Despite a sloppy start, UConn men’s basketball moved to 2-0 in the Big East with a convincing road win over DePaul in Chicago. While the Huskies (12-1, 2-0 Big East) looked out of sorts in the first half without star guard Solo Ball, they snapped out of it just in time to cruise to a […]
Despite a sloppy start, UConn men’s basketball moved to 2-0 in the Big East with a convincing road win over DePaul in Chicago. While the Huskies (12-1, 2-0 Big East) looked out of sorts in the first half without star guard Solo Ball, they snapped out of it just in time to cruise to a comfortable 72-54 win.
Ball was surprisingly listed as inactive, ruled out with a wrist injury suffered after a hard fall in the conference opener against Butler on Tuesday. With Ball out, Jaylin Stewart returned to the starting lineup.
The Huskies were entirely out of sorts early on, turning it over six times in the first eight minutes alone, leading to 12 DePaul points.
The home team led for most of the start of the first half, up by as much as eight with 10:54 to play after Layden Blocker capped off a 7-0 run with a layup to lead 15-7. But Silas Demary Jr. and Alex Karaban did everything in their power to keep things from getting too out of hand. Demary Jr. helped UConn punch back, scoring five-straight points as part of a 9-0 run to give the Huskies their first lead of the night.
UConn would take the lead for good off a nifty reverse layup from Jaylin Stewart with 6:17 left to play, and Karaban and Demary helped stretch the lead to as much as five in the first half, combining for a 5-0 run in the final minutes before a Blocker buzzer beater cut the halftime lead to three.
Karaban was a much-needed stabilizing force throughout the entire first 20 minutes, scoring 10 points on a perfect 6-6 shooting from the field. He scored five of UConn’s first seven points as the offense sputtered out of the gate, and stretched the floor effectively with two 3-pointers. Demary Jr. started out on pace for a shot at another triple-double with seven points, five assists, and six boards in just the first half alone.
Despite only really being able to lean on those two and coughing up the ball 13 times for 16 Blue Demons points, UConn managed to lead 33-30 at the break after arguably its worst half of the season.
The Huskies looked revitalized after halftime and came out hot, scoring four quick points to go up seven. With the offense back on track, UConn rattled off a 12-2 run capped off with a Braylon Mulins jumper to lead 52-36 with 11:53 to play. The Huskies’ defense tightened the clamps on the Blue Demons in the second half, with DePaul scoring just eight points in the first 10 minutes of the final period.
With the defense humming and the offense back on track, UConn stretched the lead to as much as 17 after a putback from Tarris Reed Jr. made it 58-41 with just under eight minutes to play. The Blue Demons did make one last attempt to get back in it by cutting the lead to 10 with four minutes to play, but a Reed fadeaway jumper off the glass extended the lead back to 12.
On the next possession, Karaban walled up and altered a DePaul shot on the block, then found Mullins for a three on the next possession to put the game away for good. Mullins would hit one more three-pointer the next time down for the cherry on top and finished the night with eight points.
Karaban led all scorers with 21 points, and added six rebounds, two assists, and a block. Reed Jr. posted his second double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 boards, and added four assists and three blocks. Demary Jr., who appeared to be under the weather, flirted with a triple-double and finished with 14 points, seven assists, eight rebounds, two blocks, and a steal.
UConn now embarks on a 10-day break for the holidays, with the Huskies returning to action on New Year’s Eve with a road game against Xavier. Tip-off against the Musketeers is set for 5:00 p.m. ET, with the game set to be broadcast on NBC Sports and available to stream on Peacock.
Category: General Sports
