Connecticut held Louisville's 3-point shooters in check for most of their Big East showdown, but that left Peyton Siva free to drive the lane.
The sophomore point guard scored 19 points, including two key layups in the second overtime, and No. 23 Louisville upset No. 5 Connecticut 79-78 on Saturday.
''We don't have no superstars on this team and that helps us out a lot, because we know anybody can take that last shot,'' Siva said. ''I got to the lane, I made a couple layups and that was important.''
Terrence Jennings added 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Preston Knowles and Kyle Kuric each added 15 points for Cardinals (17-4, 6-2), who have won four of their last five games to take sole possession of second place in the Big East.
The Cardinals came back from a nine-point second-half deficit. They tied the game in regulation on a Siva layup with 29 seconds left, and sent the game into a second overtime on a Siva dunk.
''You're going to give up something,'' said Louisville coach Rick Pitino. ''But the point guard has got to make the right decision, and he made the right decision every time.''
Shabazz Napier had 20 of his 23 points for UConn after halftime. Jeremy Lamb had 21 and Kemba Walker added 20. But Walker missed a jumper at the end of regulation and a long 3-pointer at the end of the second overtime that would have given the Huskies (17-3, 5-3) the win.
The loss snapped a six-game winning streak for UConn, and was their first in 12 home games.
''It was an incredibly disappointing loss, because we had the game won twice - in regulation and then in overtime,'' Calhoun said.
Louisville hit just four 3-pointers in regulation, but hit another four in the two OTs.
Consecutive 3s by Knowles and Kuric to start the second overtime put Louisville up 75-69.
A floater from Lamb cut the lead to 75-71, but Siva drove the lane to put the Cardinals back up by six.
His second layup made it 79-74, before Napier hit a jumper to cut it to three. Siva and Chris Smith missed foul shots that would have iced the game, and Walker cut it to one on a pair of free throws.
But his long 3 pointer at the buzzer hit the left side of the rim and bounced away.
''I was open, I just missed,'' Walker said. ''It looked good, but it didn't go in, so it doesn't matter.''
UConn led by four in the first overtime, but Siva dunked with just over seven seconds left to tie it up and Lamb missed an off-balance 3-pointer, sending the game into a second extra period.
Walker was just two of nine from the field in the first half, but scored seven points during 9-3 run midway through the second that turned a 41-38 lead into a 50-41 advantage.
Louisville turned up the defensive pressure, going to its full-court press and cut the lead to 52-48.
Napier's 25-foot jumper pushed the lead back to seven, but Louisville came back again.
They forced consecutive turnovers that led to a 3-pointer from Kuric that tied the game, and a pair of free throws from Siva that gave the Cardinals the lead at 57-55.
Trailing 57-56, Walker hit a long 3-pointer that gave UConn a 59-57 lead with 1:11 to play.
With the defense guarding against a 3-pointer, Siva drove the lane with 29 seconds left and tied the game. UConn called a timeout with 16 seconds left to set up the final play.
Walker drove the right side but missed a fall-away jumper with 3-tenths of a second to go, sending the game into overtime.
''We as a team never give up,'' said Louisville guard Chris Smith. ''We've been in a couple of barn-burners already, so this is nothing new to us now.''
