HARTFORD – The UConn men’s basketball team held off Texas to complete its nonconference schedule with a 71-63 win at PeoplesBank Arena Friday night.
Alex Karaban led the way with 18 points on 8 of 14 shooting, sending the fifth-ranked Huskies into Big East play with a 10-1 record. Tarris Reed Jr. scored 12 points with six rebounds, five assists and four blocks and Braylon Mullins, making his first collegiate start, added 10 points and four rebounds on 5 of 7 shooting.
Jaylin Stewart provided energy in his first game off the bench this season and finished with 10 points as Malachi Smith dished nine assists for the third time this season.
Mullins began his night with a deep 3-pointer and a tough, contested mid-range shot along the baseline that swirled around the rim and in. The Huskies’ early run continued as Silas Demary Jr. dumped off a perfect lead pass for a two-handed dunk from Solo Ball, and the striped-out PeoplesBank Arena crowd roared after Ball drew a charge on the other end.
The junior struggled to find his shot and finished with nine points and four rebounds on 3 of 10 shooting.
Reed, who established himself in the post early, showed off his passing ability with a cross-court feed to Stewart, who hit a wide open 3-pointer from the wing, and an assist to a cutting Karaban on the next possession, which had assistant coach Luke Murray pumping his fist and pushed the Huskies’ lead to 30-20 with less than eight minutes left in the first half. Reed had a career-high five assists in the first half alone.
UConn made 13 of its first 17 shots from the field (76.5%), taking advantage of open shots left by Texas’ defense as it repeatedly double-teamed the ball and left lanes open for cutters.
Texas went on a 13-3 run to cut its deficit to two points with three minutes left in the half, but Reed worked his way inside for a pair of layups and Malachi Smith found Karaban for a layup and his fifth assist of the game to push the UConn lead to 43-34 at the break.
Smith became only the seventh active Division I player to reach 500 career assists.
Neither team shot the ball well to start the second half, when there was a stretch of more than two minutes without the ball falling through the net.
UConn’s spell was lifted when Smith fed Eric Reibe for a layup and a steal from Stewart on the ensuing Texas possession led to a breakaway two-handed dunk from Jayden Ross that put the Huskies up by 12.
Foul trouble and turnovers became an issue in the second half and Texas steadily chipped away at its deficit from the free throw line, cutting it down to just five with four and a half minutes to play. But Solo Ball, who was just 2-for-9 from the field to that point, heaved a deep 3-pointer from beyond the PeoplesBank logo to beat the shot clock and hit nothing but net. Reed blocked a shot on the other end and Karaban nailed a triple in front of the Huskies’ bench in transition, pushing the lead back to 11, 67-56, with 3:23 to play.
The Longhorns didn’t go down easy, but UConn beat the press and found Stewart for a breakaway dunk to finish the game with an exclamation point.