UConn-St. John's: Huskies Lackluster Play Leads To Blowout Loss By Red Storm

The Connecticut Huskies (17-15) are officially NIT bound, well if they get the invite. Looser of three straight before the opening round of the Big East tournament, the Huskies needed to make a run to help boost their resume.

Instead they flopped for a fourth-straight time, this time getting blown out by a St. Johns (17-14) team, 73-51. The Huskies came into the game with confidence considering they had already beaten the Red Storm 75-59 back in January.

That confidence soon became frustration when St. Johns took a 35-22 lead into the half. The 13-point deficit was something head coach Jim Calhoun wasn’t happy with, but something they could overcome.

The second half unfortunately for Connecticut was uglier than the first. Connecticut was outscored 38-29; losing by 22 points in Madison Square Garden.

This was only the second time this season that a team has shot 50 percent or higher from the field against the Huskies.  South Florida shot 51 percent in the season finale; a game UConn lost 75-68.

Connecticut went 8-12 since the start of the new year, and has played inconsistently most of the season. This team shut it down today, especially in the second half. “ They have no heart and no urgency. I was shocked to see the lack of tempo in the second half by this team,” said Doug Gottlieb of ESPN.

St. Johns knew they had the Huskies where they wanted them. “We outplayed them for 20 minutes, we knew we could outplay them for another 20,” head coach Norm Roberts stated after the game.

St. Johns shot 53 percent from beyond the arc, and hit some daggers in the second half to seal the win. Paris Horne was a large part of that success going 2-2 on the perimeter and finishing with 13 points. Justin Brownlee also had some key buckets and chipped in 13 of his own.

Sean Evans finished with 19 points and nine rebounds. The Huskies didn’t have an answer for the St. Johns forward, who went 7-9 from the field and a perfect 5-5 from the charity stripe.

The Huskies will now head into the offseason with questions on head coach Jim Calhoun’s future, along with the problems of replacing senior leadership. At least one thing is going well for the University of Connecticut this season, the women’s team has won 71 straight games and maybe some of that luck can rub off on the men’s team next season.