No. 3 UConn men’s basketball falls to No. 22 St. John’s, 81-72

No. 3 UConn men’s basketball saw its 18-game winning streak come to an end Friday night, as the Huskies fell to Rick Pitino and the St. John’s Red Storm in front of a raucous Madison Square Garden crowd. Turnovers plagued UConn (22-2, 12-1 Big East) all night, as a tenacious St. John’s defense propelled the Red Storm to an 81-72 win for the Huskies’ first conference loss of the year.

Despite outshooting the St. John’s from the field (54.7 to 50 percent) and from three (47.4 to 26.3 percent), UConn couldn’t get the job done in the Garden due to relentless end-to-end to pressure from the Red Storm. The Huskies coughed up the ball 15 times, leading to 20 St. John’s points. Free throw shooting didn’t help either, as UConn was just 5-12 (41.7 percent) from the stripe while the Johnnies were 22-31 (71 percent).

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Tarris Reed Jr. and Braylon Mullins helped UConn get out to a fast start, combining for 10 of the Huskies’ first 16 points as they jumped out to an early 16-10 lead. Mullins was making tough shots look easy with seemingly no space, while Reed was winning the battle with Johnnies big man Zuby Ejiofor down low. It would end up being the Huskies’ largest lead of the night before Ejiofor sparked a 9-0 run to help St. John’s get out to a 19-16 lead with 11:40 left in the opening half.

UConn’s went nearly four minutes without a made field goal until a layup from Silas Demary Jr. broke the ice and made it 23-19 St. John’s. But UConn’s eight first-half turnovers continued to plague the them, as the Red Storm continued to do just enough to hold onto the lead. The Huskies would lead with as a little as 4:12 to play in the first half after a 3-pointer from Solo Ball, but headed into halftime tied at 39 despite outshooting St. John’s from the field and winning the rebounding battle.

The Huskies’ last lead of the night would come on the opening play of the second half, where Demary Jr. found a wide open Alex Karaban on the first possession to…

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Publish date : 2026-02-07 04:36:00

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