Alex Karaban matched his season-high with 21 points as the No. 5 UConn men’s basketball team overcame a slow start without Solo Ball to beat DePaul, 72-54, in Chicago’s Wintrust Arena Sunday night.
Tarris Reed Jr. formed a strong frontcourt tandem with Karaban, each shooting 7-for-12 from the field as Reed recorded his second double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds, along with four assists and three blocked shots. Point guard Silas Demary Jr. threatened a second triple-double as he finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and eight assists.
It was the program’s 21st-consecutive victory in the all-time series against DePaul (8-5, 0-2 Big East) as the Huskies improved to 12-1 on the season and 2-0 in the Big East ahead of a short holiday break.
“I mean, just what a different experience it is coming in here to play DePaul, both this year and last year. That’s a team that’s gonna win a lot of games in our league this year,” coach Dan Hurley told reporters in Chicago. “I’m just really impressed with how hard they play and the job that Chris (Holtmann) has done with the program in such a short period of time. Your experience coming here to play DePaul is a lot different experience. Watching them on film, I knew it’d be that type of game, we’d eventually have to wear them out, wear them down with our defense.”
Ball missed the game with a minor injury to his left wrist, which occurred as he braced himself on a hard fall during Tuesday’s career-high 26-point performance in a win over Butler.
“He was kind of questionable from the game the other day and just couldn’t get healthy enough to go today,” Hurley said.
Without the leading scorer, the start to the game was as sloppy as it gets. There were a combined 15 turnovers over the first 10 minutes and UConn fell behind, 15-7, after missing 13 of its first 16 shots from the field.
But Reed started to turn things around as he battled inside for a strong layup through contact before Demary got involved on the offensive glass, tipping a pass to Jaylin Stewart (six points, three rebounds) for a dunk and then capitalizing on an open look from 3-point range before giving the Huskies a lead from the free throw line to claw back with a 9-0 scoring run.
Demary “over-exerted” himself to the point that he started to get sick on the court, holding his mouth as he ran off as fast as he could. It was a bizarre scene as Hurley chased after him when he disappeared down the wrong tunnel.
“I think it was just the intensity of how I was playing, I try to give my all every possession, every play,” Demary said. “Hopefully I didn’t (get any vomit on the court), hopefully there’s no pictures out there.”
Karaban steadied the Huskies’ offense with 10 points in the first half on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting, including a 3-pointer in the final two minutes to create some separation on the scoreboard. But DePaul, scoring 16 points off nine UConn turnovers, cut its halftime deficit to just three with a tough last-second floater from Layden Blocker (11 points, three assists).
“I just think they came out and defended so hard and they were so physical, really physical and they played really, really hard. It’s hard to sustain that for 40 minutes without getting in foul trouble and it’s also hard to sustain that level of energy and intensity and blowing up screens,” Hurley said. “We were really bad with the ball again, but they made it tough on us. Chris had a great game plan, a great scheme, and he’s got a bunch of guys that play hard. A bunch of dogs.”
Karaban’s momentum continued into the second half as he made two more shots, including a third 3-pointer, before his first miss, which was blocked into the hands of Stewart for a smooth reverse layup.
“I think it’s a shooter’s hoop,” Karaban said. “The hoop looks bigger in Chicago, the rims are nice here. I love playing here. It’s a nice arena.”
UConn pulled away on the back of its defense and its 40-28 advantage on the glass, building a 17-point lead with a second-chance layup from Reed around the eight-minute mark. The Blue Demons, hurt by foul trouble, were held to just 31% from the field in the second half and finished the game just 3-for-13 from beyond the arc.
Still looking for the “killer instinct” that Hurley has been begging for, the Huskies’ lead was trimmed to 10 until Reed hit a mid-range shot off the glass and Braylon Mullins (eight points) sealed the victory with 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions, making it an 18-point game with a minute and a half to play.
“Not having Solo probably hurt us in the beginning, but we found a way. I think whenever we have injuries, we’re always going to find a way and it’ll make us stronger later in the season,” Karaban said.
UConn will hope to have Ball back when it returns to action on New Year’s Eve for a matchup with Xavier and coach Richard Pitino in Cincinnati.