Basketball
UConn men’s basketball took some time to warm up before dispatching the East Texas A&M Lions Friday night at Gampel Pavilion. The Huskies (8-1), fresh off back-to-back ranked wins against Illinois and Kansas, sputtered at the start but eventually overwhelmed the Lions to cruise to a comfortable 83-59 win.
“I thought it was just important to get through this last buy game, just let us be done with that part of our schedule,” head coach Dan Hurley said postgame.
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With Tarris Reed once again unavailable as he recovers from an ankle sprain suffered in the BYU game, Eric Reibe earned another start and once again made the most of his opportunity. The Lions had no answer for the freshman’s size and length down low, and Reibe’s back-to-back baskets early on helped spark a 9-0 UConn as the Huskies took control of the game early. He finished the night with 13 points, six rebounds and three blocks in 26 minutes of action.
While UConn still ended up taking an 11-point lead into halftime after the first 20 minutes, the offense did not look like the unit that came alive in the second half Tuesday night to take down Kansas. The Huskies missed two dunks in the first half, settled for some awkward midrange shots and couldn’t connect from three at all. Jayden Ross made the team’s only 3-pointer of the first half as UConn went 1-6 from beyond the arc.
East Texas A&M never strung together enough baskets to make things super interesting, but the Lions constantly fought back to keep the game from getting out of hand early. ETAMU shot 40 percent from the 3-point line in the first half and cut the lead to as little as seven with under a minute remaining. But a pair of free throws from Solo Ball and an impressive last-second putback from Alex Karaban gave the Huskies a 38-27 lead heading into the locker room.
The Lions would get the lead back down to single digits after a pair of Ronnie Harrison free throws to start the second half, but UConn immediately answered with a Ball 3-pointer to spark a 7-0 run that would eventually put the Huskies up 16. From there, UConn settled in and looked more cohesive over the final 20 minutes as Braylon Mullins emerged following a quiet first half.
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After playing just seven minutes in the first, Hurley let Mullins loose a little bit in the second half, with the freshman scoring all 10 of his points in the final 20 minutes. Mullins scored six-straight points as part of a 7-0 run that gave UConn a 64-40 lead with nine minutes to play, and would finish the night with 10 points in 17 total minutes off the Huskies’ bench.
“I don’t know that that’s the role I necessarily envision for him. He’s still working his way back” Hurley said of Mullins coming off the bench. I just don’t know that he’s quite at the point where he can play that 28 to 30 minutes a game range potentially as a starter… I think Braylon is going to be a guy, once he catches his rhythm, that’s going to be really hard to take off the court.“
UConn would stretch the lead to as much as 27 points with two minutes to play before securing the 24-point win. While it wasn’t the prettiest win the Huskies had all year, UConn survived a poor perimeter shooting night (4-16 from deep) and used its size to dominate inside with 58 points in the paint. In yet another game without Reed, the Huskies still out-rebounded the Lions 39-26, forced 13 turnovers and held ETAMU to just 0.89 points per possession.
Karaban (12 points, six rebounds) and Ball (14 points, 2-5 from three) joined Reibe and Mullins as Huskies in double figures, while Jaylin Stewart was close with nine points and seven boards. Harrison led ETAMU in scoring with 15 points.
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Next up, the Huskies head back to Madison Square Garden to take on No. 15 Florida, the reigning national champions and the team that beat UConn in the NCAA Tournament last year. Tip-off is at 9:00 p.m. and the game will be televised on ESPN.
Read More Zonia Kazmierczak