No. 3 UConn men’s basketball saw its 18-game winning streak come to an end Friday night, as the Huskies fell to the 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 put UConn up 41-39. St. John’s immediately punched back and took the lead with an easy dunk from Ejiofor, and a three from Ball evened things up at 45 with 17 to play. From there, St. John’s began to pull away, ripping off a 10-0 kill shot — just the fifth UConn has surrendered all season — to jump out to a 55-45 lead.
UConn did everything in its power to try and mount another epic comeback, but the Johnnies always had an answer. After Ejiofor stretched the lead to 11 with a 3-pointer and a tough finish in the paint to put St. John’s up 60-51, Demary Jr. tried heroically to spark a comeback. He scored 11 of the team’s final 21 points, but also coughed the ball up six times in the final 20 minutes.
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The Georgia transfer had a massive dunk over Ejiofor to shift some momentum in UConn’s direction, and hit two big buckets to cut the St. John’s lead to just one with as little as 4:46 to play, but Ejiofor ended up being too much for the Huskies to handle. The Big East Preseason Player of the Year hit one of two free throws to put St. John’s back up by two, and a crucial stepback three from Dylan Darling with 3:13 to play made it 72-67 Johnnies, all but putting the game on ice.
Ejiofor put the cherry on top with another bucket to make it 74-67 with 2:27 to play for his final points of the night. He finished with a 21 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists — all game highs. Even with a quality performance from Reed (12 points, six rebounds), Ejiofor was too much for the Huskies to handle, rendering freshman Eric Reibe nearly useless in Reed’s relief. Ejiofor’s performance combined with Dillon Mitchell (15 points) and Bryce Hopkins (14) helped St. John’s dominate on both ends as the Red Storm scored over half their 81 points in the night in the paint.
Demary Jr. led the Huskies with 18 points and seven boards, but posted nine total turnovers, his highest turnover count since joining UConn. Karaban (17 points), Reed and Mullins (11 points) joined him in double figures. The loss to the Johnnies marks three-straight to St. John’s, the longest losing streak to Red Storm since 1999.
Up next, UConn heads to historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana to take on the Butler Bulldogs. TNT and TruTV will broadcast the game, with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m. ET.
