STORRS – The fifth-ranked UConn men’s basketball team took some time to warm up its engine before rolling to a 83-59 win over East Texas A&M at Gampel Pavilion on Friday night.
Sandwiched between a monster win over Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse and a rematch against reigning national champion Florida, the Huskies (8-1) had just a seven-point lead with a minute left in the first half of their final buy game of the season. But the size difference prevailed as UConn, in its fifth game without Tarris Reed Jr. (ankle), outscored the low-major Lions, 58-22 in the paint and built its lead to as many as 27 points in the second half.
“I thought we played pretty hard and did a pretty good job defensively and we were able to get the separation in the second half,” coach Dan Hurley said. “Obviously the first half was a little frustrating offensively, missing two dunks, just taking some bad 3s, which you shouldn’t have to take versus their defense there. But with the quick turnaround and obviously the schedule that’s looming here with the last two nonconference (games) and Big East play starting, I thought it was just important to get through this last buy game and just be done with that part of our schedule.”
The Huskies finished with four scorers in double-figures, led by a 14-point effort from Solo Ball, who added four rebounds and two assists.
The McDonald’s All-American freshman duo of Eric Reibe and Braylon Mullins combined for 23 points as Reibe poured in 13 with six rebounds and three blocks, and Mullins, coming off a breakout performance in Kansas on Tuesday, scored all 10 of his points in the second half. Alex Karaban contributed 12 points and six rebounds, and point guard Silas Demary Jr. added eight points, five rebounds and five assists.
It was a slow-paced game until the Huskies forced five turnovers over a three minute stretch.
Demary, falling to corral his second steal of the game, flipped the ball up to Jaylin Stewart (nine points, seven rebounds) who fired an outlet pass to a surging Ball for a massive one-handed dunk in transition. After a steal from Reibe on the next possession, Ball drove and assisted Stewart under the basket for a three-point play to give the Huskies their largest lead of the night, 29-15, with just less than seven minutes left before halftime.
UConn, scoring 18 points off turnovers, remains top-10 in KenPom’s defensive efficiency metric after finishing 75th last season.
“The defense last year was our Achilles heel and to be able to fix that and make it a strength for us has been extremely helpful for when we go on offense where we can go on fast breaks and get easy buckets,” Ball said. “It just makes it so much easier.”
But the Huskies let East Texas A&M hang around as they shot just 1-for-6 from beyond the arc and 44% from the field in the first half.
A pair of baskets from forward Ronnie Harrison (15 points, six rebounds) cut East Texas A&M’s deficit to seven with a minute left before Ball went to the free throw line for two and Karaban was in the right place for a second-chance layup to beat the halftime buzzer and push the lead to 38-27 at the break.
“They switched to deny, which is a very unique defense, it’s not a very comfortable thing to play against,” Hurley said. “I think it was a real challenge, with the short turnaround, getting in at 5 a.m. on Wednesday, I mean, this game felt on top of us quickly. I felt we were a little sluggish in the first half and rightfully so. We’ve been on a heck of a scheduling run here and I think we could do a better job with that next year in terms of spacing some of these games out. We probably shouldn’t have played a game today.
“But, that being said,” Hurley continued, “I think it’s all about going into games and being able to be versatile as a team where you could win it with your defense, you could win it with your rebounding, you could win it by driving it and getting inside, you could win it with high-level 3-point shooting. You’ve got to be able to win games in a lot of different ways.”
Mullins, who was out of rhythm after his breakout performance in Allen Fieldhouse, scored his first points on a three-point play to put the Huskies’ up by 21 midway through the second half. He heated up quickly, nailing a 3-pointer on the next possession and then finishing inside again as Harrison continued to hit shots for the Lions.
Freshman Jacob Furphy made his second appearance of the season and got on the scoreboard with a layup as UConn built its lead to 27 points with just less than six minutes to play. The Lions made another short surge, starting a 5-0 run before Ball extinguished it from beyond the arc, allowing Hurley to start emptying the bench around the three-minute mark.
UConn will close nonconference play with a rematch of last year’s NCAA Tournament Second Round game against reigning national champion Florida in the Jimmy V Classic on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden, then host a matchup with Texas at PeoplesBank Arena on Friday before beginning the Big East season.
“Going back to Storrs South is gonna be a big one for us, playing a great team in Florida, I mean it’s just an opportunity to get some revenge like we did with Kansas,” Ball said. “We’re definitely looking forward to it and we have a bunch of big games ahead, too, so I’m excited for everything that’s in store.”