STORRS, Conn. — A heroic second-half effort from UConn guards Jordan Hawkins and Tristen Newton wasn’t enough to come back from a first-half to forget as the Huskies fell, 82-79, to Big East-leading Xavier inside Gampel Pavilion on Wednesday.
UConn’s winning streak inside the on-campus arena was snapped at 17 games and the Huskies (16-6, 5-6 Big East) have lost six of eight.
After a miserable start that brought a 15-point deficit into the UConn locker room at halftime, Hawkins and Newton combined for 41 second-half points and brought the Huskies within one point of a lead on several occasions, though they were never able to take a lead.
Hawkins led the way for UConn with 28 points, 26 in the second half, and Newton finished with 23 after being the only bright spot for the Huskies in the opening 20 minutes. Adama Sanogo hit a 3-pointer during the Huskies second-half scoring run and finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.
The first half was one to forget. UConn faced a nine-point deficit before ever scoring.
As the Huskies shot 10-for-31 (32.3%) from the field and made just one 3-pointer on 13 attempts (7.7%) in the first half, Xavier converted 50% from the field and made 5-of-11 3-pointers to take a 39-24 lead at halftime.
When Hawkins made a 3-pointer from the wing to bring the score within two with just over 12 minutes left in the game, pandemonium ensued in Gampel Pavilion. When Xavier built UConn’s deficit back up to nine with six and a half minutes left, Hawkins made his fifth 3-pointer of the game to restore hope once again.
Xavier, however, refused to go away. Important points from Souley Boum (21 points), Jack Nunge (12 points) and Colby Jones (20 points) gave the Musketeers a 3-point lead with 1:28 left.
UConn has a short break before making its next trip to Chicago to face DePaul on Tuesday.
