jackson and Christian Vital missed open, but deep 3s the next two trips down the floor, and the Huskies missed five of their last six shots and went to the half trailing, 36-25.
UConn turned inept again on offense at the start of the second half, missing a couple of easy shots, with a couple of turnovers, and Oregon stretched its lead back to 17 on Chris Boucher's three-pointer. Boucher hit two more, and the Ducks opened it back up to 53-34 with 14:17 left.
The Huskies made another run at it, and were within 10 after Vital hit a three from the left wing with 7:22 to go, and within eight after Adams' layup with 5:21 remaining.
