UConn win streak comes to halt as Huskies upended by St. John’s in MSG classic

Silas Demary, Jr. tries to fight off St. John’s pressure defense as Red Storm forced UConn guard into nine turnovers as Huskies fell to Johnnies Friday. (Photo by John Munson/Associated Press)

NEW YORK — UConn came into Friday’s much-hyped showdown with St. John’s off its two most efficient offensive performances of Big East play, a pair of victories over Creighton and Xavier that prompted Dan Hurley to say his Huskies had started to play the bulletproof style of basketball that yielded back-to-back national championships before last season.

As it turned out, the metal-resistant armor was no match for an old-school Big East fistfight.

UConn, the third-ranked team in the nation, went at St. John’s throughout the night before a sellout Madison Square Garden audience, surviving foul trouble to go into halftime tied with the No. 22 Red Storm. But a litany of turnovers and missed free throws, coupled with relentless ball pressure, allowed the Johnnies to get the upper hand in the second half and escape their home floor with an 81-72 victory in the first of at least two battles between the class of the conference.

“It was the exact type of game we thought it was going to be,” Hurley said as the Huskies (22-2, 12-1 Big East) suffered their first loss since a November 19 setback to now-No. 1 Arizona. “Just as hard a game as we’ve had to play this year.”

UConn stayed afloat despite an uncharacteristic 15 turnovers, nine of which were committed by point guard Silas Demary, Jr., who was lured into ten giveaways by St. John’s last season when he played them as a Georgia Bulldog. The visitors were also befallen by a woeful 5-for-12 showing at the free throw line, missing all but one of their six attempts from the stripe over the final 20 minutes.

“When you go minus-17 point-wise at the foul line (St. John’s was 22-for-31 on free throws), turn the ball over 15 times and get outrebounded (32-26), you’re not gonna win on the road. So credit St. John’s. They’ve got a physicality that plays real well in these conference games.”

The Huskies started strong, using the shot making of Braylon Mullins to withstand Dillon Mitchell’s early explosiveness to build a 16-10 lead. But after a Rick Pitino timeout, St. John’s scored the next seven points to retake the lead. The two teams would trade baskets for the majority of the opening stanza thereafter, with UConn fighting back to take a 39-all deadlock into halftime despite six players racking up two fouls before the intermission.

The second half started in a similar vein before St. John’s ripped off 10 straight points to open up a 55-45 lead with 13 minutes remaining in regulation, getting in transition behind five UConn misses and three forced turnovers, all against Demary.

“I don’t think that we turned it over because of their pressure,” Hurley opined. “I think we turned it over because we lost our fucking mind a little bit. And they have great defense. That’s a Top 20 defense, easy. They’re hard to beat.”

Still, the Huskies fought back, even after St. John’s took its largest lead of the night on a Zuby Ejiofor hook shot with 10:24 to play, giving the Johnnies a 60-49 lead. Demary, Tarris Reed, Jr. and Alex Karaban went on a 14-4 run over the next five minutes to whittle the deficit to one, at 64-63. After two Dylan Darling free throws were answered by a Demary layup, UConn again drew within one point, at 66-65, but would get no closer after St. John’s scored eight of the next ten points to put the game away.

“The main message in the huddle was to defend and rebound,” Karaban said. “We felt like we didn’t do that in this game. We had great looks pretty much the entire game, but it came down to defense and rebounding, and we just didn’t do that.”

UConn shot just under 55 percent from the floor and 9-for-19 from three-point range, but St. John’s turned the Huskies’ 15 turnovers into 20 points and enjoyed a 16-9 advantage on second-chance points.

“We prepared the right way,” Karaban said. “We knew the pressure was happening and (St. John’s) had tall, athletic guys. We knew what was expected. We’ve just gotta execute better. It’s a hard feeling.”

Still atop the Big East standings despite the loss, UConn hits the road Wednesday for its next matchup against Butler, the first of a three-game stretch in seven days that will also see Georgetown and Creighton come to Gampel Pavilion. While Karaban lamented the missed opportunity, his coach reiterated the need to stay in the moment before the much-anticipated rematch with the Red Storm on February 25 in Hartford.

“You really don’t look ahead,” Hurley said. “We’ve had an unbelievable run, we haven’t lost in months. As much as we turned the ball over, we put them on the free throw line, the second-half collapse, we still had our chances to steal it. We’ll move on to whoever we play next.”