UConn men’s basketball defeated by Providence in Big East pembukas opener

Once again, Providence remains a thorn in UConn’s side.

The bustling, sold-out crowd at the XL Center, buzzing with energy for UConn’s first home game in the Big East in front of fans since March 2013, wasn’t enough to prevent the 20th-ranked Huskies from falling to Providence 57-53 on Saturday.

The Friars led by nine at half-time and opened up a 15-point lead in the second. UConn somehow pulled it back to two (55-53) after Tyler Polley’s three-pointer (his first and only one in seven attempts). But Al Durham scored on the baseline drive with 45 seconds remaining to put PC four ahead.

The Friars missed three straight free throws over the last 25 seconds, but RJ Cole and Polley hit the wrong 3-pointer, and PC won to improve the score to 11-1.

UConn fell to 9-3.

RJ Cole led UConn with 16 points, despite shooting just 5-for-19, and Tyrese Martin, on his first game back in almost three weeks with a wrist injury, added 15.

Isaiah Whaley scored 10 for the Huskies and Andre Jackson had eight points and 14 boards. Otherwise, UConn has a lot of blank stat lines in its score box.

AJ Reeves leads PC with 16 points, Ed Croswell adds 11 and Nate Watson 10.

UConn opened the game with just 3 of their first 18 shots and missed nine in a row when Martin scored with 6:12 left.

The Huskies took the lead back after a 9-3 run, highlighted by a fine pair of pennies by Cole and another by Jackson and capped by Isaiah Whaley in the ring.

But the Friars ended the first half 11-1, with Reeves’ three-pointer in a row and ended with Croswell’s ferocious dunk that took the halftime score to 31-22.

Martin showed some early carats, he made consecutive big baskets late in the game to get UConn into seven.

The Huskies are still without center Adama Sanogo (belly) for the fourth game in a row, and his absence is noticeable. While Sanogo isn’t a 3-point threat, UConn runs many of his fouls through 6ft-10 second-graders, and the Huskies sometimes seem lost at the end of that floor.

RIM MOVE

Jim Calhoun, former UConn Hall of Fame coach, was at the game with his wife, Pat. Calhoun was greeted by several of his former players, including Rod Sellers and Ed Nelson.

Two-time national champion Tyler Olander and UConn baseball coach Jim Penders were also in attendance.

A pair of UConn Class 2022 commitments, 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan of Bristol Central and 6-7 forward Alex Karaban of IMG Academy, watched the game from behind the UConn bench. The two were also introduced to the crowd in midfield during the media timeout at the end of the first half.