The Huskies squander a big first-half lead but hang on to defeat Michigan State 67-63. Next up: Duke for a trip to the Final Four.
UConn and head coach Dan Hurley knew on Selection Sunday that making it to the Final Four out of the loaded East Region of the NCAA Tournament wasn’t going to be easy.
Somehow, the Huskies are one game away from that trip to Indianapolis.
UConn, the No. 2 seed in the East, survived tough No. 3 Michigan State, winning 67-63 late Friday night in Washington, D.C., to set up a meeting with No. 1 overall seed Duke on Sunday.
The winner between the Huskies and Blue Devils will advance to the Final Four.
For the first half of the first half, UConn (32-5) made it look easy.
Down 4-3 early, the Huskies went on a 22-2 run to take a 25-6 lead with 10:15 left. UConn hit 9 of its first 15 shots.
But over the second 10 minutes of the first half, Michigan State (27-8) chipped away as its defense revved up and the Huskies cooled off, making just 5 of their next 12 attempts.
The Spartans ended the half on a 21-10 run to reduce the 19-point deficit to eight, 35-27.
The second act
UConn entered the game 43-3 over the past two seasons when leading at the half, but it didn’t take long for Michigan State to wipe out the deficit.
Seven quick points – three from Carson Cooper and four from Coen Carr – cut the UConn lead to one, but a 3-pointer from Braylon Mullins and an authoritative dunk from Tarris Reed sent the lead back to six, temporarily.
The Spartans went ahead 47-46 after an 11-4 run, and the Huskies answered with a 10-2 spurt to go up 56-49 with 5:10 remaining.
Of course, the lead didn’t last.
A Cooper dunk with 1:57 left pared the deficit to one, but Alex Karaban followed with a 3-pointer, only to be matched with a 3 by Jeremy Fears Jr. with 1:11 to go.
The last minute was spent at the foul line, with UConn going up 65-62 when Karaban drained two.
At the other end of the court, Kur Teng missed a 3-point attempt and Reed fouled Cooper on the rebound with four seconds to go. Cooper made the first, intentionally missed the second and Reed grabbed the rebound and was immediately fouled.
He made both, sealing the four-point win.
The difference in the game for UConn was the leadership of the seniors.
Reed finished with 20 points, five rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Karaban scored 17 and added seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Another senior, Malachi Smith, sparked the Huskies with seven assists and four steals in just 17 minutes.
Solo Ball showed signs of snapping out of his shooting slump, making 4 of 8 shots and scoring 12 points.
The Spartans put four players in double figures: Cooper (14), Carr (13), Fears (13) and Jaxon Kohler (12). Kohler had a team-high eight rebounds and Fears had seven assists and three steals.
Michigan State shot 39.7% for the game. The Huskies are now 17-0 this season when holding opponents under 40% shooting.
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