St. John’s was everything UConn coach Dan Hurley feared it would be. Rugged, relentless, willful on defense.
And after withstanding the Huskies’ torrid start, St. John’s gradually imposed its will. Though the Huskies had a multiple chances to escape, but couldn’t make the big free throw, or shot down the stretch and fell, 78-74, in the reunion of original Big East rivals at Gampel Pavilion Monday.
With UConn down four, Martin hit a 3-pointer with 55 seconds left, and after a turnover and a foul, he was at the line with a chance to put UConn ahead with 18 seconds left, and he missed both. The Huskies had a chance to win on the next possession, but Tyler Polley air-balled a 3-point attempt.
And that ended the 23rd-ranked Huskies winning streak at four, after a week of practices that earned coach Dan Hurley the title “Captain Brutality.”
R.J. Cole scored 18, Martin 14 and Adama Sanogo 12 for the Huskies, who, on defense, held the Red Storm’s 20-point scorer, Julian Champagnie, to just two field goals. But the Huskies missed eight free throws and a slew of shots under the basket that would have made the difference and, of course, they missed their best player, James Bouknight, as they will likely be without him another four weeks with his elbow injury.
UConn (7-2, 4-2 in the Big East) next plays at No. 13 Creighton on Saturday. St. John’s (8-7, 3-6) won its first road game of the season.
The Huskies opened a 14-point lead over the first 7 1/2 minutes, but went cold from the perimeter and struggled to find, or finish interior shots against St. John’s pressure. The Red Storm made it a one-possession game several times, and finally took the lead with 4:08 to play. By then, UConn looked out of gas.
The Huskies, who moved up two spots in the new AP Poll, started out dominating the boards, finding shooters in transition and sizzling from the 3-point arc. Cole hit four early in the game, and when Tyler Polley came off the bench and hit a mid-range jumper, the Huskies led 21-7 with 12:17 left in the half.
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But St. John’s stopped the slide and controlled that 12:17, evening up the rebounding tally, guarding the perimeter and forcing the Huskies into more halfcourt offense. The Huskies were, characteristically, doing the job on the Red Storm’s top scorer, Julian Champagnie, holding him without a field goal, but St. John’s bench scored 16 first-half points, 10 from Dylan Addae-Wusu. Rasheem Dunn hit a short jumper, and then made two free throws on the next possession to pull St. John’s within three points, 26-23, with 6:07 to go. The Huskies did hold on to the lead at the break, going in 35-32.
St. John’s was within two a couple of times early in the second half, but couldn’t get over the top and take the lead. Sanogo began playing a big role underneath for UConn, with a nifty pass to Isaiah Whaley, who scored via goaltending, and some impressive finishes of his own, including a running left hand hook shot.
After Posh Alexander’s 3-pointer cut UConn’s lead back to two, the Huskies scored the next six points, Sanogo, Whaley and Cole, on a steal and score, to restore the lead to 49-41 with 12:46 to play.
Martin became more active, mostly getting to the line, over the next stretch as UConn continued to grind. His tip-in put him in double digits as the Huskies led 59-54 with 7 1/2 minutes left.
Champagnie finally made his first field goal, a 3-pointer, and Alexander hit two from the line the next possession to tie the game at 59. Then the Storm took its first lead, 64-63, on Marcellus Earlington’s 3-pointer with 4:08 left
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The Big East postponed the UConn-Xavier game scheduled for Wednesday night, as Xavier is still in a suspension due to a COVID-19 positive in its program. No makeup date was announced. It’s the Huskies’ eighth postponement of the season so far; their next scheduled game is at Creighton on Saturday.
