HUSKIES SPLIT
UConn women roll over Seton Hall; the men lose to Florida State.
NEWARK, N.J. — The UConn men are running out of chances to show they belong in college basketball’s upper echelon.
The Huskies did a lot of good things Saturday, especially on defense, and they forced the 11thranked team in the country out of its usual offense. But UConn looked out of its element much of the night and was beaten by Florida State, 79-71, in the Never Forget Tribute Classic at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
In the postgame talk, it was clear this UConn team had earned FSU coach Leonard Hamilton’s respect.
“There’s nothing better than winning,” said UConn coach Dan Hurley, who was called for a technical in the final minutes. “But when you play at a level of competitiveness and you garner respect from someone like Coach Hamilton, when they’re impressed by your effort, the next best thing to winning is respect. ... I’ll take that type of effort from a team that I coach against that caliber of opponent any day of the week.”
UConn led by seven points early,
but was methodically ground to pieces by Florida State’s bigger front court, harassed into a steady stream of turnovers by the Seminoles’ defense and ultimately baited by the score into a series of desperate, low-percentage shots — old, bad habits.
Eventually, Alterique Gilbert (24 points, a career high) began hitting 3-pointers and Jalen Adams (15) made a few tough baskets, and the Huskies, down by as much as 15, were within five in the final minutes. But the Seminoles made the necessary free throws to keep the Huskies at bay.
“It was like the old Big East games I used to be in,” Hamilton said. “Rock ’em, sock ’em.”
The magic that appeared in the air three weeks ago when UConn beat Syracuse in New York, is missing now. The Huskies have split the last six games, losing to Iowa, Arizona and Florida State. They have one more big nonconference opportunity, against defending national champ Villanova on Dec. 22.
UConn (7-3) turned the ball over 18 times, 11 in the first half, and had only seven assists and shot just 37.7 percent, going 7for-21 on 3-pointers. But then Florida State (8-1), with much of the cast that reached the Elite Eight last year, actually had more turnovers (22) and only six assists.
“They took us out of just about anything we wanted to run,” Hamilton said. “They did a real good job of just making us feel uncomfortable. This was a very hard-fought game for us. (UConn) is definitely an NCAA Tournament team. They’re going to do very well in their conference. (Hurley) should be congratulated for that.”
Terance Mann scored 20, David Nichols and Mfiondu Kabengele 15 each for Florida State. Christ Koumadje, 7 feet 4, had 11 rebounds.
Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb, heroes of the Huskies’ 2011 NCAA championship team, took courtside seats opposite the UConn bench, and were quickly recognized by fans from Connecticut. Their current team, the Hornets, are playing the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
The current Huskies started off with a lot of verve and jumped out to a 7-0 lead. Fouls mounted for both teams, and the flow of the game was stopped repeatedly by replays.
A technical on Christian Vital prompted Hurley to sit him for the rest of the half. But the Huskies led 12-5 after Gilbert’s jumper with 14:38 left in the half.
Over those 14 1⁄ minutes, there
2 was some ragged play on both sides, but the Huskies’ biggest issue so far this season, turnovers, raised its ugly head again and began costing them. M.J. Walker’s lay-in, off a turnover, gave the Seminoles their first lead, 17-16, and though the Huskies were out-rebounding their bigger opponents, they were unable to press that advantage.
The lead changed hands seven times in the half, the score tied six times. Gilbert’s jumper gave UConn a 31-28 lead with 2:24 left, but Florida State controlled the rest of the half, and two free throws by Trent Forrest opened up a six-point lead, 39-33, at the break.
Mann, FSU’s leading scorer, was quiet in the first half, but started the second half with a three to make it 42-33, the Seminoles in position to pull away. They picked UConn pockets on a couple of possessions, cashing in for more points and a 47-33 lead with 17:25 to play — the Huskies’ scoreless streak approaching four minutes.
“Some of it’s being careless,” Adams said. “Some of it’s not coming to a stop and locating where our teammates are going to be, kind of just assuming they’d be in a spot they kind of shifted out of. We’ve just got to play off of each other a lot better.”
UConn missed seven free throws in the second half, and with them a chance to get the deficit down to single digits. Finally, Gilbert hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to bring the Huskies within seven, 63-56, with 6:54 to play, but Florida State responded with two stops and two baskets to restore its lead to 12. UConn, in catch-up mode, cut it to five against with 2:24 to play.
“I think we’re just a little bit sloppy,” Hurley said. “We’re not tight like a high-level team. We’ve got to play a cleaner game.”