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

“We cheated death in this one here today,” coach Dan Hurley said afterward.

UConn faced a double-digit halftime deficit at home for the first time since 2017, and in a chaotic halftime locker room scene, coaches yelled about defensive lapses, about players not doing their jobs or giving it their all. Tarris Reed Jr. put himself in that “not giving my all” group. He missed a critical defensive rebound almost as soon as he entered the game, which stuck with his head coach, and sat scoreless with his team down 12 at the break.

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

Reed reentered the game after six minutes, the Huskies trailing by nine, trading buckets because they couldn’t miss and they also couldn’t make a stop. By the time he checked out with 1:44 to go, UConn’s lead was 10. He finished with 10 points, five rebounds, two assists, three blocks and a steal – one of his assists leading to a 3-pointer from fellow transfer Aidan Mahaney which gave the Huskies their first double-figure lead of the night. The team was plus-15 with Reed on the court.

Mahaney finished with 15 points, making 4 of 5 from the field and both of his attempts from beyond the arc as UConn improved to 12-3 on the year and 4-0 in Big East play, maintaining its 14-game winning streak in the on-campus arena.

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

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

“It’s not as dominating and it’s not as highlight-filled and it’s not as much of a coronation, the games that we’re all coming to and coaching. But at the end of the day, we’re one game behind where we were last year and we’re one game ahead in the league of where we were last year after everything that’s gone on in our season,” Hurley said. “So I’m really proud of our team, proud that they found a way to dig that game out today, and we’ve got to address our issues.”

The absence of McNeeley came into play early as UConn shot just 3 for 9 from beyond the arc in the first half.

Mahaney came off the bench and drained the first three on a catch-and-shoot opportunity after the Huskies went down four. Karaban nailed another on the next possession and Jaylin Stewart cut to the basket for a dunk to regain the lead, 22-20, with 9:23 left in the half. The Huskies’ deficit grew to six before their third made 3-pointer, when Ball just beat the shot clock buzzer on an out of bounds play with four minutes to go.

That shot accounted for UConn’s final points of the half as they missed nine of their last 10 shots from the field and allowed the Friars to go into halftime on a 9-0 run. Quietly dominating the game, Providence shot 56.7% from the field in the first half (3 for 5 from beyond the arc) while UConn made just 42.3% of its shots after a 10 for 16 start.

Perhaps most striking, the Huskies were outrebounded 17-11 in the first half as their second-leading rebounder (McNeeley) sat on the bench with a boot on his foot. The Friars finished the game with a 34-22 advantage on the glass.

“We’ve got to find a way to be sturdier on the ball,” Hurley said. “Luke (Murray) and Kimani (Young) do a great job of scout prep with the actions that the other teams run, but sometimes teams are just putting their heads down and driving us because they’re targeting players that are showing up on film as not great individual on-ball defenders. If we don’t get that squared away, that’s gonna be a major problem. And the rebounding. We’re not used to being minus-12 here, that’s not part of our ‘bulletproof basketball’ formula. There’s gonna be a lot of bad film for us from this one.”

The first five minutes of the second half went similarly to most of the first as UConn failed to get defensive stops and Providence answered shot-for-shot, building its lead to as many as 14 points. Diarra traded 3-pointers with Friars point guard Jayden Pierre around the 12-minute mark and then found Ball for another from deep, which brought the Huskies within seven as both teams couldn’t miss from the field.

UConn finally forced some mistakes after the midway point in the second half, using a 9-0 run that featured seven free throws and a nifty layup from Mahaney to tie the game at 60 with 8:24 to go. Reed tied the game from the stripe and made a tough go-ahead layup through contact a minute later. Mahaney, Karaban and Diarra added to what grew to a 17-2 run with buckets inside. The Friars missed four of their next five shots from the field and Mahaney landed a knockout blow from deep with two minutes to go, putting UConn ahead, 77-65.

The Huskies shot 72.7% from the field and 3 for 4 from 3 as they outscored 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 got to close the game better. That was partly my fault, I fouled a 3-point shooter, turned the ball over trying to split the trap,” Diarra said. “Things like that can’t happen, especially from a senior guard. We’ll be better.”

UConn will meet Villanova at Finneran Pavilion for another Big East road game on Wednesday, tip-off scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET.

____

©2025 Hartford Courant. Visit courant.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.