PHILADELPHIA — On Friday, UConn forward Adama Sanogo was supremely confident in the Huskies’ ability to beat Villanova. On Saturday, as he and his teammates failed to show up until it was too late, he was proven wrong.
The Huskies lost, 85-74, against Villanova in a crucial Big East Conference game in front of 19,786 fans at the Wells Fargo Center.
After trailing by as many as 23 points in the second half, UConn went on a run to cut the lead to just 10 with 2:06 left in the game. Alas, that would be the closest the Huskies would get to coming back.
The Wildcats dominated UConn with their physicality on offense, led by Eric Dixon who finished with a career-high 24 points. The forward used a vast array of post moves and his body to create space to score in ways that UConn defenders had no answer for. The Villanova faithful chanted “MVP” for him late in the game.
The Huskies pride themselves on rebounding and defense, both of which were lackluster. The Wildcats seemed to outhustle UConn to every 50-50 ball, leading to pivotal momentum turns. Villanova outrebounded the Huskies, 28-20, while shooting 29-for-49 (59.2%) from the field.
Guard R.J. Cole had 25 points on 7-for-13 shooting from the field to lead UConn.
The 17th-ranked Huskies are now 15-6 and 6-4 in the Big East, tied in the loss column with Marquette, who they face on Tuesday night at the XL Center. UConn drops to fourth place in the conference behind Marquette while No .12 Villanova is now 17-6 and 10-3 and holds onto second behind Providence.
Villanova’s Justin Moore missed the game with an ankle sprain and teammate Collin Gillespie exited with what appeared to be an ankle injury. UConn’s Akok Akok also missed the game with a foot sprain.
UConn jumped out to a 5-0 lead after Tyrese Martin made his first two buckets, a 3 and midrange shot. The Huskies then went 6:09 between field goals until Whaley scored on a layup at the 10:03 mark that put them down two, 18-16.
The Wildcats forced a UConn timeout at 7:01 after going on a 6-0 run to lead 26-19. Once again the Huskies’ offense struggled, shooting just 8 for 22 (36.4%) from the field. The Wildcats played physical defense on Sanogo that prevented him from getting the ball and limited him to zero points on 0 for 1 from the field in the first half.
The usually dependable UConn defense also struggled as the Wildcats shot 14-for-25 (56%) from the field in the first 20 minutes. The Huskies’ defensive rotations were a step slow, leading to open shots.
The Huskies started with much better energy on offense in the second half. UConn’s emphasis coming out of the locker room was to get Sanogo the ball. He scored a quick six points in the first four minutes, which prompted a Villanova timeout after his layup cut the lead 47-40. After the timeout, the Wildcats quickly answered with a 5-0 run. After a media timeout at 14:54, Villanova then went on a 10-0 run to put them up 57-40.
