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Feast Week is here in college basketball as numerous in-season tournaments got started on Monday, and one of the best is always the Maui Invitational. This year's Maui Invitational features some great teams, and one of them is the UConn basketball team. The Huskies came into the tournament ranked #2 in the country, but they were shockingly upset by Memphis in their first contest in Maui.
The Maui Invitational got started with a bang on Monday afternoon as the Memphis basketball team defeated UConn 99-97 in overtime. This game had everything in it and you would've thought it was a Final Four matchup by the intensity that both teams showed.
Memphis getting the win in this game was certainly not expected as the UConn basketball team was expected to comfortably win. Junior forward Alex Karaban knows that the Huskies need to be better going forward.
“We gotta wake up,” Alex Karaban said after the game, according to a post from Joe Arruda.
UConn specifically was struggling on offense in this one as they really had no rhythm and they let things get out of hand in the second half. The game was tied at the break, but Memphis started to pull away before the Huskies finally came to life in the final few minutes.
Memphis led by 13 points with under four minutes to go in the game before UConn caught fire and came all the way back. Solo Ball made a ridiculous three with just seconds left in the game to send things into overtime.
At the end of the day, UConn basketball head coach Dan Hurley needs to wake up, too, not just his players. A technical foul from Hurley in the final minute of overtime ended up being the difference. The game was tied, but with a foul and the technical coming at the same time, Memphis was able to get four free throws, and they made them all. That with under a minute left in the game. The Tigers went on to win by two points.
UConn showed a lot of resiliency late in the game, but they need to wake up a lot earlier than they did. Their head coach also does need to do a better job keeping his cool, especially in crucial moments like that.
The Huskies will now move on to the losers bracket of the Maui Invitational and they will take on Colorado on Tuesday. Memphis is moving on and they will be playing Michigan State. The Huskies and Buffaloes will get going at 3:30 ET, and the Tigers and Spartans will get going 30 minutes after the conclusion of that game. UConn will play on ESPN2 and Memphis will play on ESPN.
