University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies Lose Heartbreaker to Miami
1/20/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CORAL GABLES, FL (January 20) - Miami forward Darius Rice poured in 43 points including a three-pointer as time expired as the University of Connecticut men's basketball team fell to the University of Miami 77-76 in front of 6,884 at the Convocation Center in Coral Gables, Florida.
Connecticut, (11-3, 2-1) looked to jump on the Hurricanes, (8-7, 1-3) in the first half and stop a trend of falling behind early to opponents. An eight to four UConn lead with 16:10 remaining in the first half seemed to validate that goal, but behind Darius Rice's hot shooting touch the Hurricanes out-scored the Huskies 33-15 over the next 15:30 to take a 37-23 advantage with under two minutes left in the half. The Huskies rebounded though, going on an 8-2 run to end the half capped off by a three-pointer at the buzzer from sophomore guard Ben Gordon (Mt. Vernon, NY) to cut the Miami lead to eight at 39-31.
Miami's lead was cut to six early in the second half, but Darius Rice's jumper at the 18:15 mark extended the lead to eight once again. At this point Rice had 29 of the Hurricane's 41 points, but the lead would not creep into double digits for the rest of the game. UConn whittled away at the lead until Gordon stole the ball and lead a fast-break that ended in a thundering one-handed dunk by the sophomore guard and UConn took its first lead since the 15:20 mark in the first half. Miami would not lie down as they went on a seven-two run over the next two minutes to take a 58-54 lead with 7:30 remaining. The teams went back and forth until junior guard Taliek Brown (Queens, NY) found Gordon open behind the three point arch on a fast-break. Gordon's three broke the 64-64 tie and his runner in the lane 40 seconds later gave UConn a five point advantage, its largest of the game. However, UConn faltered at the free-throw line, missing 11 of its last 20 attempts and failed to seal it. With UConn holding a 74-72 advantage with three seconds remaining, the Huskies' in-bounds pass was stolen by Rice. He stumbled behind the arch and threw up a prayer that was answered as time expired and the Convocation Center erupted.
Gordon was sensational in the loss, scoring a career-high 32 points and hitting on 12-14 field goal attempts including 4-5 three pointers. Taliek Brown was the only other Husky in double figures with 13 points on five of seven shooting.
Leading the way for Miami was Darius Rice with 43 points on 16-27 shooting. James Jones scored 11 for the Hurricanes. Miami had an impressive 18 assists to only 13 turnovers Monday, while Connecticut turned the ball over 19 times and had eight assists.
UConn returns home on Saturday as they will take on Conference rival Villanova at the Hartford Civic Center. Tip-off is set for 2:00pm.
