Men's Basketball Drops Road Contest at Connecticut, 78-68

Saturday, January 28

Storrs, CT

7 p.m. CT

Tulane University

4-17, 1-8AAC

UConn

10-11, 5-4AAC

Tulane

UCONN

Men's Basketball Drops Road Contest at Connecticut, 78-68

Jan 28, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

STORRS, Conn. – Five players scored in double-figures, but the Tulane men's basketball team could not hold off a second-half surge by Connecticut in a 78-68 defeat in an American Athletic Conference tilt at Gampel Pavilion on Saturday night.

Melvin Frazier led Tulane (4-17, 1-8 AAC) with 14 points and a career-high four steals, Cameron Reynolds scored 13 points and Ray Ona Embo added 12 more. Malik Morgan compiled 11 points and had team-highs in rebounds (7) and assists (4), while Ryan Smith chipped in 10 points and a pair of blocks.

Connecticut (10-11, 5-4 AAC) was led by Kentan Facey's double-double comprising a game-high 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Amida Brimah had 18 points, eight boards and five blocks. Christian Vital posted a double-double off the bench with 14 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, as Rodney Purvis contributed 14 points.

The Green Wave got off to a hot start with effective ball movement and stingy defense, forcing the Huskies into five turnovers and built a 14-6 lead behind nine points and three steals by Frazier less than five minutes into the game.

After a pair of UConn free throws cut its deficit to six, the Green Wave made five-straight shots from the floor and created a double-digit lead, 26-13, on a Colin Slater layup with 10:13 remaining. The Huskies used a 7-0 run over the next two minutes to draw within six points, before a layup by Smith just ahead of the six-minute mark ended the run to keep the Wave in front, 28-20.

Connecticut charged back to tie the game at 34 on two more free throws with just under one minute left in the half, but Morgan sunk a pair of his own attempts at the charity stripe with 39 seconds left to put the Green Wave up by two at halftime.

Tulane shot 14-for-33 (.424) from the field, 3-for-9 (.333) and 5-for-8 (.625) at the foul line in the first half, while outscoring UConn, 16-12, in the paint, 9-4 off turnovers and 7-3 on the fast break.

The Huskies struck first to start the second half to draw even at 36, but the Green Wave countered with a 7-0 scoring run ignited by a Smith layup and capped by a Reynolds three-pointer, forcing the home team into burning a timeout with 17:37 left in the game.

Tulane was able to keep its six-point lead to the 12:30 mark, but a 6-0 scoring run by UConn tied the game at 50 and forced the Wave to use a timeout of its own with just 10 minutes to go. Connecticut continued the run to nine-straight with two free throws and took a two-point advantage, but six-straight points put Tulane back in front, 56-52, with 7:57 remaining

The Huskies would explode with a 17-0 run over the next five-plus minutes to open up a 69-56 lead down to the 2:32 mark, which included holding the Green Wave scoreless for a duration of 5:25 before a Frazier free throw conversion.

The Wave cut into the deficit, but drew no closer than 10 points as UConn held on for the 10-point home win.

Connecticut owned a 50-36 rebounding margin and outscored Tulane, 34-30, in the paint, 15-9 on the fast break and 15-8 off the bench, while the Green Wave owned a 17-10 edge in points off turnovers.

Tulane returns home to host Temple on Tuesday, Jan. 31. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse, and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNews.