The University of Connecticut men’s basketball team entered Saturday with a six-game winning streak, and they carried a 9-point advantage to begin the second half against Louisville. The No. 5 Huskies never could quite close the book on the victory during Saturday’s matchup, and it ended up costing them.
In the end, it was Louisville who escaped Storrs with a 79-78 double-overtime win over the Huskies.
"It was an incredibly disappointing loss, because we had the game won twice — in regulation and then in overtime," Jim Calhoun said to the Associated Press.
Sophomore point guard Peyton Siva led the way for Louisville (17-4, 6-2 Big East) with unstoppable drives to the lane, including key layups at the end of regulation and two more in the second overtime. He had 19 points to help Louisville gain sole custody of second place in the Big East.
"You're going to give up something," said Louisville coach Rick Pitino."But the point guard has got to make the right decision, and he made the right decision every time."
Kemba Walker continued to lead the way for UConn (17-3, 5-3) scoring 20 points, but Walker missed a jumper at the end of regulation and at the end of the second overtime couldn’t sink a crucial 3-pointer for a Huskies win.
UConn did a good job all afternoon of limiting Louisville to two 3-pointers in regulation, but the Cardinals responded with four 3-pointers during the overtime sessions.
"We as a team never give up," said Louisville guard Chris Smith to AP. "We've been in a couple of barn-burners already, so this is nothing new to us now."
Louisville has now won four of their last five games.
