New York ? Coach Jim Calhoun has no idea how Connecticut will respond after its shocking loss to Georgia Tech in the Preseason NIT semifinals.

He’ll find out today, when the Huskies play Utah in the tournament’s consolation game, an embarrassing place to be for the No. 1 team in the country.

“I don’t really know,” Calhoun said after UConn lost to Georgia Tech, 77-61, Wednesday night. “We can get beat again or bounce back — and I assume we bounce back. But once again, I was deflated and I very rarely get deflated.”

The result is top-ranked UConn plays in the warmup game, before Texas Tech meets Georgia Tech for the tournament championship. The Red Raiders advanced with a defensive clinic that shut down Utah, 65-54, and left coach Bob Knight glowing.

Calhoun had plenty of reasons to be disgusted after UConn came up terribly flat against the unranked Yellow Jackets. Time after time, possessions produced no points, and the result was reflected in the box score: Connecticut shot 37.9 percent, including 1-for-10 on three-pointers. The trouble was further complicated by making just 10 of 30 free throws.

Calhoun seemed almost puzzled by Connecticut’s complete collapse.

“You have an empty trip after empty trip after empty trip, that deflates a team,” he said. “What a great team does is make a few stops.”

UConn made very few and the result was a blowout.

“They imposed their will on us,” Calhoun said. “That’s something we try to do upon other teams. I have to say I’m more than the most surprised guy in the building. To me, it’s about will and toughness. You have to respond better than we did, and we didn’t respond very well at all. It scared me.”

Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun gestures to a player during the first half of a 77-61 loss to Georgia Tech. After the No. 1-ranked Huskies lost Wednesday, they'll play Utah in the consolation game of the Preseason NIT today in New York.

Connecticut was hampered because preseason All-American Emeka Okafor, limited by a bad back, managed just nine points and operated much of the game at half-speed.

Georgia Tech seized the opportunity, getting 22 points apiece from B.J. Elder and Isma’il Muhammad, playing racehorse basketball.

The Yellow Jackets applied coach Paul Hewitt’s game plan perfectly.

“We really liked the matchups,” Hewitt said. “We told the kids, ‘If you go out and play to your ability with these matchups, we’re going to win the basketball game.”‘

Now the Jackets face Texas Tech for the title. The Red Raiders were impressive against Utah, stealing the ball 12 times.

Knight was pleased with the way his team responded after some early difficulties, settled down by senior Andre Emmett, who scored 23 points.

Just as he started to compliment Emmett, Knight pulled back.

“He’s just got to move better,” the coach said. “He’s a little bit too much like, ‘Let me have the ball and then I’ll play.’ I want him to have, ‘Let me get open and throw me the ball.’ There’s a big difference.”

But that was a bit of nitpicking. Knight had to like the big picture, especially with the way Texas Tech handled Utah’s deliberate style.

Coach Rick Majerus knew the Red Raiders had dominated Utah. “We got manhandled,” he said.