Huskies come up short in Memphis
Memphis, Tenn. - Kedran Johnson scored a season-high 21 points, Austin Nichols had 16 and Markel Crawford added 14, leading Memphis past UConn, 75-72, on Thursday in an American Athletic Conference game.
Nichols, who had missed the previous two games with a sprained ankle, scored 13 of his points in the opening half.
Memphis (16-10, 8-5 American) was outrebounded 41-27 and had to survive a late Huskies' rally from 15 points down early in the second half.
UConn trimmed the Tigers' lead to 72-70 with 19.4 seconds left after Brimah made a pair from the line. But Johnson dropped in two free throws two seconds later and Crawford split a pair of free throws with 8.4 seconds to go.
The Huskies (14-11, 7-6) still had a chance to tie the game but freshman Daniel Hamilton misfired on a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Hamilton finished with a career-high 25 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and three steals. It was his fifth career double-double.
Sophomore Amida Brimah added 19 points and 11 rebounds for UConn. Senior Ryan Boatright, who came into the game averaging an AAC leading 18 points per game, had just seven points.
After UConn got two free throws from Brimah for a 6-5 advantage-the Huskies' only lead of the opening half-the Tigers went on a 12-0 run that included three pointers from Johnson and Avery Woodson and four points from Nichols.
Shortly after the Memphis run, Calvin Godfrey dropped in a pair of free throws for a 21-8 Tiger lead. But the Tigers' 2-3 zone allowed the Huskies to dominate on the boards and UConn trimmed what was a 13-point deficit to five on a Rodney Purvis jumper with 2:25 remaining in the half.
UConn outrebounded the Tigers, 19-9, in the first half, but trailed 39-33 at the break.
UConn, the second-best 3-point shooting team in the AAC, went 1 of 9 from beyond the arc in the first half and finished 5 of 20.
The defeat dropped UConn into sixth place in the conference. The Huskies have lost six of their last seven road games.
UConn returns to action on Sunday, hosting Tulane at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs.
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