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CINCINNATI-No matter what happens to their Bengals on Sunday in Los Angeles, the city of Cincinnati got to join enjoy a big win on Super Bowl weekend. Alas for the Connecticut Huskies’ men’s basketball team, it came at the expense of one of the team’s more renowned supporters.

An animated showing from Bengals fans and head coach Dan Hurley wasn’t enough to guide No. 24 UConn to another win over a ranked opponent, as the Huskies fell to No. 25 Xavier on Friday night at Cintas Center. Jack Nunge led the Musketeers with 22 points and fell just one rebound short of a double-double.

As another cold shooting start on both sides defined the early going (the game knotted at 10-10 midway through the first half), the Huskies (16-7, 7-5 Big East) found themselves racking up tallies at the wrong section of the scoreboard: early infractions for Adama Sanogo and R.J. Cole relegated them to spectators in the early going. Tyrese Martin and Tyler Gaffney thus picked up the scoring slack over the latter ten minutes, though their matching seven-point efforts in that span couldn’t stop Xavier (17-7, 7-6 Big East) from taking a halftime lead, the final topping being a Nate Johnson triple as time expired to create a 34-31 halftime margin.

The Huskies’ ultimate second half sin was allowing the Musketeers’ established threats, namely Paul Scruggs and Zach Freemantle, to make an impact on the scoresheet: the pair scored all 21 of their combined points in the second half, helping the Musketeers craft a lead that reached as high as 10. Untimely technicals also forced UConn into a late clawback effort: Hurley’s reactions to officiating finally proved to be too much when he was called for a technical after a call on Martin just before the final media timeout. The Huskies were charged with 23 fouls, compared to 15 for the Musketeers.

Andre Jackson was likewise charged less than three minutes later for spiking the ball in frustration when he was ruled the last one to touch a ball going out of bounds in a rebounding scrum in the penultimate minute of action. Xavier, however, struggled to take advantage of its trips to the foul line (going 19-of-26 from the stripe), helping the Huskies stay afloat. They trailed by only four with 30 seconds remaining, but Cole’s final miss led to the Xavier rebound that secured the winning margin.

Despite their early rests, both Cole and Sanogo reached double figures with 22 and 11 points respectively. Martin partook in all 40 Friday minutes and earned 18 in defeat.

Friday’s game had originally been scheduled for Dec. 28 but was pushed back due to COVID-19 concerns on the UConn side. Xavier’s win snapped a two-game losing streak, as they previously fell to unranked DePaul and Seton Hall. A rematch between the Huskies and Musketeers is scheduled for Feb. 19 at Gampel Pavilion.

In the meantime, the Huskies will look to end their week on a winning note when they battle St. John’s at Madison Square Garden on Sunday afternoon (12 p.m. ET, Fox). It will serve as a rematch of the teams’ overtime get-together on Jan. 12 in Storrs, which featured a 26-point, 18-rebound performance from Sanogo. The Red Storm (13-10, 5-7 Big East) is coming off a comeback effort that fell just short against No. 15 Villanova on Tuesday night, dropping a 75-69 decision. UConn is looking for its first sweep of St. John’s since 2003.

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags