By Mike Coppinger

NEWARK – Seton Hall was unable to hand No. 6 Connecticut its third consecutive loss, as the Pirates blew a 14-point second half lead, losing 61-59 to the Huskies before 10,001 at the Prudential Center.

Big East leading-scorer Kemba Walker scored 19 and freshman guard Jeremy Lamb added 10 points and seven boards to spoil the upset-minded Pirates. Seniors Jeremy Hazell and Jeff Robinson posted double-doubles, with Hazell scoring a game-high 20 in the loss.

Down 56-49 late, Walker missed all three free throw attempts, but acquitted himself nicely down the stretch, hitting a 3-pointer with 2:32 left, completing a 12-1 run to give the Huskies their first lead of the second half.

The Huskies (18-4, 5-4 Big East) wouldn’t relinquish that lead, as Robinson missed a game-tying shot with 21 seconds left and the Huskies hit free throws down the stretch to stave off Seton Hall’s second Big East upset in as many weeks.

“Jeff (Robinson) one-on-one going to his left, he did what he was supposed to do,” Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said. “He got in there, had a left-hand hook, and just missed it. He made a good move.”

Seton Hall (10-14, 4-8 Big East) grabbed the lead on Hazell’s free throw shot with a little over three minutes remaining in the first half and continued to build on that lead into the second stanza, leading by as many as 14 with 13:56 left in the game.

But as time wound down, UConn clamped down on defense, forcing the Pirates to miss six straight from the field.

“We had some good looks that just didn’t go down,” Willard said. “I thought we had a couple bad shots in that run, but once Herb (Pope) went out your inside presence was lost a little bit.”

The game was a sloppy affair from the onset — the teams combined for 24 turnovers, 13 by Seton Hall, and both squads struggled from the charity stripe, Seton Hall at 42.9 percent.

Seton Hall out-rebounded UConn 42-33, but scored just 11 second-chance points and only received eight points from the bench.

“I feel like everybody here wants to win and so however many games we can keep close and steal them at the end … we’re going to try to capitalize on that opportunity,” said Pope, a junior forward.

“We just need to know how to sustain intensity through the whole 40 minutes,” said Hazell. “We played good 35 minutes, but then the last five minutes we collapsed. We just need to come back and practice and go hard. We need to leave this behind us.”

UConn has now won 11 straight and 25-of-27 contests against Seton Hall.

Huskies coach Jim Calhoun thinks that better days are ahead for Seton Hall though.

“(Coach Williard) is going to do everything the right way. … When I come down here now it’s just so much different,” Calhoun said. “Coach Williard is going to be an absolutely terrific coach. I talk to him at length about the things that he’s doing for this program. I have tremendous respect for him.
“We came out with a great, great win for us, and I’m sure that it’s deflating to them.”