No. 19 CT 74, MI 60

Hamilton had 16 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, and No. 18 CT beat the Wolverines 74-60 on Wednesday night in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis. He’s 2-5 all-time against UConn and 1-1 at MI, winning their most recent bout 68-63 on January 17, 2010 at Crisler Center. With American Athletic Conference transfers Danuel House from Houston and Anthony Collins from South Florida, they established something before coming up short in the nip-and-tuck final.

The Syracuse Orange (4-0) take on the Connecticut Huskies (4-0) at Imperial Arena at Atlantis Resort.

Despite a trip down south to the Bahamas, the rebounding deficiencies and cold shooting from the Xavier game carried over to tonight. We didn’t get back on defense.

The Huskies, despite the quick turnaround from their late game on Wednesday, came out with an abundance of energy and jumped out to a 19-9 lead, as Sterling Gibbs, who had 10 first-half points, hit a couple of three-pointers and their defense was swarming, forcing Syracuse into bad shots.

Moving forward, there’s a lot to like about the way Texas A&M played throughout the tournament. A combination of turnovers and an inability to create open looks against the zone doomed them down the stretch. Had just two fast-break points. Just as UConn needs big triples to make a difference, the same can be said for the Wolverines, who were 15-8 when shooting at least 30 percent from three last season.

“We were all around the basket and didn’t get fouled, and we didn’t make layups”, Kennedy said. Michael Gbinije and Trevor Cooney led the way with 26 and 19 points, respectively.

In the second half, LeVert played 17 of 20 minutes and was the one actually attacking the rim. “I remember being in high school when I think they went into five or six overtimes”. Though their 83-70 loss to Syracuse yesterday was more than understandable, the 49ers also have suffered double-digit losses to No. 231 Elon and No. 208 East Carolina. Hamilton led the way with 16 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

When Syracuse and CT get together on the court, good basketball often follows.

“These teams here, they’re gonna take advantage of every shortcoming, every missed assignment that we (have)”, said Ollie. For reference, here are the rebounding totals for Michigan’s big men through three games, with their minutes listed in parenthesis next to the rebounding total: Moritz Wagner, 6 (18), Ricky Doyle, 6 (50), Mark Donnal, 4 (31), D.J. UConn allowed 45 second half points in its three-point loss to Syracuse. “These guys really played hard and played huge minutes three days in a row”, Boeheim said.

“Duncan and this guy (Irvin) were 1-for-12 from three again, I don’t think you’ll see that in anybody’s lifetime”, Beilein said.

Tesha Buck scored 24 points for the Phoenix, which faces Tulane at noon Friday. Where Sullivan may have a strong impact will be on the defensive end, where he is a solid rebounder and great shot-blocker – five blocks in four games. Boeheim has scheduled Villanova, St. John’s and, this season, Georgetown (as has UConn), and it’s refreshing to hear he’s amenable to rekindling the rivalry with the Huskies, as well.