Key Highlights
- Freshman center Eric Reibe, towering over the Lions, had 13 points with six rebounds and three blocks, and classmate Braylon Mullins scored all 10 of his points in the second half.
- Alex Karaban had 12 points and six rebounds, and point guard Silas Demary Jr.
- added eight points, five rebounds and five assists. It was a slow-paced game until the Huskies forced five turnovers over a three minute stretch. Demary, falling to corral his second steal of the game, flipped the ball up to Jaylin Stewart (nine points, seven rebounds) who fired an outlet pass to a surging Ball for a massive one-handed dunk in transition.
- After a steal from Reibe on the next possession, Ball drove and assisted Stewart under the basket for a three-point play to give the Huskies their largest lead of the night, 29-15, with just less than seven minutes left before halftime. But the Huskies let East Texas A&M hang around for most of the first half. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementA pair of baskets from forward Ronnie Harrison (15 points, six rebounds) cut the Lions’ deficit to seven with a minute left before Ball went to the free throw line for two and Karaban was in the right place for a second-chance layup to beat the halftime buzzer, sending UConn into the break with a 38-27 lead. Ball pushed the lead to 16 with a 3-pointer, a crafty layup and an assist to Reibe, but the Lions answered with back-to-back 3-pointers from seventh-year guard Gianni Hunt. UConn only attempted five 3-pointers in the first half and continued to punish the undersized Lions in the paint with four straight layups, pushing its lead back to 18 points with just under 12 minutes to play. The lead got to 21 when Mullins scored his first points, drawing a foul on a layup off the glass.
- The highly-touted freshman, off of his breakout performance in the win at Kansas, heated up fast as he nailed a 3-pointer from the wing on the next possession and cut for another layup as Harrison continued to find the bottom of the net for the Lions. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFreshman Jacob Furphy made his second appearance of the season and got on the scoreboard with a layup as UConn built its lead to 27 points with just less than six minutes to play.
