One of the major stories of the No. 19 UConn men’s basketball season has been their inability to keep a lead. They don’t lack for offensive ability, currently standing at 7th in the nation in the category per KenPom, but their defense has offered more questions to be answered. They’ll get ahead by double digits, then let the opponent get right back into it.
On Tuesday, it was more of the same. What was a 15 point advantage didn’t hold or turn into anything, as it might have last year. In the 2024 campaign, if you looked away from the TV briefly you might miss the lead going from 10 to 20. This team has an affinity for closer games.
Even with their difficulties creating long-term separation, Connecticut did pick up a much-needed 80-78 overtime victory against Butler, a bottom Big East squad. And in this conference, every win feels rewarding in some respect.
“I’m not sure if we’re good enough right now to take a 15 point lead and keep it there or take a 15 point lead and make it 24,” Coach Dan Hurley said postgame. “This current team, we make too many mistakes defensively. At times we were better, but we committed fouls, got doubled up at the foul line… When we get Liam [McNeeley] back and get him out there with Solo [Ball and [Alex Karaban], we’ll be able to get a 15 point lead and put someone away. But any win right now is a great win for us.”
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Ball was a man on a mission on offense, notching 23 points to go along with 6 boards. The rebounding total is considerably better than his season average of 2.4, but the defense certainly left a lot on the table. Ball has been a monster as a scorer this season with awesome efficiency splits, but just needs to lock it down on the other end. That’s the key to unlocking his potential.
Junior Karaban has been struggling lately, but put together a gritty performance against the Bulldogs. He floated in the game-tying buckets in both regulation and overtime, a part of his 19 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 blocks. Granted it took him 17 shots to get there, but it was still an outing that got the job done and showed a great deal of toughness.
“I have to [be aggressive] for this team,” Karaban noted postgame. “[Coach Hurley] always talks about playing with hunger…I learned my lessons the hard way. It can’t be a one game thing where I’m aggressive. I need to be consistent. The team believes in me, the staff believes in me. There’s no excuse.”
The center duo of Samson Johnson and Tarris Reed Jr. each contributed in a solid fashion. The former collected 14 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks, while the latter had 14 and 7. The combined production of the pair was about as good as anyone could hope for offensively, but it was less strong defensively. They had trouble getting stops without fouling, part of the reason why Butler got back into the game. Johnson fouled out, while Reed Jr. finished with 4 fouls.
“Samson was a total warrior today; Tarris gave us production,” Hurley said postgame.
Hassan Diarra has been excellent lately, but had major difficulties in the scoring department Tuesday. His 11 shots reaped just 4 points, though he did find success as a passer. The super senior added 9 assists, still finding a way to impact the game positively. It was also important that he turned the ball over just once. For some reason though, Diarra was tasked with taking the game winner on such a poor scoring night, resulting in a bad miss. But it wasn't on purpose.
“We don’t have a lot of shot creators," Hurley noted. "Sometimes it’s by design. Most people at the end of the shot clock have the ball in the hands of the guy who can get to the paint and find people or put something of high quality at the rim. Right now we have three places we can go with the ball: Hassan, Solo and Karaban. That play, we had an action to get the ball to Alex at the elbow, but Telfort got physical and Alex couldn’t get the ball. It ended up in Has’ hands and it didn’t go as planned from there...”
Butler's Finley Bizjack and Jahmyl Telfort combined for 43 points, putting a lot of pressure on the Huskies. It was especially impressive that Telfort had 25 points without any threes, going 0-7 in the department.
UConn had a relatively uninteresting statistical night overall, but did come away with a handful of areas where they dominated their visitors. They unsurprisingly out-assisted the Bulldogs 20-8, while also blocked 9 shots to Butler’s 3. Their defense beyond the arc was improved, only allowing 26%, much better than their season average of 38%, bottom 15 in the nation.
It took the Huskies a moment to get their bearings and once they did, they capitalized on it. A 2-point lead ballooned to 9 in a blink, but Butler quickly got their ducks in order. Evan Haywood drilled a triple to cut it to 3 and the Bulldogs didn’t get that close again until late.
Ball’s 8 consecutive Connecticut points pushed the advantage into double digits as Patrick McCaffery answered with a three. UConn was unfazed by the shot, putting together an 8-0 run. As has become a common theme, Butler punched back with 9 unanswered points of their own, down just 8 at the break.
The squads went bucket for bucket in the early goings of the second half, with neither side scoring consecutive unanswered field goals until Telfort got a pair of shots to go. That cut the deficit to just 4, which was enough to spook the Huskies into playing with aggression.
Jayden Ross converted on an acrobatic layup that required extensive mid-air adjustments and Ball nailed another three. That made it a 9-point game, but the visitors refused to give up. The game felt won, but a flurry of free throws opened the door for Finley Bizjack to take the lead with a three and a layup.
Neither side was able to make a convincing argument for a win in regulation, so overtime ensued. Even after Diarra missed two game-winning chances.
Butler led for the first half of free basketball, but Karaban’s and-one tied it up. And then came a Ball trey to take the lead. That shot put them ahead for good, and a fortunate rebound and layup for Reed Jr. helped them secure the victory.
“Next meal, whatever he wants, I’ll get it for him,” Karaban joked of Reed Jr.'s game-saving putback.
Butler did have the opportunity to win it with a three late, but Telfort hit the front iron. Following a jump-ball that favored the Bulldogs, Telfort didn’t find the net, but instead the top of the backboard.
“We’re spoiled. The staff’s spoiled. The fans are spoiled,” Hurley said. “We’re all spoiled with the level of ball we’ve played the past few years. Even with Liam out, we could easily be undefeated in the league if things broke differently. I’m not down, that was a tiring game. Now we’re realizing what it’s like to have a really good team that has to fight for games. When Liam’s back, which could be soon, we could get back to dominating teams.”
Next up is a late Saturday matchup against Xavier, who currently projects as a bubble team. That game isn’t a must win in a way this one was, but it’ll have people feeling much better about their season if they do emerge triumphant.
It tips at 8 p.m. and can be viewed on FOX.
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