INDIANAPOLIS – The days that followed the UConn men’s basketball team’s loss to St. John’s at Madison Square Garden on Friday were the toughest Braylon Mullins has experienced as a college player.
It was only his second time losing as a Husky and the first where he was healthy enough to play.
“It’s been as hard as it’s been for me. I know that we lost the Arizona game, but I didn’t play in it. I felt everybody’s emotions around me, but coming off the St. John’s game with that loss, it just put a different feel into this week,” Mullins said after he went for 15 points and five rebounds to help the Huskies respond with an 80-70 win at Butler in his homecoming. “Seeing how Coach (Dan) Hurley responds to those losses, I don’t want that feeling again. So, just gotta keep moving, this is the startup of something new and we’re just gonna keep building off of this one.”
Hurley’s frustration was evident in his rants about ball security, free throws, rebounding and interior defense – he wanted the team to hurt so it wouldn’t put itself in that situation again.
Over the first 15 minutes at Hinkle Fieldhouse Wednesday night, it wasn’t totally clear how well that message came across. The Huskies were dominant on the boards and made three of their first four free throws, but they had three turnovers before the first media timeout and offered little resistance defensively as Butler shot better than 60% from the field for most of the first half.
UConn men surge past Butler late for a 80-70 win behind Ball’s six 3-pointers
“Maybe the residual of having a long winning streak and then the bubble bursts and next time out, you’re… But I thought it was more about Butler,” Hurley said. “I thought Butler just took it to us and the stuff they do on offense, it’s tough to guard.”
But Mullins, who grew up about a half hour away from the arena in Greenfield, Indiana, was also tough to guard after he overcame some early nerves from the warm ovation he heard in pregame introductions. He scored 13 points in the first half to keep UConn in front.
Butler, which lost two guards to season-ending injuries, didn’t have enough on the perimeter to slow both Mullins and Solo Ball, while also trying to throw double-teams at center Tarris Reed Jr. and keep Alex Karaban out of the picture. Ball followed a career-high 26-point effort when the Bulldogs visited Hartford with 24 points on Wednesday, sinking a season-best six 3-pointers on 12 attempts.
The turnovers were cleaned up quickly, just one coming in the second half as point guard Silas Demary Jr. finished with 10 assists and just two giveaways, helping the team shoot 50.8% from the field. The defense improved as well, holding the Bulldogs to 39.3% from the field in the second half. UConn finished the game with a 33-26 advantage on the glass, outscored Butler 16-8 in second-chance points and made seven of its nine free throw attempts.
Butler made it a two-point game with seven minutes to play, but the Huskies answered with a 10-0 run to take command and held onto the lead down the stretch.
“That’s part of the growing process for us, too, really developing that phase where we could score, get a stop, score, stop. So to do it in crunch time was big for us,” said Karaban, who was tightly guarded all game and finished with six points (3-for-6 from the field) and five rebounds. “I’m just happy that we were able to bounce back and get a win. Hinkle’s always a tough place to play.”
Samson Johnson in the building as Karaban ties him as program’s win leader
Samson Johnson, now with the Noblesville Boom, the Indiana Pacers’ G League affiliate, after four year as a Husky, was alerted by UConn’s Director of Basketball Administration, Paul Wettemann, that UConn was coming to town. He had a road game in Canada on Tuesday but made sure to go see his team.
“It felt great, at the same time it feels weird (to sit behind the bench),” Johnson told The Courant. “Obviously my four years at UConn were unbelievable, I feel proud to have been part of this program, historic program.”
Johnson, a two-time national champion and the starting center on last year’s team, finished his career as UConn’s all-time leader in wins with 115. Karaban matched that number on Wednesday as he improved to 115-24 over his career. The captain also tied Jake Voskhul’s record for the most starts in program history with 135.
Reed overcomes rough start, flirts with triple-double
Butler’s game plan to disrupt Reed when he caught the ball in the post was to bring a double-team as quickly as possible. It wasn’t the first time he’s seen it this season. But it took him some time to get comfortable, stop turning the ball over and find his open teammate. He finished the game with 16 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, no turnovers after he had two in the first three minutes.
“It’s important for him and for all of our players,” Hurley said. “For us, ball security is everything. We’ve got a lot of offensive weapons, shooting, a point guard that can create, some centers that can finish. Just the turnovers have been a major problem … Today I thought (Tarris) just stayed solid, waited for the double teams and made good reads.”