The Pirates' hunt for their first Big East win will continue until at least Saturday, due to the 71-63 loss they suffered on Tuesday night against the No.13 UConn Huskies at the Gampel Pavilion.
Despite the loss, the Hall's forwards had strong outings. Junior forward Jeff Robinson scored his most points as a Pirate with 17, while sophomore forward Herb Pope grabbed his 10th double-double- of the season.
In the opening minutes of the first half, the Hall came out strong, jumping out to a 6-3 lead courtesy of a three pointer from junior forward Robert Mitchell.
From there the Pirates surrendered the lead, were not able to take it back, and only were able to tie it with three minutes left to play in the half.
A big reason the Hall had trouble getting on the board in the middle of the first half was UConn's defense, which tallied up nine blocks.
While the Pirates were trying to gain back the lead in the middle of the first half, UConn was playing strong offensively all around.
Alex Oriakhi had two dunks, as the Huskies shot 91% from the free throw line.
The Hall was having trouble scoring due to Pope's foul trouble. He had two fouls early on in the half, and with 15 minutes still to go, he was benched.
The Pirates finally tied the game up with less than three minutes to play thanks to an 8-2 run.
The run was lead by Robinson, who scored four.
Connecticut answered by scoring four down the stretch, all by Stanley Robinson, and going into the second half the Hall was down by four, 35-31.
Despite Jerome Dyson's first three points of the second half, the Pirates went on a 6-0 run courtesy of, once again, Robinson who had four, and Pope.
This put the Hall within one, 40-39, with 16 minutes to play.
Back and forth play resulted until junior Jeremy Hazell was able to give the Pirates a 53-52 lead eight minutes later on a three pointer.
The Huskies then went on a 9-0 run. They fought back and were able to jump ahead 59-57, behind a quick five from Jerome Dyson, and Gavin Edwards added another four ontwo consecutive lay-ups to give his team 63-57 lead with just under five minutes left to play.
The Pirates would come close to gaining back the lead two minutes later when a jumper by Pope made the score 63-61, but to continue the reoccurring theme this season, Seton Hall was once again not able to score points and finish down the stretch.
Connecticut scored the next eight of the last ten points of the game, and the Hall was not able to come back.
The Pirates play next on Saturday, when they try to get their first Big East win against Cincinnati at home in the Prudential Center.
