STORRS, Conn. — A lathered up crowd on $2 Miller Lite night time. Ben Gordon’s jersey retirement. An early 14-point deficit.
St. John’s didn’t blink. It rallied on a number of events, quieting the raucous constructing on a number of events. RJ Luis had the exclamation level, a proper baseline jumper with 10.1 seconds left that shocked Gampel Pavilion.
No. 19 UConn rallied from eight right down to get inside two, however Luis’ jumper iced it, sending the Twelfth-ranked Johnnies to an exhilarating 68-62 victory over the two-time defending nationwide champions.
St. John’s magical season has now reached one other degree, with a attainable High 10 rating on Monday.
The Johnnies have gained 10 straight video games and 16 of 17.
Luis led the way in which with 21 factors and 7 rebounds, Kadary Richmond added 12 factors, six rebounds and 6 assists and Simeon Wilcher and Zuby Ejiofor every had 11. UConn was led by Liam McNeeley, who had 18 factors.
Solo Ball had 13, however was blanked within the second half.
The primary 10 minutes had been a nightmare.
The Crimson Storm had been asleep.
They had been crushed on the glass, couldn’t make something and stored on shedding Ball, who had 11 factors over the primary 6:40.
Connecticut constructed a double-digit lead simply 5:10 after the opening tip and led by as many as 14.
The Johnnies seemed shaken by the hostile crowd, outrebounded 18-3 out of the gate.
Then, the sport flipped. Smith hit a 3-pointer and was fouled. The press sped up the Huskies, creating transition alternatives for the Johnnies.
They ripped off a 15-2 run and by some means held a two-point halftime lead regardless of that dreadful begin.
Over the ultimate 9:37 of the interval, the Crimson Storm outscored UConn 25-9.
Luis was the perfect Johnnie over the preliminary 20 minutes, notching 11 factors and 4 rebounds, and Wilcher added eight.
The foul-plagued Richmond was held scoreless, though he did have 4 assists.
The momentum didn’t carry over. St. John’s offensive struggles returned over the primary a part of the second half.
The Johnnies missed 11 of their first 12 pictures from the sector and located themselves behind by three on the under-12 timeout.
They’d a scoring drought of 6:31, which enabled Connecticut to construct a six-point lead.
St. John’s, although, got here alive.
A Richmond-led 8-1 run, which coincided with three straight UConn turnovers, gave the Crimson Storm the lead with 5:16 left, forcing a Huskies timeout
