Seton Hall defeats No. 15 UConn on Ndefo’s last-second layup

NEWARK, N.J. – During St. Peter’s run to the Elite Eight last year, KC Ndefo gained a reputation as a tenacious rebounder and a hard-nosed defender who led the nation in blocks at 6-foot-7.

When Shaheen Holloway left St. Peter’s to coach his alma mater, Seton Hall, he brought Ndefo with him as a graduate transfer.

Ndefo won the crucial rebound and put-back, giving Holloway his biggest win as Pirates coach. Seton Hall beat No. 15 UConn defeated 67-66 Wednesday night.

“We’ve been seeing it every day since he got here,” Kadary Richmond said. “So it just becomes second nature to the rest of us that are in the locker room with him and in practice.”

Richmond scored a game-high 18 points with 10 rebounds while Ndefo had 14, including a last-second layup.

“I felt like I was doing a good job crashing the boards all game,” Ndefo said.

Ndefo grabbed eight rebound and made a follow up layup with just 1.6 seconds remaining. After trailing 17 at halftime, Ndefo missed the free throw. Seton Hall, 12-8, 5-4 Big East, won the second half.

“We’re starting to understand what I want. We’re starting to understand that if we defend and keep teams out of transition, we give ourselves a chance to win the game,” Holloway said.

UConn (15-5 Big East, 4-5 Big East), was without Dan Hurley because of COVID-19. The Huskies were trying stop a two-loss streak. Adama Sanogo scored 16 and grabbed five rebounds. Jordan Hawkins was efficient at 4-of-8, scoring 13 points along with six rebounds.

UConn started the game with a 3-0 lead and was leading 29-19 by half-time. Seton Hall, which was leading by as much as 17 after the break, would trail UConn by just under 20 minutes.

“We’re just mentally strong,” Tyrese Samuel said. “Being down 17, going into halftime, it’s like, ‘don’t worry, there’s another 20 minutes.”‘

Samuel was unable to make a basket. Ndefo scored a slam of an assist. Al-Amir Dawes then made a couple layups before his 3-pointer cut UConn’s lead to 48-40 early in the second half. When Ndefo had another dunk – this time on a fast break that Dawes assisted – UConn interim coach Luke Murray called a timeout with his team up 48-45 with 14:14 left.

“I thought I did a poor job coaching the guys in the second half, offensively in particular,” Murray said. “We talked about it at halftime. We knew that Seton Hall was gonna pick up the pressure in the second half, and we didn’t do a good job of handling it.”

COVID HITS THE COACH

After both Hurley and Kimani Young, an associate head coach, were positive for coronavirus early Wednesday morning, the school announced. On Tuesday, neither Hurley nor Young made it to New Jersey. UConn assistant coach Tom Moore and Murray (son of comedian Bill Murray), are in charge. Moore missed last week’s game at Marquette due to COVID.

Mamadou, the director of player development, moved us all up onto the bench with Matthew Johnson, video and scouting coordination.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

UConn, which was considered a Final Four or National Championship contender, has continued to slide after it fell nine places in the Top 25 Poll.

BIG PICTURE

UConn: UConn climbed as high as No. The Huskies lost five of their six last games before Christmas.

Seton Hall: Four consecutive wins for the Pirates. Holloway appears to be helping Seton Hall get past some of the early season struggles.

NEXT

UConn: Butler hosts on Sunday.

Seton Hall: Hosts no. 20 Marquette on Saturday.

Seton Hall defeats No. 15 UConn on Ndefo’s last-second layup Original version: NBCSports.com