No. 2 UConn loses to Colorado for second defeat against unranked opponent in as many days
Colorado players celebrate their win at the Maui Invitational.
By George Ramsay, CNN
(CNN) — No. 2 UConn suffered a second defeat against an unranked opponent in as many days at the Maui Invitational as Colorado prevailed 73-72 against the back-to-back NCAA defending champion.
Colorado’s Andrej Jakimovski scored a layup with eight seconds remaining in Tuesday’s game to complete an impressive comeback with the Buffaloes having trailed 40-32 at the half.
It comes after the Huskies, now 4-2 on the season, also suffered a narrow defeat against the Memphis Tigers on Monday, going down 99-97.
Colorado went on an 11-0 run and shot 62.5% in the second half to overturn the deficit, taking the lead for the first time with just over 14 minutes still to play. The Buffaloes trailed by a point as the game wound down, but Jakimovski was able to drive towards the basket and score the crucial layup while falling to the floor.
Hassan Diarra had a chance to snatch victory for UConn but was unsuccessful with his three-point attempt. Prior to this week, the Huskies had been on a 17-game unbeaten streak which included their run to a second consecutive national championship title in April.
Julian Hammond III and Elijah Malone led the way for Colorado with 16 points each, while Jakimovski had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Liam McNeeley scored a game-high 20 points and Solo Ball added 16 points for UConn, which will look to get back on track against Dayton on Wednesday.
“It’s difficult being in this position, but as a team we’ve just got to be able to lift each other up and move on to the next game because we have a long season to go,” Ball told reporters after the game. “Of course, it’s two tough losses, but it’s about how we recover from these and get better.”
Head coach Dan Hurley said that his team’s defense had been “dreadful” during the games in Hawaii.
“Obviously, we didn’t expect to find ourselves in this position out here based on where we’ve been, but this is where we are,” Hurley added. “Just defensively, the second half (was) really, really bad. We’ve been bad out here defensively.”
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