It was a tale of two halves for the UConn Huskies as they had to overcome an early double-digit deficit, but they got the resulted they wanted in a 74-67 win over the Colorado Buffaloes.
Colorado controlled the game from the opening tip, never trailing in the first 20 minutes. It looked like they were going to run away with the game in last six minutes of the first half as they relled off an 11-2 run and took a 36-27 lead into the break. Josh Scott led the way for the Buffs, putting up 13 points in the first frame.
However, Connecticut came out of the intermissing playing inspired basketball. Their pressure forced Colorado into 11 turnovers, which allowed the Huskies to reel off a dominant 39-17 run to take total control of this game.
UConn's lead ballooned to 13 with just over three minutes to play, but Colorado amped up the defensive pressure and responed with 10 unanswered points to give themselves a chance. It wasn't until Sterling Gibbs hit two free throws with 14.2 seconds left that UConn was finall able to stabilize their lead and hold on for the victory.
Star guard Daniel Hamilton made play after play for the Huskies all afternoon and really kept UConn within striking distance in the first half. He finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while backcourt-mate Rodney Purvis chipped in 17 points and four rebounds.
Scott finished as Colorado's leading scorer with 23 points - no one else scored in double figures. This was the first game the Buffaloes lost this season when Scott scored at least 20 points.
UConn now advances to play the winner of (1) Kansas vs. (16) Austin Peay on Saturday.
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