STORRS – The No. 11 UConn men’s basketball team narrowly avoided defeat in its first game without star freshman Liam McNeeley, coming back from a 14-point second-half deficit to beat Providence on Sunday at Gampel Pavilion 87:84.

“We cheated death here today,” coach Dan Hurley said afterwards.

UConn faced a double-digit halftime deficit at home for the first time since 2017, and in a chaotic halftime locker room, coaches complained about defensive mistakes, about players not doing their jobs or not giving their all. Tarris Reed Jr. placed himself in the “I don’t give it my all” group. He missed a crucial defensive rebound almost early in the game, something that stuck in his head coach’s mind, and was held scoreless as his team trailed by 12 points at halftime.

“It was kind of chaotic, but you have to find joy and peace in chaos, so that’s what I did. I knew I really had to give it my all for us to win,” he said. “So I went out there in the second half and tried to play like a Kodiak (Bear).”

Reed came back into the game after six minutes, the Huskies were down by nine minutes and exchanged balls because they couldn’t miss or stop anything. When he left with 1:44 left, UConn had a lead of 10. He finished the game with 10 points, five rebounds, two assists, three blocks and a steal – one of his assists led to a 3-pointer Fellow transfer Aidan Mahaney, who gave the Huskies their first double-digit lead of the night. With Reed on the court, the team was plus-15.

WE HAVE THE LEAD!! pic.twitter.com/A6htgN29vs

— UConn Men’s Basketball (@UConnMBB) January 5, 2025

Mahaney finished the game with 15 points, making 4 of 5 from the field and both attempts from beyond the arc, helping UConn improve to 12-3 on the year and 4-0 in Big East play, his 14th -game winning streak continued in the arena on campus during the season.

Hassan Diarra led the way with 19 points (10-for-11 from the free throw line) and eight of his 16 assists, while Solo Ball scored 16 points on 5-for-9 from the field. Alex Karaban quietly scored 13 points with four rebounds, three assists and four blocks, and Samson Johnson scored six of his 10 points in the first five minutes of the game.

UConn has won eight straight games since returning from the Maui Invitational.

“It’s not as dominant and it’s not as full of highlights and it’s not as much of a coronation, the games that we all come to and we train for. But at the end of the day, we are one game behind where we were last year and one game further in the league than we were last year after everything that happened in our season,” Hurley said. “So I’m really proud of our team, proud that they found a way to get this game out today and we have to deal with our issues.”

McNeeley’s absence came into play early in the game as UConn shot just 3 of 9 from long range in the first half.

Mahaney came off the bench and converted the first three balls on a catch-and-shoot opportunity after the Huskies fell behind four times. Karaban scored again on the next possession and Jaylin Stewart cut to the basket for a dunk to regain the lead at 22-20 with 9:23 left in the half. The Huskies’ deficit grew to six before their third-down 3-pointer when Ball narrowly beat the shot clock buzzer on an out-of-bounds play with four minutes left.

That shot was responsible for UConn’s final points of the half, as they missed nine of their last 10 shots from the field, allowing the Friars to go on a 9-0 run into halftime. Providence quietly dominated the game, hitting 56.7% of its shots from the field (3 of 5 from distance) in the first half, while UConn hit just 42.3% of its shots after a 10 of 16 start.

Perhaps most notably, the Huskies jumped out to a 17-11 first-half lead with their second-leading rebounder (McNeeley) sitting on the bench with a boot on his foot. The Friars finished the game with a 34-22 lead.

“We have to find a way to be more stable on the ball,” Hurley said. “Luke (Murray) and Kimani (Young) do a great job of scouting preparation with the moves the other teams are making, but sometimes teams just put their heads down and rush us because they’re targeting players, who appear in the film as not great individual ball defenders. If we don’t get this under control, it will be a big problem. And the rebounding. We’re not used to being minus-12 here, it’s not part of our “bulletproof basketball” formula. There will be a lot of bad films from this film for us.”

The first five minutes of the second half were similar to most of the first, as UConn failed to get a stop on defense and Providence answered shot after shot, extending its lead to as many as 14 points. Diarra traded three points with Friars point guard Jayden Pierre around the 12-minute mark and then found ball for another ball from deep, bringing the Huskies to seven points as both teams couldn’t miss the field.

Midway through the second half, UConn finally forced a few errors and used a 9-0 run that included seven free throws and a nifty layup by Mahaney to tie the game at 60 with 8:24 left. Reed tied the game and scored a tough layup through contact a minute later. Mahaney, Karaban and Diarra contributed to the 17-2 run with baskets. The Friars missed four of their next five field throws and Mahaney landed a knockout shot from distance with two minutes left to give UConn a 77-65 lead.

The Huskies shot 72.7% from the field and were 3-for-4 from 3 while outscoring the Friars – eight turnovers, zero assists – by 15 points in the second half.

Providence was able to cut UConn’s lead to three in the final minute, but Diarra eventually put the game away.

“It started with me, we definitely have to finish the game better. “That was partly my fault, I fouled a three-point shooter, turned the ball over and tried to split the trap,” Diarra said. “Things like this can’t happen, especially not with a senior security guard. We will be better.”

UConn faces Villanova for another Big East road game on Wednesday at Finneran Pavilion. Kick-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m

Originally published: January 5, 2025 at 4:35 pm EST