Cats lose 71-69 heartbreaker to UConn

The game was incredibly tight throughout, with the teams never separated by more than seven points. UConn’s biggest lead was seven while Villanova’s biggest lead was five. The largest ‘Nova run was seven while the largest UConn run was eight. The teams were tied nine times and the lead changed hands 18 times.

Clearly, the teams traded blows throughout and each team took turns making huge plays. We really can fast forward to the final four minutes to tell how things played out.

A pair of Collin Gillespie free throws flipped a one-point UConn lead to a one-point ‘Nova advantage with 3:35 to play. After a Caleb Daniels steal on the ensuing UConn possession, Jermaine Samuels drilled a huge three to extend the lead to four with 2:56 to go and there was a sense Villanova was ready to earn another gritty road win.

But this is the Big East, and of course it wouldn’t be that easy. UConn answered with four-straight points from Adama Sanogo to re-tie the game with 1:33 left. Villanova immediately responded with four-straight points of its own, all on free throws, to go back up four with just 46 seconds to play. Unfortunately for Villanova, those final 46 seconds would prove to be disastrous.

A UConn turnover with 36 seconds left had Villanova smelling a huge road win as the Huskies were forced to foul Daniels, an 86% free throw shooter, with just 31 seconds to go. But Daniels missed the front end of a one-and-one and UConn secured the rebound.

After a timeout, the Huskies drew up a play for Tyler Polley who drained a contested 3 to cut the ‘Nova lead to one with 21 seconds remaining. What transpired next will frustrate ‘Nova fans at least until the next time the ‘Cats take the court.

The ball was inbounded to Gillespie along the sideline, where he encountered a double team. As he protected the ball and looked for somewhere to pass the ball, he was literally wrapped up by the UConn defenders, eliciting a whistle from the officials. Relief turned to shock for ‘Nova fans when instead of calling a foul on UConn, the official signaled a jump ball.

“They just tied me up, I guess,” Gillespie said.

Despite the protests of everyone in Villanova blue, the call was unchanged and the possession arrow gave the ball back to the Huskies. R.J. Cole’s layup with five seconds to go put UConn up one and left Villanova with one last chance to salvage the win.

Gillespie took the ball coast to coast before drawing contact from Cole at the rim with a second remaining. All eyes turned to the official, who signaled offensive foul. UConn ball, game over.

And so the Cats were left to lament. They will lament, certainly, the shocking held ball call and the 50/50 charge call on Gillespie that could have gone either way. Further, they will lament the missed opportunities to ice the game late, from the missed free throw to the failure to keep Cole from getting to the basket and generally being unable to get that one extra stop that was needed to secure the win. Overall, they will lament the fact that UConn simply made more plays late than the ‘Cats did, something the ’Cats pride themselves on.

Jay Wright summed things up succinctly: “Down the stretch they made the plays, we didn’t make the plays,” Wright said.

Outside of the missed opportunities and little things that UConn outperformed ‘Nova in late in the game, and the two questionable officiating decisions, there were several game-long issues for the ‘Cats.

Villanova outscored UConn by six from beyond the arc and shot a solid 44.4%, but allowed the Huskies to hit 10 3s at a 41.7% clip, enough to impact the script of the game. More importantly, UConn was 16-32 on 2-point attempts while the ‘Cats were just 9-19. The Huskies had a 28-16 advantage in points in the paint and Sanogo made play after play for the Huskies. He finished with 20 points on 8-14 shooting, including a couple huge buckets/free throws late.

“He’s really good, he’s a really good player,” Wright said. “They do a great job finding him. He had a great game. He was a force.”

Finally, the ‘Cats committed an uncharacteristic 14 turnovers, leading to 12 UConn points and helping the Huskies to a 14-0 advantage in fast break points.

“It’s college basketball,” Wright said. “You’re on the road. You’ve got to play at another level on the road, you gotta get some breaks on the road. You’re playing a real good team. They just did a really good job, they made all the right plays.”