NEW YORK — The UConn men’s basketball team needed a big shot in the final minute of its Big East tournament semifinal matchup with regular-season champion Marquette. The Huskies trailed by two points with 12 seconds left when Adama Sanogo grabbed a defensive rebound and pushed the offense down the floor.
Jordan Hawkins, struggling all night, had the ball in his hands and released from the top of the arc. His shot hit off the backboard and Marquette began its celebration, the final score: 70-68.
UConn is now 10-5 all time in Big East tournament semifinal games and has lost all three since rejoining the conference. Marquette will play either Creighton or Xavier in Saturday’s championship game.
Marquette’s largest lead in the first half was three points; UConn’s was five.
Big East Player of the Year Tyler Kolek showed why he deserved the award as he carved through the paint and was able to easily find a good look for a layup. The Marquette point guard made five of his first six shots, and when he missed from the floor, Kolek was 3 for 4 from the foul line. After picking up an offensive foul and a third turnover, Kolek was forced to the bench for the final three minutes of the half with the Golden Eagles down, 31-30.
UConn coach Dan Hurley was searching for shooters when he hit the transfer portal in the offseason, and he got a few. Nahiem Alleyne and Joey Calcaterra, two of the four transfer additions, answered the bell in the first half combining to go 3 for 3 from beyond the arc. Calcaterra’s first answered a long ball from Kam Jones and gave UConn a 27-24 advantage, but Kolek made a free throw and David Joplin made another 3-pointer for Marquette to put the Golden Eagles ahead.
Then came Alleyne. The senior who played his first three years of college basketball at Virginia Tech made his first 3-pointer from the corner to give UConn’s side of the tug-of-war match a nice yank. Alleyne scored eight points in the first half.
Alex Karaban, who made the dagger for the Huskies on Thursday against Providence, was left wide open in the corner as the first half clock ticked down. The unanimous Big East All-Freshman team selection has made similar shots in waning moments this season, and connected again to tie the game at the break.
Kolek opened the second half with his second 3-pointer of the game while UConn’s porous defense allowed Joplin another. A pair of lightly-at-best contested buckets in the paint for Marquette extended the Golden Eagles’ lead to six before Hurley had seen enough and called timeout.
Sanogo scored UConn’s first six points of the second half before Hawkins cut through the lane for a layup, but Joplin connected on his fourth 3-pointer on five attempts and was fouled by Sanogo on another, making all three at the line to extend the lead to 10. The Golden Eagles made their first six field goals of the latter 20 minutes and UConn needed Karaban to stop the momentum, as he often does.
Lining up from the wing in front of his head coach, Karaban knocked down a 3-pointer. After Karaban’s shot fell through the net, Marquette missed its next seven shots from the field and the Huskies put together a 10-2 run, with a 3-pointer from Calcaterra tying the game at 60 with 9:26 to go.
From there, whenever UConn got two points, Marquette got three.
The Golden Eagles got a trio of 3-pointers to fall and built a 70-68 lead with 2:14 left on the game clock, but UConn missed four straight 3-point attempts that would’ve put the Huskies ahead late.
UConn remains all but locked for a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament and will learn its fate at the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday.
