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The UConn Huskies returned from their modified pause Saturday afternoon to take on the Seton Hall Pirates, and UConn’s slide continued as Seton Hall pulled away with an 80-73 victory, marking UConn’s third loss in its last four games.
Seton Hall controlled the whole game, jumping out to an 18-5 lead in the first eight minutes and never looking back. Both teams originally struggled to hit shots, but Seton Hall snapped out of the funk before UConn, making all the difference. The Huskies would attempt to claw back in the second half, but the effort wasn’t enough.
Sandro Mamukelashvili led Seton Hall with 22 points and seven rebounds, as the senior big man logged a game-high 36 minutes of play.
Jalen Gaffney led UConn with a career-high 20 points.
Not having James Bouknight for more than a month has singnificantly hindered the Huskies as they just don’t have a go-to scoring option readily available without him. The good news for UConn, though, is that Bouknight may be back this week, according to Dan Hurley.
Seton Hall improves to 11-8 on the season and 8-5 in conference play. They will be back in action next Sunday when they host Marquette. UConn falls to 8-4 on the year, and 5-4 in conference play. They’ll hit the road Wednesday for a game against Providence.