The No. 5 UConn Huskies entered a packed Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday night and caught a battle early but left with a big win, 73-63, to improve to 25-3 and 15-2 in the Big East. The Huskies responded nicely to their home loss at Creighton and snapped a six-game Wildcats’ winning streak that started after their last game against UConn.
Alex Karaban led the way with 12 points and 6 rebounds. Tarris Reed added 10 points and 6 boards and Braylon Mullins chipped in with 10 points despite fouling out.
UConn held Davis Brennan, averaging a double-double this season, to just 7 points and 3 rebounds, with his first points coming in garbage time in the 2nd half. Huge credit to Reed and Eric Reibe for locking up Villanova’s leader all night. They also held star point guard Acaden Lewis, who had 11 points in the first half, scoreless in the second.
The Huskies were revealed to be a 2 seed by the NCAA selection committee on Saturday afternoon, and maybe they took that personally. They routed Villanova in the second half, leading by as much as 21 points before a garbage-time run made the final score closer.
The first five minutes of the contest were an offensive barrage on both sides. UConn made six of its first seven shots. Silas Demary got going early, burying his first triple. Tyler Perkins got off to a white-hot start for Villanova, scoring their first eight points.
The Huskies gained momentum midway through the first half, led by their defense. Jayden Ross picked up a block and Malachi Smith finished on the other end. Two possessions later, Jaylin Stewart picked Devin Askew’s pocket, and Solo Ball slammed it home to put UConn up 5, forcing Kevin Willard to call a timeout.
The Wildcats responded rather quickly, and the fans were starting to get rowdy. UConn turned the ball over five times in six minutes, and Villanova capitalized on it, scoring 10 points off Husky turnovers. An and-one from Matt Hodge put them back in the lead.
As the Wildcats were on offense, the student section let Dan Hurley know what they thought about him. The “F— Dan Hurley!” chants are usual when UConn is on the road in the Big East.
Dan Hurley called a timeout with four and a half minutes to go in the first half, and from there on ou UConn turned up their defense and were able to hold onto the ball. Demary hit a big mid-range jumper, and Braylon Mullins got on the board from downtown.
UConn went into the halftime locker room with a 34-32 lead despite shooting 58% from the field.
“[It’s] just the turnovers, most of which are unforced, or else we’d be up double figures,” Hurley said at halftime.
UConn looked like a different team when the second half began, going on a 10-2 run, with Mullins and Ball leading the charge with a three, and Tarris Reed a beast down low. Reed got anywhere he wanted once he was fed the ball in the low post.
The Huskies held Villanova to just four points in the first five and a half minutes, and they made their first field goal with 14:35 to play.
Villanova was able to gain some momentum when Reed checked out. After a timeout, the bench unit of Smith, Ross, Stewart, Mullins, and Reibe was able to throw the knockout punch. They went up 15 from a pair of Stewart threes, and a sweet coast-to-coast finish by Smith sucked the life out of the building.
The defense in the second half was night and day compared to the first half. Whatever Hurley said in the locker room at the half clearly worked. The team finished with 8 blocks, 3 coming from Reed. Reed has been a monster all season, and he’s getting hot at the right time.
UConn was able to handle Villanova for the remainder of the game; the Wildcats scored a handful of garbage-time points to make the score look a bit respectable.
UConn is back in action on Wednesday night against No. 22 St. John’s. This is arguably the game of the year for the Huskies. A win would give UConn sole possession of first place in the Big East. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. on Peacock.