Three Takeaways from UConn's Loss to Arizona
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The UConn Huskies went to battle with the No. 4-ranked Arizona Wildcats in Gampel Pavillion and unfortunately came up just short. The Huskies dropped the contest to the Wildcats 71-67 in a very close game that saw the Huskies come back from 15 down in the second half.
But the Huskies did not win this one. The Wildcats deserve props for flying across the country and winning another tough road game against a top 5 team, hats off to them. But it was also the fact that the Huskies were missing Tarris Reed Jr. and Braylon Mullins to injuries in this one.
If the two had played, who knows what the result would have been. But the fact that the Huskies kept it close and almost came away with the win missing those two guys, says a lot about the fight the team has this season.
Final. pic.twitter.com/QxHKq9nvJp
— UConn Men's Basketball (@UConnMBB) November 20, 2025
1. The Huskies left points on the board at the free-throw line
It happens to be said almost every game, but at some point the Huskies just have to get better at the free-throw line. They are leaving way too many points on the board game-after-game and it finally cost them.
The Huskies shot 9-18 from the line and that cannot and will not get it done against a team of Arizona's caliber. It was not the only reason that the Huskies took the loss, but was a major reason.
Head coach Dan Hurley needs to have them practice this every practice that they have. Clearly it seems like this is not being worked on and is costing the team. They need to fix this before they get back to playing ranked opponents again.
2. Eric Reibe had a breakout game and can take some pressure off of Reed
Reibe saw the start at center in place of Reed who missed the contest with an ankle injury. And though he left some to be desired on the defensive side of the ball, Reibe did a lot offensively to help out.
He started shooting the three-ball and had a great night. He scored 15 points on 6-10 from the field and 1-4 from the free-throw line. He also hit 2 out of his 5 three-point attempts. He had a lot of open looks at a three-ball but most times decided to pass the ball.
But the few times he decided to shoot the three, he had a great look and knocked down 2 of them. It remains to be seen if Reibe and Reed can be up to the caliber of former Husky legends Adama Sanogo and Donovan Clingan, but the potential is there.
3. There were not enough plays drawn up for Alex Karaban
One of the main backbones of the Huskies did not get much of a chance against the Wildcats in this one. Karaban scored 8 points on 2-5 from the field, 1-2 from the three-point line and 3-5 from the free-throw line.
This is Karaban's senior season so this is it for him and usually Hurley wants to let him go out with a bang. But in this one it seemed like there was not a lot he could do nor a lot of plays drawn up for him.
Karaban has a really nice three-point shot and needed to have plays drawn up to utilize it more. Hurley should be able to fix this and draw more up for his vet soon as the season goes on.
Tyler is a 25 year old Journalism graduate from Georgia Southern University. Tyler is a big fan of hockey, baseball, basketball, and football, and also is a staff writer for Fansided.