UConn men drop Big East opener to Providence as sellout crowd watches another sluggish offensive performance by Huskies

On a day with so many eyes watching, the No. 20 UConn men’s basketball team melted under the pressure.

The Huskies lost 57-53 against Providence at the XL Center on Saturday in the Big East Conference opener for both teams in front of a sellout crowd. This was the first Big East game played in front of crowds at the XL Center since the Huskies rejoined the conference. UConn (9-3 and 0-1) is now 18-25 in Big East openers.

Senior guard Tyrese Martin was in the starting lineup after his four-game absence due to wrist injury as freshman Jordan Hawkins returned to the bench. Sophomore forward Adama Sanogo (abdominal strain) was a game-time decision, but ultimately missed his fourth straight game.

Martin was one of the lone bright spots finishing with 15 points and five rebounds. In his first game back, his presence was felt all over the court. In the second half as UConn tried to make a run, he hit multiple clutch buckets finishing 6-for-14 from the field.

“I felt good, my wrist was feeling great,” Martin said.

A.J. Reeves led Providence in scoring with 16 points on 5-for-12 shooting.

In game where UConn couldn’t get anything going offensively, the absence of Sanogo was clearly felt. UConn’s leading scorer, R.J. Cole, continued his shooting woes and finished with 16 points on just 5-for-19 shooting. In the last four games, Cole hasn’t shot better than 35.2% from the field. The game plan for opposing teams has been simple, force somebody besides Cole to beat them.

UConn coach Dan Hurley felt Cole was trying to do a little to much a times.

“I think R.J. may have pressed a little bit much,” Hurley said. “In terms of shot selection, he maybe could have facilitated a little more, but he had eight assists and one turnover.”

The amount of offensive possessions that ended with a tough Cole shot because UConn players were hesitant to shoot were many. UConn sharpshooters Tyler Polley and Hawkins combined for 1-for-10 from three. UConn shot just 19-for-61 (31.1%) from the field causing Hurley to conclude the offensive execution was lacking.

“I thought we got good looks, but we just didn’t finish well enough,” he said.

This Huskies team has built an identity on strong defensive play, but in pivotal moments Saturday the defense faltered.

“I thought we were soft guarding the ball, ”Hurley said. ”We got sealed [off] a couple of times where they turned the corner and scored at the rim. Our guards were just super slow towards the ball.”

From the opening tip the game was a perfect showcase of Big East basketball, featuring tough, hard-nosed defense with high energy on both sides and, of course, some ugly offense. In the first 11:06 both teams combined for just 16 points on 6-for-27 (22.2%) shooting. From Martin’s layup at 15:20 to his layup at 06:12, it was 9:08 between UConn field goals. UConn shot just 8-for-29 (27.6%) in the half.

UConn’s defense started strong but faltered in the latter part of the first half. Every time the Huskies seemed to gain momentum, the Friars would answer with a run. At the 3:09 mark with the Huskies up 21-20, Reeves got hot and hit two straight 3s to put the Friars up 26-21. With those buckets, Providence went on a 11-1 run to close the half and led 31-22 at the break. Reeves finished the first half with 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting. He came into the game averaging 10.7 points per game.

In the second half, UConn continued its ice-cold offensive play. Providence started off with a 6-0 run which led to an irate Hurley calling a timeout at the 17:52 mark with Providence up 37-22. At the 17:40 mark, UConn finally broke its scoring drought with an Isaiah Whaley layup. But every time UConn seemed to gain a little momentum, Providence would answer.

At the 9:12 mark, Cole ignited the crowd after hitting a tough and-1 layup that cut Providence lead to 47-38. On the next UConn offensive possession, Andre Jackson hit a 3 that cut the lead to six, leading to the loudest roar by the crowd all game. The Friars answered right back with a three of their own by Jared Bynum to put them up 50-41.

UConn came within two points after Polley hit a three at the 1:48 mark to make it just a 55-53 lead for Providence. That was the closest UConn would get as pivotal mistakes prevented a comeback.

For the Huskies, this was a wakeup call as the games continue to get tougher. The next 19 opponents are all Big East teams. Still, Hurley doesn’t want his team to dwell on this game.

“We are going to watch it and be sick to our stomach, but we are going to quickly regroup,” he said. “We have 19 more of these (games) and understand that we are as good as anybody in the league, we have to go get the next one.”

UConn heads on the road to face another Big East foe in Marquette on Tuesday.

Shreyas Laddha can be reached at sladdha@courant.com.