LAHAINA, Hawaii — So the scriptwriters in Maui have been saving up material, huh?
Because that’s the only way to explain this Maui Invitational, which — after Colorado’s shocking 73-72 upset over No. 2 UConn on Tuesday, the Huskies’ second loss in as many days — has now delivered four absolute gems in five contests. The two-time defending national champs arrived at the tournament looking to stake their claim as one of the sport’s elite squads once again. Instead, they will now play in the last-place game, having lost consecutive contests for the first time since January 2023.
“Obviously we didn’t expect to find ourselves in this position out here, based on where we’ve been,” said UConn coach Dan Hurley, “but this is where we are.”
So, how did Colorado complete an 11-point comeback and pull out the victory despite leading for less than a minute total on Tuesday?
Not in any one way, but through so many small, critical details. Start at the end, though, with the game-deciding sequence. UConn led by five with 3:28 to play, after a quick personal 5-0 run by Solo Ball. But coming out of timeout thereafter, Ball missed a free throw that ultimately proved decisive.
Colorado then made a concerted effort — as it did all game — to take advantage of UConn’s precarious frontcourt foul trouble. Some critical context: Both of UConn’s primary bigs, Samson Johnson and Tarris Reed Jr., fouled out on Monday versus Memphis (albeit in overtime); the Huskies as a whole committed 29 personal fouls versus the Tigers, and entered Tuesday ranked 283rd nationally in defensive foul rate.
“Some of it is sloppy, undisciplined technique, and some of it I just think in basketball, sometimes you just are not getting a great whistle,” Hurley said. “I don’t think out here we’ve gotten a great whistle.”
Regardless, Colorado willingly went back to that well, feeding its own big man combo of Elijah Malone and Andrej Jakimovski, especially in the second half. Those two drew eight combined fouls and combined for 28 points — including the final six, which gave the Buffs their first signature win this season.
“We don’t go into a game necessarily trying to foul somebody out,” said Colorado coach Tad Boyle. “But (our plan was) definitely going inside to Elijah Malone. He is a weapon for us, and he’s a problem for other teams.”
After Ball’s missed free throw, Reed fouled out with 2:04 left trying to defend the 6-foot-10, 268-pound Malone; that left 6-foot-8 wing Alex Karaban — who himself played only eight first-half minutes due to foul trouble — as UConn’s de facto center down the stretch. After Malone made his two free throws, cutting the margin to one, UConn answered with a Jaylin Stewart putback to push its lead back to three. Malone made another layup out of timeout to make it a one-point game, again, with 1:10 to play.
And then, the ultimate irony.
On Monday, when UConn wing Liam McNeeley was called for an over-the-back foul with 40 seconds left it sent Hurley into a frenzy, earning the coach a technical foul that ultimately cost the Huskies the game. But on Tuesday? Colorado forward Trevor Baskin was not called for an over-the-back foul when he collected a key offensive rebound with 24 seconds left off Javon Ruffin’s missed 3 — although review showed after the game that Baskin did make contact on the play and should’ve earned a whistle.
“Obviously it’s ironic,” Hurley said. “It just speaks to how these last two days have gone for us: that yesterday, the biggest play of the game was an over-the-back that was called against us, and then today it was more egregious, because the kid Baskin pulled Liam’s arm down. I saw the replay of it.”
Instead of it being UConn ball, though, Colorado called timeout, and gathered itself for one final play. Out of timeout, once again, Boyle got his team going downhill, and Jakimovski made a running layup with eight seconds left that sent him careening into the stands. “When it came out of his hand,” said Colorado point guard Julian Hammond III, “it looked good.”
UConn called timeout with 5.9 seconds to play but didn’t get off a great look. Hassan Diarra’s 3-point prayer at the buzzer fell incomplete.
Jakimovski’s make was an apt microcosm of the second half, in which Colorado shot 62.5 percent overall. And as for that interior muscle? It led directly to 20 paint points, including the game-winner, but also multiple open kickout 3s; the Buffaloes shooting 5 of 9 from 3 in the second half was just as pivotal to their upset bid.
“Our defense has been just so dreadful, just so dreadful out here,” Hurley said. “Obviously it’s been a tough two days.”
Malone and point guard Julian Hammond III — who had four made 3s and three assists — led the way for Colorado. For UConn, McNeeley — who missed much of the second half with an apparent hip injury — still paced the team with 20 points, keyed by making his first four 3-pointers. Ball chipped in 16, while Diarra — who made his first start this season at point guard — had 11 points and six assists.
Colorado will play the winner of No. 5 Iowa State and Dayton on Wednesday, while UConn will play the loser in the seventh-place game — and try to avoid going 0-3 in Hawaii.
What’s wrong with UConn?
Hoo boy. Plenty.
The Huskies’ offense is still as good as ever. Let’s get some good news out there first. Despite a bad second half, where it shot 40.7 percent overall and 26.7 percent from 3, UConn still finished the game at 48.1 percent and 38.7 percent from 3 — both of which are winning figures. More analytically speaking, the Huskies averaged 1.220 PPP, the same sterling sort of figure they’ve posted most games the last two seasons.
But defensively is a different story — and that’s where Hurley is really going to have to figure some things out.
Memphis scored 1.34 PPP versus the Huskies on Monday. Colorado was at 1.237 PPP on Tuesday. If those are elite-type numbers offensively speaking. Defensively, they’re pretty poor, to put it lightly. The more bare stats say the same thing. Colorado shot 62.5 percent overall in the second half and 55.6 percent from 3, getting — as Ball said — “whatever they want.”
Where has UConn’s defense suffered?
Without doing a deeper film review, two things stand out. Defending without fouling is the first. UConn has basically been unable to do so in its two games versus high-major opponents this season — neither of whom was ranked when they lost to the Huskies. Committing 29 and 22 fouls per game is simply not a sustainable rate. Hurley wants his teams to defend physically, but that takes being ironclad technically, no hand swipes or stray elbows. It’s a fine line, one UConn has been on the wrong end of so far in Hawaii.
“Look, UConn is an aggressive defensive team. I mean, they play physical,” Boyle said. “That’s one of the reasons they foul a lot.”
That’s been especially paramount with Reed and Johnson. UConn was 13th nationally last season in block percentage, largely fueled by Donovan Clingan’s rim protection. But Clingan only fouled at a 3.6 percent rate, per KenPom — while Reed (5.4 percent) and Johnson (9.3 percent) are far worse in that respect. How does Hurley get his two big men, who are otherwise productive, to still challenge everything at the rim without picking up personals?
“I appreciate Tad saying that we’re physical, but we’re not physical. We play hard. There’s some undisciplined fouls,” Hurley said. “Like Samson’s first foul to start the second half, where he picked up his third one really quickly. I just don’t know. Is that a foul, in a game with so much grabbing and so much holding?”
But the other issue, and one that might take more time, is something UConn simply hasn’t dealt with to this scope in two seasons: new personnel, and figuring out everyone’s roles. The Huskies’ rotations, especially when they hedge ball screens, are just a tad slower than they have been for two years — and that’s how you wind up with some of those fouls, as players try to recover their position. Hurley mentioned one-on-one defensive breakdowns, too; Memphis picked on transfer guard Aiden Mahaney yesterday — he didn’t start versus Colorado for the first time all season — and his replacement, Diarra, had his struggles, too.
Hurley and his staff are far too smart to allow these kinds of issues to carry over, but for now, it’s UConn’s most immediate pressing priority.
Required reading
(Photo: Darryl Oumi / Getty Images)
