Maui Invitational scores, takeaways: UConn goes 0-3, finishes last; Michigan State edges UNC in overtime

LAHAINA, Hawaii — If you thought you might’ve heard a tremor across the Pacific Ocean in the middle of the night, you were right. 

UConn’s reign of dominance atop college basketball is no more. An earthquake has hit college basketball. The most dominant program has lost its powers. The program that took one nonconference loss the past two seasons managed to TRIPLE that number in three days’ time at the Maui Invitational. It’s the most stunning development in all of American sports this month … and maybe in the past six months. 

“Right now we’re a shell of who we’ve been,” Dan Hurley said after his No. 2 Huskies were beaten 85-67 by Dayton on Wednesday night in Maui in the seventh place game of the tourney. 

“The burden of wearing a uniform after back-to-backs, right now, looks like it’s weighing heavy on the group,” Hurley said. 

The 18-point differential is UConn’s worst loss to a nonconference opponent since 2018, when Connecticut was defeated by Iowa by 19 in Hurley’s first season with the Huskies.

UConn’s the first team since Louisville in 1986-87 to lose three games in three days as a top-two team. Like UConn, that Louisville group was a reigning champion; it took its loss at the Great Alaska Shootout. The Huskies are the first top-two team in the polls to lose three straight games to unranked teams since No. 2 Arizona in 2017. The Wildcats team infamously ffell out of the AP poll entirely the following week, marking the first time a team had ever gone from top-two to unranked in a week. 

Connecticut will suffer the same fate. It’s also down to 28th at KenPom after sitting at No. 4 two weeks ago. The program hasn’t been ranked this low since March of 2021. 

“Right now we’re a shell of who we’ve been.”

Dan Hurley

For Dayton, some validation and a sorely needed win to give some nonconference cred to its docket. The Flyers earned…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/maui-invitational-scores-takeaways-uconn-goes-0-3-finishes-last-michigan-state-edges-unc-in-overtime/

Author : Matt Norlander

Publish date : 2024-11-28 09:30:00

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