LAHAINA, Hawaii – The UConn men’s basketball team is scheduled to play a potential top-five matchup for the Maui Invitational championship on Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Instead, the reigning back-to-back champions are stunned twice early in the tournament and are locked in a duel with Dayton for seventh place. Neither team wants to leave the island without a win.

And for fans in Connecticut, the game won’t start until midnight (7:00 p.m. local time).

Like the Huskies, who lost their first two games against Memphis and Colorado by a combined three points, the Flyers led No. 12 North Carolina by 18 points at halftime in their opening game, but lost 92-90 in the final seconds . Late Tuesday night, Dayton led No. 5 Iowa State by four points at halftime and tied in the final minute, losing 89-84.

“Disappointing end to the game last night and a disappointing end tonight, but proud of our guys for the fight they showed,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said.

The narrow defeats gave the Dayton team optimism, as they had three of the best teams in the country on their side and the odds were stacked against them. No one expected UConn to finish seventh.

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“I think we’ve proven that we’re a top-25 team in the country and can compete with anyone,” said junior guard Malachi Smith, who had 22 points and nine assists in Tuesday’s loss to the USA 7-on-9 shooting scored Cyclones. “We played two great teams … and it came down to two possessions in both games. I think we were in control of both games, but I think we learned something good about ourselves. Cost a few L, but (we) will take lessons from it.”

UConn is in a situation where it hasn’t been able to lose consecutive games since January 2023. But even then, the Huskies didn’t have to play three games in three days and had little time to adjust and refocus.

Most of the discovered vulnerabilities cannot be fixed overnight.

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The Huskies allowed Memphis — an underrated team that will face No. 4 Auburn for the championship in that 5 p.m. ET time slot — and Colorado, 53.1% combined from the field and 55.3% (21 of 38). to shoot bow from outside. UConn committed a combined 51 fouls in the two games, allowing opponents to shoot a total of 68 free throws while only making 37 of their own.

Dayton’s defensive efforts were similar.

“We have to be better defensively,” Grant said. “If we can do that, we have the chance to really take our team to a new level. It’s hard to miss an opportunity at the moment because we had two great chances here. We have another one tomorrow. We have to have a short memory, so to speak. We have to make sure we are prepared to play one of the best teams in the country, a two-time defending champion who feels like he should have won in his games.”

Wednesday’s matchup will be the third meeting between UConn and Dayton, who last met in the 2014 Puerto Rico Tip-Off, a 75-64 win for the Huskies. UConn lost to the Flyers in its first-ever Maui Invitational game in 2000, but bounced back to leave the island with two wins.

What you should know

Website: Lahaina Civic Center, Maui.

Time: 12:00 p.m. ET (7:00 p.m. local time)

Records: UConn: 4-2, Dayton: 5-2

Series: Dayton leads 2-1.

Last meeting: November 21, 2014 – UConn 75, Dayton 64 in Puerto Rico Tip-Off

TV: ESPN2 – Kanoa Leahey, Cory Alexander

Radio: Fox Sports 97-9 – Mike Crispino, Wayne Norman

Reading before the game: