No. 15 UConn falls to West Virginia 56-53

Dec. 9—MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — On a night when he and many of his teammates couldn't make a free throw, West Virginia's Gabe Osabuohein was more aware of that fact than anyone on the court.

Osabuohein's offensive rebound from teammate Taz Sherman's missed free throw with 21 seconds to play helped West Virginia beat No. 15 UConn 56-53 Wednesday night at the WVU Coliseum as part of the Big East-Big 12 Battle.

UConn led by three points with four minutes to play but West Virginia scored seven straight points to squeeze out a victory.

Sherman had 23 points to lead West Virginia (8-1). Sean McNeil added 16 points.

"Gabe's rebound is the play of the game by far," McNeil said. "Without that offensive rebound, it's in overtime."

The Mountaineers were 12-for-27 from the free throw line. Osabuohein was 2-for-8.

"Our undoing was probably some lack of discipline at the defensive end where we put them on the foul line a bunch," UConn coach Dan Hurley said. "Then they did us a favor back by missing a lot."

UConn went scoreless for the game's final four minutes, save a put-back by Isaiah Whaley with 7 seconds to go and his team trailing by four.

Cole attempted an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have sent the game to overtime but it was off the mark.

In what was their first true road game of the season, and their first played before an arena full of opposing fans in nearly two years, the Huskies were booed frequently.

Whaley led UConn (8-2) with 15 points while Cole added 14. Akok Akok had a game-high 10 rebounds but couldn't block out Osabuohein on the key miss.

Neither team was able to create much separation but the Huskies seemed in danger of falling a bit too far behind midway through the second half.

UConn found itself trailing by five, having missed seven of its first nine shots to start that period and having been wildly unsuccessful shooting from the outside all evening.

But all of a sudden Cole connected on a 3-pointer from the wing. Thirty seconds later, after an unforced turnover by West Virginia, Cole hit from the exact same spot, giving his team a surprise 39-38 lead.

The back-to-back triples ignited a 10-0 UConn run that took it to up five points with 10 minutes to play.

But UConn couldn't stay hot from the outside and finished a mere 3-for-21.

"The 3-for-23 from three, obviously that's a tough one," Hurley said, missing the official stat by a bit. "I'd say eight, nine or 10 of those were pretty good looks. We make a couple of them, we walk out with a win."

Andre Jackson and Whaley combined to score all of UConn's first 15 points as the Huskies largely controlled the paint.

UConn missed 11 of its first 12 shots from 3-point range, but connected on eight of its first 11 from inside the arc.

Meanwhile the Mountaineers, who entered the game averaging six 3-pointers per game, hit five in the first half on 10 attempts, including a few long-range ones the Huskies contested reasonably well.

Despite a Jalen Gaffney shot in the final seconds that appeared to beat the shot clock and was goaltended — but was instead waived off the officials — UConn trailed 32-29 at the half. Sherman and McNeil had 13 points each for the Mountaineers, while Whaley had nine points for the Huskies.

The Huskies played two injured starters, guard Tyrese Martin and center Adama Sanogo, for the second straight game.

West Virginia's McNeil, who missed the Mountaineers' previous game with a back injury, returned Wednesday and started.

Neill covers UConn men's basketball and UConn football teams, and he keeps a finger on the pulse of Connecticut sports. For live game updates, and more insight into UConn athletics, player transfers, and team changes, follow Neill on Twitter: @NeillOstrout, Facebook: JINeillO, and Instagram: @NeillOstrout.