The Huskies will play Syracuse (4-0), an 83-70 first-round victor over North Carolina-Charlotte. Boy, did it ever.
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The University of MI men’s basketball team fell, 74-60, to the Connecticut Huskies (No. 18 AP, No. 21 USA Today), 74-60, on Wednesday night (Nov. 25) inside the Imperial Arena at Atlantis Resort. Lydon, a native of Elizaville, N.Y., had 18 points, eight rebounds and six blocks as Syracuse opened the tournament with a win over Charlotte. 3.
The teams traded the lead at the start of the second half, with neither able to get much separation.
UConn (4-0) shot 50 percent from the floor, outrebounded the Wolverines by 11 and, perhaps most impressively, held Michigan’s long-range gunners to 8-for-29 from beyond the 3-point arc and 32.1 percent overall from the floor.
The game was played within a basket for most of the second half. Danuel House was the only other Aggie to reach double digits in scoring, finishing with 15 points. We had a game-plan discipline out there the whole night.
It’s Syracuse’s first early season tournament title since the Orange won the Maui Invitational in 2013. “So, I’m happy to be a part of this game (Thursday)”.
UConn led for most of the first half, enjoying efficient early shooting from former Seton Hall Pirate Sterling Gibbs and Shonn Miller.
Gbinije led the way with 20 points and four assists, with all four of his makes from the field coming from three.
“Just play free”, he told his players.
“Especially right now, I don’t think it’s wise to do that”, Beilein said. After that they play No. 2 Maryland in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden on December 8 and then return to Gampel Pavilion to play Ohio State on December 12. We were rushing a little bit, but we started trusting each other, having that blind trust on the offensive and defensive end. We didn’t get back on defense. Gbinije also had seven assists in a game that featured seven ties and five lead changes.
Stanford finished third at the Preseason NIT with a 69-66 win over Arkansas, closing the game on a stunning 21-1 run.
Syracuse would stage a late rally with back-to-back threes from Richardson and Gbinije, who would also come up with a late steal and force a trip to the free throw line where he made two of three to take a 35-33 deficit into the half.
“When our defense is solid”, Ollie said, “I know our offense is gonna come around. To be in that atmosphere three nights in a row, there were three big time games and that’s only going to help us in conference play and help us down the road”.
Syracuse’s Trevor Cooney then almost dribbled the shot clock out, Harlem Globetrotters style, and unleashed a wild 3-pointer with about four seconds left that was way off the mark. Junior point guard Derrick Walton Jr.
“It felt kinda good”, Cassell said of his contributions. “I can’t say enough for these guys”. What really hurt was that Caris LeVert picked up his second foul with just over 8 minutes to go in the half and sat until the break.
Lydon opened the stretch with a leaning three-point try off a shot fake.
“It was a rhythm shot”, said Hamilton. They outscored Syracuse’s bench 19-16.
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“The second half they really just took it to us offensively”, Ollie said.
