The University of Connecticut men’s basketball team continued playing as if auditioning for the lead in a Talking Heads video, this time stopping off in upstate New York where the Huskies dropped a 85-67 decision to second-ranked Syracuse before 33,430 fans in the Carrier Dome on Saturday afternoon.
It was the fourth-largest crowd in Carrier Dome history.
You can’t blame the Huskies for lack of effort in this one. After Syracuse took a 43-34 lead into the locker room at intermission, and increased the lead to 11 early in the second half, the game, the Huskies came storming back to close the Syracuse lead to two points on a bucket by sophomore forward Tyler Orlander with 6:26 remaining in regulation. But Orange guard Scoop Jardine responded with a three-pointer from deep in the right corner, and after a turnover by Tyler Olander, a Mansfield native, Jardine came right back and knocked down another trey down from virtually the same spot, giving Syracuse an eight point lead and thwarting Connecticut’s hopes of a comeback.
“I was in the right position to make a shot and I did,” said Jardine, a fifth-year senior, on his first big three-pointer. “And then the second one, I was confident because I just made one,” he continued. “That kind of took them out of what they wanted to do.”
“We got it to 63-61 and we got a little careless both offensively and defensively, and then it got away,” admitted UConn associate head coach George Blaney, pinch-hitting for the third straight game for head coach Jim Calhoun, who is on an indefinite leave of absence to deal with a chronic back ailment. “You can't have a lapse for a couple of minutes.”
Still, the Huskies looked light years better than they did on Tuesday night, when they dropped a 21-point decision to Louisville.
If you’re looking for a silver lining, Connecticut had one of its better shooting nights on the season, with four players scoring in double digits. Sophomore forward Jeremy Lamb led the Husky attack with 18 points. Freshman guard Ryan Boatrightadded 14, while freshman center Andre Drummondof Middletown had 13. Sophomore guard Shabazz Napiertossed in 11 for the Huskies, who fell to 15-9 overall, 5-7 in Big East play.
But the vaunted Connecticut defense had a difficult time coping with the Orange scoring machine. Four Syracuse players ended in double digits led by Jardine, with 21, Dion Waters with 18, Kris Joseph with 15 and C.J. Fair who put up a double-double (14 points, 12 rebounds) for the Orange, who improved to 25-1, 12-1. Overall, Syracuse shot 59.3 percent from the field (32-for-54), including a red-hot 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) from beyond the three-point arc.
The Huskies, who have lost six of their last seven games, now prepare to host the 11-13 (2-10) DePaul Blue Demons in what can only be described as a must-win contest for Connecticut. Tip-off at Gampel Pavilion is at 7 p.m., and the game will be televised on SNY.
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