LAHAINA, Hawaii – So the screenwriters in Maui saved on materials, right?

Because that’s the only way to explain this Maui Invitational, which – after Colorado’s shocking 73-72 loss to No. 2 UConn on Tuesday, the Huskies’ second loss in as many days – has now produced four absolute tour de force performances in five contests. The two-time defending champions traveled to the tournament looking to once again stake their claim as one of the sport’s elite squads. Instead, they are now playing in the last place game after losing consecutive competitions for the first time since January 2023.

“Obviously we didn’t expect to find ourselves out here in this position given where we’ve been,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said, “but here we are.”

So how did Colorado pull off an 11-point comeback to win despite leading for less than a minute? in total on Tuesday?

Not in any way, but through so many small, crucial details. However, start with the game-winning sequence at the end. UConn led by five points with 3:28 to play after a quick personal 5-0 run by Solo Ball. But as Ball was coming out of the timeout, he missed a free throw that ultimately proved to be the deciding factor.

Colorado then made a concerted effort, as it had done all game, to take advantage of UConn’s precarious foul problems in the frontcourt. Some important context: UConn’s two top players, Samson Johnson and Tarris Reed Jr., fouled out against Memphis on Monday (albeit in overtime); In total, the Huskies committed 29 personal fouls against the Tigers and ranked 283rd nationally in defensive foul rate entering Tuesday.

“Some of it is sloppy, undisciplined technique, and some of it I just think in basketball sometimes you just can’t get a good call,” Hurley said. “I don’t think we got a great whistle out here.”

Regardless, Colorado readily embraced it, feeding its own strong combination of Elijah Malone and Andrej Jakimovski, especially in the second half. These two drew a total of eight fouls and combined for 28 points – including the final six that gave the Buffs their first win of the season.

“We don’t necessarily go into a game looking to foul anyone,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. “But (our plan was) to definitely go to Elijah Malone. He’s a weapon for us and a problem for other teams.”

After Ball missed the free throw, Reed fouled out with 2:04 left while trying to defend the 6-foot-2, 220-pound Malone; This left the 1.80 meter tall winger Alex Karaban – who only played eight minutes in the first half due to foul problems – as UConn’s de facto center. After Malone made his two free throws to cut the lead to one, UConn responded with a putback from Jaylin Stewart to extend its lead to three. Malone made another layup after the timeout, making it a tie game again with 1:10 left.

And then the ultimate irony.

On Monday, when UConn winger Liam McNeeley was called for a back foul with 40 seconds left, Hurley went into a frenzy and gave the coach a technical foul that ultimately cost the Huskies the game. But on Tuesday? Colorado forward Trevor Baskin was not called for a back foul when he grabbed a crucial offensive rebound on Javon Ruffin’s miss with 24 seconds left – even though the postgame review showed Baskin made contact on the play had and should have done so deserves a whistle.

“Obviously it’s ironic,” Hurley said. “It just shows how the last two days have gone for us: yesterday the biggest play of the game was an over-the-back that was whistled against us, and today it was even more egregious because young Baskin made the pull.” Liam’s arm down. I’ve seen the replay of it.”

However, instead of winning UConn ball, Colorado called a timeout and prepared for one last play. After the timeout, Boyle once again got his team downhill, and Jakimovski made a layup with eight seconds left that sent him flying into the stands. “When it came out of his hand,” Colorado point guard Julian Hammond III said, “it looked good.”

UConn called a timeout with 5.9 seconds left in the game, but didn’t have a particularly good shot. Hassan Diarra’s 3-pointer at the buzzer fell incomplete.

Jakimovski’s performance was a fitting microcosm of the second half, in which Colorado shot 62.5 percent overall. And as for the internal muscle? It directly led to 20 paint points, including the game-winner, but also several open kickout 3s; The fact that the Buffaloes shot 5 of 9 from 3 balls in the second half was also crucial to their surprise success.

“Our defense was just so terrible, just so terrible out here,” Hurley said. “Obviously it was a tough two days.”

Malone and Hammond – who had four three-pointers and three assists – led the way for Colorado. At UConn, McNeeley — who missed much of the second half with an apparent hip injury — was still the top player with 20 points on his first four three-pointers. Ball chipped in 16, while Diarra – making his first start at point guard this season – had 11 points and six assists.

Colorado plays winner No. 5 Iowa State and Dayton on Wednesday, while UConn will play the loser in the seventh-place game – and will try to avoid a 3-0 loss at Hawaii.

What’s wrong with UConn?

Hoo boy. A lot.

The Huskies’ offense is still as good as ever. First, let’s spread some good news. Despite a poor second half, shooting 40.7 percent overall and 26.7 percent from 3, UConn still finished the game shooting 48.1 percent and 38.7 percent from 3 – both of which are winning numbers. More analytically, the Huskies averaged a PPP of 1.220, the same excellent mark they have posted in most games over the last two seasons.

But defensively is a different story – and this is where Hurley really needs to figure some things out.

Memphis scored 1.34 PPP against the Huskies on Monday. Colorado was at 1.237 PPP on Tuesday. If these are elite numbers offensively. Defensively they are pretty bad to say the least. The more bare statistics say the same thing. Colorado shot 62.5 percent overall and 55.6 percent from 3 in the second half and, as Ball said, “got what they wanted.”

Where did UConn’s defense suffer?

Without doing a more in-depth film review, two things stand out. The first is defense without fouling. UConn has been essentially unable to do that in its two games against quality opponents this season – neither of which was ranked when they lost to the Huskies. Committing 29 and 22 fouls per game is simply not a sustainable rate. Hurley wants his teams to defend physically, but do so with technique, no jabs or stray elbows. It’s a fine line that UConn has found itself on the wrong end of in Hawaii so far.

“Look, UConn is an aggressive defensive team. I mean, they play physical,” Boyle said. “That’s one of the reasons they foul so often.”

This was particularly important with Reed and Johnson. UConn ranked 13th nationally in block percentage last season, largely due to Donovan Clingan’s rim protection. But Clingan fouled just 3.6 percent, according to KenPom — while Reed (5.4 percent) and Johnson (9.3 percent) fared far worse in that regard. How does Hurley get his two big men, who are otherwise productive, to still challenge at the rim without picking up personals?

“I appreciate Tad saying we are physical, but we are not physical. We play hard. There are some undisciplined fouls,” Hurley said. “For example, Samson’s first foul at the start of the second half, where he fended off his third very quickly. I just don’t know. Is that a foul in a game with so much grabbing and so much holding?”

But the other issue that might take more time is something UConn simply hasn’t addressed to this extent in the two seasons: new personnel and figuring out everyone’s roles. The Huskies’ rotations, particularly when protecting ball screens, are just a touch slower than they have been in two years – and so you end up committing some of those fouls as players try to regain position. Hurley also mentioned defensive failures in one-on-ones; Memphis chose transfer guard Aidan Mahaney yesterday – he didn’t start against Colorado for the first time all season – and his replacement, Diarra, also had his problems.

Hurley and his staff are far too smart to allow such problems to carry over, but right now it is UConn’s most pressing priority.

Required reading

(Photo: Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)