Colorado bounced back from its first loss of the season with a miracle in Maui by taking down No. 2 UConn, 73-72, in thrilling fashion Tuesday.

The second half battle between the Huskies and the Buffs brought all of the action as both squads went shot for shot down to the final seconds. It was newcomer Andrej Jakimovski who had the final say with an acrobatic layup for the Buffs' game-winning shot.

In a game in which UConn held the lead for almost 36 minutes, Colorado (5-1) fought for every possession leading to a win that tied the program’s second-highest ranked victory in CU history.

"I think we found out about this team, the fight that they have, and they came back with," CU coach Tad Boyle said. "I wish we would have played like that against Michigan State. I think Michigan State had a lot to do with it. But number one, to beat a program like UConn, I mean, that's not easy to do. Coach Hurley is a hell of a coach. They run their stuff so well. They're hard to guard. These guys really battled all game long.

"Again, coming down the stretch, win or lose, I was going to be proud of this group. We finally won one there, we got a stop at the end and got a rebound. Andrej made a hell of a shot there on the play we ran. ... Everybody that played for us played well and contributed to this win. Couldn't be more proud of this group."

The Buffs were down by eight points after the first half as they hit just 8 of their 21 field goal attempts. What kept Colorado in the game was its ability to get to the free-throw line in the first half where they were able to hit 12-of-19 attempts. UConn’s fouling problems continued throughout the game and cost it greatly, and eventually that led to the Huskies losing their two starting forwards, Tarris Reed Jr. with two minutes left and Samson Johnson with about five minutes remaining in regulation. Overall, the Buffs finished 18 of 28 from the line.

A defining factor of the matchup was Colorado’s determination when the Buffs backs were up against the wall. Colorado led just twice before taking its final lead, but the Buffs’ 11-0 run early the second half provided CU with a huge boost to stay close against the Huskies.

The run, which began at the 17:05 mark in the second half and was bookended by 3-pointers from Julian Hammond III, was the largest run of the game and eventually put CU in front for the first time, 48-46, with 14:02 to play. Following that, the Huskies (4-2) and Buffs continued to trade buckets as no run exceeded more than five points the rest of the game.

RJ Smith hit a 3-pointer with 9:15 to play to give the Buffs their second lead of the game, 57-56, but they would not get out in front of the Huskies again until Jakimovksi's bucket with 9.3 seconds in the game.

Jakimovski and Elijah Malone teamed up for 11 of CU's final 13 points across the last 5:16 Tuesday.

In the first half, Liam McNeeley made it difficult on the Buffs from beyond the arc as he hit four 3-pointers (5 of 7 from the field). Finding a response to NcNeeley's 16 points was a challenge. However, the UConn freshman went on to miss over five minutes in the second half that helped CU get back in the game and limited him to just four points after he checked back in.

Boyle always emphasizes defense, and the Buffs dug deep in the second half holding UConn to 40.7% from the field (11 for 27) and 26.7% from 3 (4 for15). Prior to the second, the Huskies were hitting 56.0% from the field (14 of 25) and made eight 3-pointers in the first.

In Tuesday's instant classic, Hammond put together his best game of the season with 16 points shooting 6 of 11 from the field and 4 of 5 from 3. Malone’s physicality in the paint was pivotal down the stretch. From a quiet 4-point first half, Malone shined in the second making 5 of his 7 shot attempts for 12 points. His final layup of the game pulled CU to within a point and Jakimovski followed with a skillful score to seal the game.

"Coach trusted me to make the last play and he called a good play for me and I knew I had to go down there and finish, and that's basically it," Jakimovski said. "It's a great team win, great bounce-back after a bad game yesterday. We showed character, and we defended our ass off.

"UConn is probably one of the best offensive teams that I've played in my college career. It's a great team win, and way to finish it."

Offensively, Jakimovksi struggled in the first half as UConn’s defense took both Jakimovski (5 points) and Malone (4 points) out of the game. However, Jakimovski was helping the Buffs tremendously on the glass and ended up posting 10 rebounds in the win. His seven second-half points gave him his first double-double as a Buff.

Despite their starts, Malone and Jakimovski contributed when the Buffs needed them the most. While, Jakimovski's game-winner wasn’t exactly what Boyle drew up it will be remembered as the shot that defeated the No. 2 team in the country.

“Well there’s two options on that play,” Boyle told Andy Katz on Jakimovski’s game-winner. “The first option is for Elijah Malone to get a catch on the block and Julian Hammond has that decision to make as a point guard, you give it to [Malone] on the block or you hit Andrej coming up the lane for a clear out to drive and [Hammond] hit Andrej, Andrej made the play, made a physical play, scored through contact and that’s what you gotta do when you play UConn.”

From Monday’s 72-56 loss against Michigan State to taking down the defending champs on Tuesday, Colorado’s resilience was on full display and Boyle was able to get quite the fight out of his team.

"It takes character," Boyle said. "Like these guys mentioned, it takes toughness, it takes belief in yourself, and our guys had that. Again, I mentioned the fact that we're going to learn a lot about this team in this tournament, and we learned from last night and we turned around tonight.

"The biggest thing I was disappointed in last night was our fight and our shot selection. This team, we challenged them, and they had better shot collection and a hell of a lot better fight. Really proud of them for that. But tomorrow is a new day. We've got to be ready to go whoever we play because they're going to be good."

Up next in the Maui Invitational, Colorado will face No. 5 Iowa State or Dayton on Nov. 27 at 12:20 p.m. MT in the fifth-place game.