Tulane falls at UConn, 67-61

STORRS, Conn. – The Tulane men’s basketball team dropped its second American Athletic Conference game of the season, 67-61, at UConn Wednesday evening at Gampel Pavilion.

Teshaun Hightower scored 17 points with five rebounds, as K.J Lawson added 16 more and made all three of his 3-point attempts. Christion Thompson grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and dished out four assists.

UConn (10-5, 1-2 AAC) scored the first five points of the game, but a Kevin Zhang two-handed jam on a drive ignited a 7-0 scoring run capped by a Lawson 3-pointer gave Tulane (9-6, 1-2 AAC) its first lead of the night with 15:46 left in the first half.

Three lead changes highlighted the middle portion of the period, the last resulting in a 10-0 Huskies run that ended on a Hightower layup at 5:38 to cut the Wave’s deficit to 23-18.

Hightower led all players with 12 points in the first half, as Lawson added 10 more, but UConn built extended its advantage to seven on multiple occasions, the final coming on a layup with one second remaining before halftime to send the home team into the break ahead, 36-29.

The Green Wave shot 11-for-25 (.440) from the field, 3-for-6 (.500) from the 3-point line and 4-for-5 (.800) at the free throw line in the first half, while the Huskies went 13-for-26 (.500) from the floor, 4-for-10 (.400) beyond the arc and 6-for-7 (.857) at the foul stripe.

UConn broke open a 13-point lead, 46-33, with an early offensive surge, but Tulane punched back with eight consecutive points, including five straight by Thompson and a 3 by Lawson, forcing the Huskies to burn a timeout with 13:54 remaining.

The scoring run reached 10-0 on a backdoor cut and finish by Hightower courtesy of a backhanded feed by Nobal Days, pulling the Green Wave within three, 46-43.

UConn scored eight of the next 10 points to push the margin to nine, 54-45, and although Tulane pulled back within five two times, the Huskies had a response at the other end after crashing the offensive glass, consistently creating second-chance opportunities.

Despite UConn getting its lead back to double digits for a brief moment, 65-55, with 1:50 left in the game, and that was when the Green Wave rally began.

A pair of Thompson layups and consecutive timeouts by head coach Ron Hunter got the Green Wave’s defense set, generating a Huskies turnover on an inbounds play that resulted in an easy layup by Days to pull within four with 47 seconds remaining.

Following a UConn layup, a desperation corner 3 with 30 seconds to go turned into the Wave’s last possession, as the Huskies hung on for the six-point victory.
Tyler Polley led four UConn scorers in double-figures with a game-high 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Christian Vital added 14 points and eight boards.

The Huskies shot just 25-for-59 (.424) from the field and 5-for-22 (.227) beyond the arc, but owned a 46-29 rebounding advantage, including 18 at the offensive end.

Tulane remains on the road for its next conference tilt at Temple on Saturday, January 11. Tipoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. (CT) at the Liacouras Center, and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.

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