UConn forward Alex Karaban was taken to a hospital for a head injury after an 85-67 loss to Dayton on Wednesday that sent the No. 2 Huskies to an 0-3 finish at the Maui Invitational.
Karaban’s head hit the floor after being fouled with about 2½ minutes left. He stayed in the game but was later placed in the concussion protocol and sent to the hospital for further testing.
Karaban got clearance to fly home with the rest of the team shortly before takeoff, a team spokesman said Thursday.
Karaban made four of his team’s eight 3-pointers and scored 15 of his team-high 21 points in the first half to lead the Huskies (4-3), who lost all three games they played at the tournament.
“When you come to a tournament like this, and it’s three games in three days, it starts to go bad, there’s no way of fixing it because there’s no time to,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “You just have to deal with the situation. It was a humbling trip obviously for the program that’s accomplished what we’ve accomplished.”
The Flyers (6-2) got 20 points from Enoch Cheeks, 18 from Nate Santos, 16 from Posh Alexander and 15 from Zed Key, who also led the team with nine rebounds. Cheeks shot 8-of-12 from the field, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range.
Karaban hit a 3-pointer that put UConn ahead 30-27 with 4:34 left before halftime, but Dayton closed out the first half on a 14-4 run to take a 41-34 halftime lead.
UConn got within 52-49 on Solo Ball‘s bucket in transition at the 11:20 mark of the second half, but Dayton found separation with Alexander’s 3-point play that stretched it back to a six-point lead with 10:34 to play.
All three of the Huskies’ losses on Maui came against unranked teams. They dropped their first two games — against Memphis on Monday and Colorado on Tuesday — by a combined three points.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
