UConn men squander late lead, suffer first loss of season to Michigan State at Battle 4 Atlantis
The No. 22 UConn men’s basketball team may have escaped adversity Wednesday in their double-overtime win over Auburn, but they were not so lucky on Thanksgiving, squandering a seven-point lead with 4:44 remaining to Michigan State to suffer their first loss of the season, 64-60.
A controversial fifth foul call on R.J. Cole with 30 seconds left sent Michigan State’s A.J. Hoggard to the line, where his free throws gave the Spartans a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. But aside from that play, the final two minutes were full of execution miscues for the Huskies.
As Michigan State (5-1) closed in, UConn (5-1) made just one of its final 10 shots from the field and failed to score in the final 1:41. At that point, Andre Jackson missed the second of two free-throws that would’ve put UConn up six, and Adama Sanogo was called for an over-the-back foul, sending the Spartans to the line. Tyrese Martin missed a shot at the rim and Sanogo couldn’t get two hook shot jumpers to fall, the second with UConn up one prior to the Cole foul call.
After Michigan State took a one-point lead lead, UConn had a chance to go for the win coming out of a timeout with 27 seconds left, but Martin turned the ball over and had to foul, sending Michigan State’s Malik Hall to the line where he sank both shots. Looking for a three to force overtime, Jalen Gaffney air-balled his shot with five seconds remaining.
“I think we lost focus a little bit, and we made a lot of mistakes at the end,” Sanogo said.
“We made some execution mistakes down the stretch of the game. It wasn’t a lack of effort. It wasn’t a lack of guys giving their best,” coach Dan Hurley said. “Michigan State’s really, really good and we blew it.”
After Wednesday’s grueling, emotional win over the No. 19 Tigers, the Huskies came out flat to start Thursday, trailing by 14 early before keeping their championship hopes alive with a big second half. Now, they’ll have to settle by fighting for a third-place finish when they play the loser of Baylor-VCU Friday at 1:30 p.m. Michigan State will face the winner of that game in the championship
“Every team had to play three games in three days, so we can’t sit here and use that as an excuse,” Martin said of any potential fatigue. “Yes, it was a slow start and we ended up rallying back, but we just weren’t tough enough at the end to be able to finish plays and execute on offense.”
“Big picture with the season, I think it’s a great learning experience for us,” Hurley added. “But when UConn comes to tournaments, they expect to play in the championship.”
Martin, who was a game-time decision after spraining his left wrist the day prior, was excellent up until the final two minutes, finishing with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Sanogo led the Huskies with 18 and 10, and Cole also finished in double figures with 10 points.
The Huskies were without defensive stalwart Isaiah Whaley, who was out due to rest following a fainting spell after Wednesday’s win. In Whaley’s place, Akok Akok earned his first start since the game that he tore his Achilles tendon on Feb. 16, 2020 versus Memphis, ultimately playing 17 minutes.
Early on, the Huskies fell behind 21-10, just as they did against the Tigers, before Martin and Sanogo cut the deficit to six at the 6:04 mark. The Spartans answered with an 8-0 run to go up by a game-high 14, but the Huskies buckled down defensively, holding MSU scoreless the final 3:35 of the half before scoring the final six points with a dunk from Sanogo and four free throws from he and Jackson.
Hurley credited Michigan State’s tough defense, which he described as “incredibly well-schooled” and physical, but the Huskies’ energy was no doubt lacking early after Wednesday’s thriller some 20 hours prior.
“I think they started obviously with more energy and I think that was a little bit expected,” Hurley said. “You could’ve put the recovery boots on and drink as many Gatorades as you want, but when you have the type of game we played yesterday, it takes a little bit to wake up like ‘oh, wow, these guys are playing with unbelievable pace.’”
UConn managed to only trail by single-digits at the break, 32-24, despite shooting 25.8% from the field and making one of its nine three-point attempts.
When Michigan State extended its lead to 11 early in the second half, the Huskies finally started to find the back of the rim and stayed stout defensively to respond with a 13-3 run. Martin’s steal and emphatic dunk tied the game at 41.
The Spartans held firmly onto their edge until Cole sank his second three of the afternoon at the 7:48 mark, granting UConn its first lead of the afternoon at 49-48. That was the first of nine straight UConn points, with Sanogo and Cole also converting, to propel the Huskies ahead by seven at the 4:44 mark.
Despite Michigan State’s late surge, the Huskies still had a chance to win it in the final 30 seconds. Hurley said the call on Cole was a “tough call,” that he thought it was a jump ball and “didn’t understand what happened.” But after that, the Huskies had a chance to score the go-ahead basket.
“We wanted to put Tyler [Polley] in kind of the help corner and get Tyrese the ball at the top of the key and try to go high-low to Adama and then if he couldn’t post-feed it, Tyrese was our second best guy tonight overall, we wanted him to try to get to the rim, rip and try to finish big,” Hurley explained. “He kind of telegraphed that post pass.”
Down three, the Huskies had the ball with 17 seconds out of a timeout. With Michigan State focusing on defending the perimeter, the Huskies were 2-14 on the day from 3 prior to Gaffney’s miss.
“We wanted to try to open up the court and just let the point guard get that flat ball screen at half court and we wanted Jalen just to really make a beeline for the front of the rim and then have our corner wings kind of peel off of him if he couldn’t get to the rim, pitch it, try to get a quick two,” Hurley said. “But Jalen couldn’t get going downhill and then panic set in.”
Whaley update
Hurley said that he did not know Whaley would not be able to play until an hour before tip, and that the squad was unable to prepare accordingly because of the short-notice. He said he was unsure whether Whaley would be available for Friday.
Alexa Philippou can be reached at aphilippou@courant.com