STORRS, Conn. – Playing against the two-time defending national champions on national television, the East Texas A&M University men's basketball team fell 81-46 to the No. 2/2 ranked University of Connecticut Huskies on Tuesday night at Gampel Pavilion.
The Huskies are ranked No. 2 in both the AP and USA Today/Coaches polls this week and are now 4-0 on the season, while the Lions fall to 1-4. UConn's current ranking is the highest ranked team the Lions have played in the Division I era.
UConn's 81 points in the game on Tuesday night are the least scored by the Huskies in a game thus far this season.
Tuesday's game was broadcasted on Fox Sports 1, the first nationally televised broadcast for the Lions since 2022-23 and the announced attendance at Gampel Pavilion was 10,299.
After forcing turnovers on the first two possessions for the Huskies,
Scooter Williams Jr. (Chattanooga, Tenn.) hit a layup to put the Lions up 2-0, but the Huskies scored the next 10 points, while the Lions went 0 for 7 from the field.
Khaliq Abdul-Mateen (Cy-Lakes) halted the scoring drought with an and-one layup. The Lions shot 24.9 percent from the field in the first half and trailed 42-20 at the half. Williams Jr. scored seven of the team's 20 points.
The Lions put together a 12-2 run in the second half, including scoring eight in a row over a stretch of three minutes and 54 seconds, holding the Huskies to shoot 0 for 5 from the field during the run. UConn answered with an 8-0 run of its own on the other end to extend the lead back up 74-39 as the Lions went on a scoring drought of 4:43.
The leading scorer for the Lions was
Camerin James (Apopka, Fla.), who came off the bench and scored 18 on 7 for 13 shooting, while both Williams Jr. and
KC Ugwuakazi (Boston, Mass.) totaled seven points each. Ugwuakazi led the team with five rebounds as well.
Four of the five starters for the Huskies scored in double digits, with Solo Ball scoring 12.
POST GAME INTERVIEW
UP NEXT
The Lions continue the road trip at Oklahoma on Thursday at 7 p.m.
-ETAMU-
