Box Score / Box Score (PDF)
Postgame Quotes / Photo Gallery

Storrs, CT - Wagner gave No. 4 UConn all it could handle and trailed by just eight with 7:35 to play in the game before the Huskies used a late run to hold off a scrappy Seahawk squad by a 78-66 score at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. The Green & White forced the defending National Champions into 19 turnovers but could not overcome a 43-17 disparity in free throws. Wagner is now 1-1 on the year while UConn improves to 2-0 with its 13th-straight win, dating back to last year's title run.

Up 13 at the half, the Huskies opened the second with a 7-2 run while pushing the lead out to 48-30 with 17:15 to play. Sophomore Kenneth Ortiz (Newark, NJ / Science Park) answered with an impressive layup against UConn's formidable front line. However, Huskies would again push the lead out to 18 and led 61-43 with 10:28 to go in the game following an Andre Drummond dunk.

Playing in a hostile environment, Wagner responded with a 10-0 spurt, in which all 10 points where garnered as a result of second-change points or turnovers. Sophomore Naofall Folahan (Cotonou, Republic of Benin / Wilbraham and Monson Academy) tipped in an offensive rebound before junior Josh Thompson (Richland, NJ / St. Augustine Prep) drilled a three pointer. After Thompson corralled a rebound on the ensuing UConn possession, the athletic 6-5 junior snared an offensive rebound before kicking it out to sophomore Latif Rivers (Elizabeth, NJ / Avon Old Farms (CT)) for his first three pointer of the night, while drawing the Seahawks to within 10 at 61-51 with 8:03 to play. Sophomore Orlando Parker (Orlando, FL / Orlando Christian Prep) then drew a charge on the ensuing offensive possession before Rivers drilled a pair from the line while cutting the lead to single digits at 61-53 at the 7:35 mark.

Unfortunately, that would be the last time that Wagner would be that close. On the next possession, with the shot clock winding down, Ortiz was whistled for a controversial foul and Shabazz Napier drilled both free throws. UConn used that momentum to answer with a 11-2 run while assuming what would turn out to be insurmountable 72-55 lead with 3:11 to play. Refusing to let his team go down without a fight, head coach Dan Hurley kept the pressure on and rattled the Huskies into three timeouts in just under a minute and a half as Wagner again whittled the lead to 12 on four different occasions in the game's final 1:58, before ultimately losing 78-66.

Over the final 10:58 of the game when the Green & White slashed an 18-point deficit to eight, the well-conditioned Seahawks wore down a thin UConn roster by grabbing eight of their 11 offensive rebounds on the night while pressuring the Huskies into five turnovers. Despite allowing Napier to go for 21 points, Wagner's defense harrassed the highly accomplished sophomore into a career-high six turnovers, against just one assist. Additionally, the Seahawks limited Lamb to just 5-of-15 shooting from the floor while forcing the other dynamic sophomore guard into a career-best matching three turnovers. Lamb did manage to go 9-of-12 from the line en route to a solid 20-point, seven-round night in 40 minutes of action, marking just the second time he had played the entire game in his collegiate career.

Wagner shot a respectable 39.7 percent (23-58) from the floor and was 82.4 percent (14-17) from the line but allowed UConn to hit 44.7 percent (21-47), including 41.7 percent (5-12) from beyond the arc and 72.1 percent (31-43) from the line. The Huskies won the game on the glass, outrebounding the Seahawks by a 42-24 margin, including 18-11 on the offensive end. Despite the glaring differential, the Green & White were only outscored 26-20 in the paint.

Rivers led all Wagner scorers with 11 points to go along with a team-best four assists while Murray (10 points, 5 rebounds), Ortiz (10 points, 3 assists), Folahan (9 points, 6 rebounds) and Thompson (9 points) all had solid games as the Seahawks placed nine student-athletes in the scoring column for the second-straight game.

The teams battled in the game's early going as the Green & White assumed an 11-8 lead just over six minutes into the game following a 7-0 spurt, keyed by a jumper and three pointer from Murray before Folahan hit a pair from the line. UConn would answer with an 8-2 run in opening up a 16-13 lead with 11:55 remaining in the opening stanza. Freshman Marcus Burton (Charlotte, NC / David W. Butler) and junior Jonathon Williams (Richland, CA / Kennedy / CC of San Francisco) reclaimed the lead with a pair of buckets before the Huskies wrestled the lead back for good with a Lamb jumper and a Tyler Olander three-point play. Folahan would cut it to one at 21-20 with 8:39 on the clock with a three-point play of his own before UConn ripped off a momentum-changing 14-3 run that gave the Huskies a 35-23 lead with 4:19 until intermission. UConn would extend its lead to a half-high 15 before going into halftime up 41-28.

Wagner now returns to the Spiro Sports Center where the Seahawks will host North Carolina Central in their home-opener on Wednesday, November 16 at 7:30 pm.