Colorado hands No. 2 UConn its second loss in 2 days at Maui Invitational

No. 2 UConn entered the Maui Invitational as the favorite in a stacked field to win the Feast Week showcase.

Instead, it has a date for the seventh-place game. Unranked Colorado rallied for a 73-72 win over UConn on Tuesday. The loss was the second in two games for the Huskies in Maui.

UConn lost a 99-97 overtime thriller on Monday to unranked Memphis. The game featured an outburst from head coach Dan Hurley directed at officials that resulted in a costly technical foul in overtime. Hurley doubled down against the officials in an unforgiving postgame rant that didn't take responsibility for his actions.

Tuesday brought further disappointment for a UConn team that's off to a rough start in its quest for a third consecutive national championship. The Huskies are now 4-2 without having played a ranked team.

This week was supposed to be UConn's first test against a fellow contender in a Maui field that also features No. 4 Auburn, No. 5 Iowa State and No. 12 North Carolina. There's still a chance to face a ranked foe if No. 5 Iowa State loses its second game of the tournament to Dayton later Tuesday. If Iowa State advances, UConn will leave Maui still in search of its first test against a top-25 team.

UConn held the lead on Tuesday for the entirety of the first half that it led 40-32 at the break. But hot 3-point shooting allowed the Buffaloes to rally after halftime. Colorado took its first lead on a Julian Hammond 3-pointer at 48-46. It then retook the lead at 57-56 on an RJ Smith 3.

UConn repeatedly answered the Colorado runs and held a 72-69 lead with 1:29 remaining. But Colorado scored the last four points of the game including a go-ahead layup in traffic by Andrej Jakimovski.

UConn had a last look at the basket following a timeout with 5.9 seconds remaining. But Hassan Diarra's go-ahead 3-point attempt clanged off the rim just before the final buzzer sounded.

This story will be updated.