The two-time defending national champions UConn Huskies lost to Seton Hall 69-68 in overtime on Feb. 15 in Newark, N.J. The Huskies were down by eight points early in the second half but fought back to take a seven-point lead with only a few minutes left in the game. However, Seton Hall went on a 10-3 run to send it to overtime.
Dan Hurley on UConn’s Loss
During overtime, Pirates forward Scotty Middleton scored the game-winning basket with just three seconds left, ending the school’s nine-game losing streak. However, with this being the UConn’s eighth loss of the season, head coach Dan Hurley was visibly frustrated during the press conference.
“They were tougher, more determined,” Hurley said. “It took us a while to get control of the game and have a chance to win it in regulation. Should have won it in regulation, should have won it in overtime. But, just did a lot of things that make you look like you’re a poorly-coached team to close out that game, multiple times.”
Hurley further lauded Seton Hall head coach Shaheen Holloway and his team.
“Credit to Shaheen and credit to their guys for just fighting back at the end of regulation, fighting back at the end of overtime, and then discredit us for just putting forth a regrettable performance.
“I just got so much respect for Shaheen. I hate losing to anybody, Shaheen included, but if I’m going to lose to anyone, maybe besides my brother, maybe Shaheen.”
The game seemed to be in UConn’s hands near the end of the regulation since Seton Hall was down by three points.
However, UConn turned the ball over, and opponent Dylan Addae-Wusu hit a crucial three-pointer with five seconds to tie the game. UConn’s Solomon Ball missed a half-court shot at the buzzer, which sent the contest into overtime.
Hurley was asked about how the opponent’s defense disruptive things for his team.
“Yeah, they came out, played really, really hard, but their defense has been a lot better,” Hurley said. “I thought we were soft in the first half offensively. We were weak at the rim with our finishes, and just finding ourselves down eight in the first half, it felt like it was justice today because they deserved to win.
“We tried to turn it up with the last 8-10 minutes of regulation, the last 6 minutes of regulation, we got what we deserved.”
During overtime, Huskies’ Alex Karaban scored his 20th point and gave UConn an early lead. Tarris Reed Jr. added a reverse layup with less than a minute left to make the score 68-63 in the Huskies’ favor.
However, UConn had some issues with keeping the ball inbound in the final seconds. After multiple timeouts, Karaban was called for a five-second violation, and with the game slipping away, Liam McNeeley threw a full-court pass out of bounds.
Seton Hall cut the lead when Isaiah Coleman made two free throws with nine seconds left. On the next inbounds play, Ball committed a turnover.
Middleton missed a basket but plucked his own rebound and made the game-winning shot. UConn made one last play with Hassan Diarra shooting a half-court basket, which missed.
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“You know what we did? We did all the things that lead to a meltdown like this, and the ramifications of this one will be felt because of, obviously, you know all of it,” Hurley added after recounting the missed plays.
With the loss, UConn fell to 17-8 and 9-5 in the Big East, pushing them to fourth in the conference, while Seton Hall improved their record to 7-18 and 5-8 in the conference.
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