There's plenty of blame to go around. We played the first half to win, the second half to not lose. Adjustments or lack of by Jon. Uconn had way too many easy buckets in the second half. Whereas, it seemed we had to work hard for every point.
What I do feel, and it's what I have constantly preached since 2017, is our **over reliance on our superstar.** Do we get so dependent on that guy, that on the Big Stages, the rest of the team become bird watchers? Even though it works great for the season in general, I feel that's a HUGE problem, especially when the pressure mounts, and it's win or the season is over. Ngongba had constant pressure on him defensively, yet how many touches did he get down low? Outside of Cam putting pressure on them, and scoring, who else did much of anything the last several minutes? Nik is the only guy I can think of. For the game, Evans took 6 shots, and when he did have the ball late, he fumbled it straight to them for an easy fast break.
I know we have a good case to make about Caleb and Pat not being 100%, but the end of games in big games seems to be a trend.