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MICHIGAN STATE HANDS UCONN MBB FIRST LOSS OF SEASON
11/25/2021 4:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Huskies Will Play For Third Place At Battle 4 Atlantis
UConn Athletic Communications / Nov. 25. 2021
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas – In a back-and-forth, second-half battle, Michigan State made more plays down the stretch than UConn and handed the Huskies their first loss of a season, a 64-60 defeat in the semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis on Thursday in the Bahamas.
UConn (5-1), coming of an emotionally-draining double-overtime 115-109 win over Auburn on Wednesday, fought back from a 14-point deficit and took a 55-48 lead with 4:44 remaining. But Michigan State (5-1) staged a comeback of its own and sliced the UConn lead to 60-59, with 1:41 left.
From there, the Michigan State defense suffocated UConn, forcing misses and turnovers, and the Spartans hit five of six free throws to ice the victory.
"To beat a Michigan State team, you can't make mistakes down the stretch," UConn Coach Dan Hurley said. "Credit those guys, they are a great defensive team. They make you pay for any mistake you make."
The win puts Michigan State into the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game on Friday at 11 a.m. against the winner of the Baylor-Virginia Commonwealth game. The loser of that game will meet UConn on Friday at 1:30 p.m. for third place.
"We expected to be playing tomorrow in the championship game," Hurley said. "Big picture, it's a great learning experience for us, but UConn comes to tournaments and they expect to be playing for the championship."
As they did on Wednesday, UConn fell behind, 21-10, early and, also as on Wednesday, the Huskies came back. This time it took a bit longer, but UConn, trailing 38-27 after 2:00 of the second half, exploded on a 14-3 run to tie the game, 41-41, 1ith 15:00 left.
The lead shifted back and forth, but the Huskies managed to widen the gap to 55-48 before the Spartans rallied and trailed by just 60-59. Michigan State then owned the final minute.
"They started with more energy, but that was expected," Hurley said. "They were on top of us quickly. They had fresher legs."
UConn was forced to play without grad student forward Isaiah Whaley, who had suffered a fainting spell at the conclusion of Wednesday's game and was given a needed day off to rest. Whaley had started a team-leading 34 straight games.
UConn was led by two players, each with a double-double. Sophomore forward Adama Sanogo had 18 points and 10 rebounds, while senior Tyrese Martin, who suffered a sprained wrist on Wednesday and was questionable for Thursday, had 16 points and 12 rebounds. Soph Andre Jackson was close to making it a trio with 9 points and 9 rebounds.
"We've got to be ready to go," Hurley said about UConn playing its third game in three days on Friday. "We have to take care of business. Coming out of here, we obviously aren't going to get what we wanted, but we better leave here 2-1. We played hard and we're disappointed, but we have to turn the page."
