Hurley laments ‘difficult 2 days’ as UConn falls again

Nov 26, 2024, 06:26 PM ET LAHAINA, Hawaii– Andrej Jakimovski transformed an off-balance layup with eight seconds left, and Colorado handed No. 2 UConn its 2nd loss in 2 days at the Maui Invitational, beating the two-time protecting national champ 73-72 on Tuesday.A day after a 99-97 overtime loss to Memphis that left Huskies coach Dan Hurley livid about the officiating, UConn (4-2) could not shake the unranked Buffaloes (5-1), who shot 62.5% in the second half.The Huskies led 40-32 at halftime and by 9 points early in the 2nd half, but Colorado rapidly closed that gap.Editor’s Picks With Colorado trailing 72-71 in the closing seconds, Jakimovski drove to his right and soaked up contact from UConn’s Liam McNeeley. He tossed the ball toward the glass and the shot was excellent as he fell to the floor. Hassan Diarra missed out on a 3-pointer just ahead of the buzzer for UConn.” At halftime, I seemed like we were going to do what we do at UConn, which would be get it to double figures and

then surge because game, and it simply didn’t happen for us, “Hurley said, adding that it has been “a difficult 2 days” for the Huskies.”However it’s early, and we’re going to have a lot of chances to get these ones that we’ve distributed. We got a great deal of opportunities to get these back.McNeeley led UConn with 20 points.Elijah Malone and Julian Hammond III scored 16 points each for Colorado, and Jakimovski had 12 points and

10 rebounds.UConn is the fifth ranked team in AP Poll history to lose by 2 points or fewer on consecutive days and the very first considering that Michigan dropped one-point games to UTEP and Texas Tech in December 1983, according to ESPN Research.Takeaways UConn: Hurley’s team is facing its first difficulty in quite a while. The Huskies got here on Maui with a 17-game winning streak that dated to February.Colorado: The Buffaloes were held to season lows in points(56 )and field

objective percentage(37%)in a 16-point loss to Michigan State on Monday but shot 51.1%total and 56.3 %(9 of 16 )from 3-point variety against the Huskies.Key minute Hurley called timeout to set up the Huskies’final ownership, but the Buffs required them to take an objected to 3. Key stat Colorado had a 28-26 rebounding advantage after being outrebounded 42-29 by Michigan State.Up next Colorado will play Iowa State, an 89-84 winner over Dayton, in the fifth-place game Wednesday.

UConn will play the Flyers in the seventh-place game.The Associated Press contributed to this report.