No. 2 UConn aims to shed rare struggles, faces UMES

Coming off a lackluster performance in the Maui Invitational, second-ranked UConn will attempt to regroup Saturday when it faces Maryland Eastern Shore in Hartford, Conn.

The Huskies went 0-3 in Hawaii. UConn opened the tournament with a 99-97 overtime loss to Memphis, then dropped a 73-72 decision to Colorado before falling to Dayton 85-67 in the seventh-place game. All three losses came against unranked opponents.

UConn (4-3) has lost as many games this year as it did all of last season, when it finished 37-3 and won its second straight national championship.

"When you come to a tournament like this, and it's three games in three days, it starts to go bad, there's no way of fixing it because there's no time to," UConn coach Dan Hurley said. "You just have to deal with the situation. It was a humbling trip, obviously, for the program that's accomplished what we've accomplished.

"We're relying on a lot of young players and the burden of wearing the uniform after back-to-backs right now looks like it's weighing heavy on the group. Right now we just have to focus on becoming a good team, and becoming a tougher team. ... Right now we're a shell of what we've been."

UConn forward Alex Karaban was taken to the hospital for a head injury following Wednesday's loss to Dayton. Karaban's head hit the floor after he was fouled late in the second half. He stayed in the game but was later placed in concussion protocol.

Karaban made four of his team's eight 3-pointers and scored a team-high 21 points against Dayton. Through seven games, Karaban is averaging a team-high 15.9 points per contest. Guard Solo Ball is second on the team with 12.9 points per game.

Dayton outrebounded UConn 41-25.

"We just looked so young compared to them," Hurley said. "Minus Alex and Samson (Johnson) and Hassan (Diarra), we have a lot of younger players. The older guys that we brought in, obviously we're not going to be very successful if we can't get more out of them. So I just think we need to get back and we need to regroup both from a psyche standpoint and then come up with a different plan defensively for the most part.

"I think offensively we'll be fine. Defensively, though, it's been a disaster (in the tournament) for us."

UMES (2-8) is coming off Wednesday's 78-59 loss at Little Rock. Evan Johnson led UMES with 15 points, but the Hawks shot 35.1 percent from the field (20 of 57) and their road record dropped to 0-8 this season. Ketron Shaw, who is averaging a team-best 18.4 points per game, was 3-of-14 from the field in the loss, held to six points.

The Hawks will enter Saturday's matchup on a four-game losing streak.

"I thought the offensive rebounding was a problem for us," UMES coach Cleo Hill Jr. said. "We need to be better fundamentally in that area as it has been an issue for us throughout the year up to this point.

"I think some guys played well (against Little Rock), but we need to be better in our transition defense and moving the ball better offensively. We will regroup and rest. We have one of our toughest challenges all year on Saturday at UConn."

--Field Level Media