UConn men wilt under St. John’s pressure, turn ball over 22 times in 68-62 primetime defeat

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STORRS – The pressure from No. 12 St. John’s and its fourth-ranked defense was too much for the UConn men’s basketball team as it turned the ball over 22 times in a 68-62 loss at Gampel Pavilion Friday night.

“We’ve been playing with fire,” coach Dan Hurley said. “We were fortunate to win at Marquette with 25 turnovers, able to mitigate that by some serious shot-making, but we’ve been playing with fire and the 22 turnovers, 47 in the last two games is just really low level.”

The No. 19 Huskies have run into the league’s top two defenses at the wrong time with veteran point guard Hassan Diarra hobbled, battling through knee soreness, and Ahmad Nowell out with an ankle sprain. After going down by double figures early, Rick Pitino employed his press to take advantage of UConn’s ball-handling weakness and ended up storming all the way back before halftime.

“It makes you feel like you’re not coaching your team well when you have 47 turnovers in two games,” Hurley said. “We’ve been a little bit banged-up, I don’t know if that’s the total reason why we’re in the position we’re in with the 47 turnovers, but we’ve got to just find a way to get healthy.”

UConn made one step in that direction on Friday, getting Liam McNeeley back on the court for the first time since his high ankle sprain on New Year’s Day. There was some rust for the freshman after missing eight games, but he recorded the third double-double of his career with 18 points (4-for-15) and 11 rebounds, taking initiative down the stretch and scoring 13 in the second half. It just wasn’t enough to stop the Johnnies from pulling away late.

The loss dropped UConn to 16-7 on the year and 8-4 in Big East play.

“It’s a blessing to be back. I didn’t realize how much I was gonna miss it until I did, but it’s definitely a blessing to be back,” McNeeley said. “I’m very happy to be back out there. But I’m not happy anymore.”

Tarris Reed Jr. was the only other Husky to make…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/uconn-men-wilt-under-st-034300064.html

Author : Hartford Courant

Publish date : 2025-02-08 03:43:00

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