HARTFORD — UConn men’s basketball hosted Texas on Friday night at PeoplesBank Arena, leading for all but two minutes in a 71-63 win to wrap up non-conference play with an impressive 10-1 record.
The Longhorns were one of six top-50 opponents the Huskies faced in that stretch, including five top-20 teams. Texas head coach Sean Miller compared this UConn team to the 2023 champions, which he faced as the coach at Xavier. He also had high praise for the efforts of Alex Karaban, Tarris Reed Jr., and Braylon Mullins.
Making his first career start, Mullins scored five quick points after a three to make it 11-7 before a Solo Ball dunk pushed it to 13-7 at the U-16. The Huskies were setting each other up nicely from the start, finishing with 23 assists on 29 field goals.
Karaban hit a three, and then another Mullins three made it 23-16 with 11 minutes left. Then, a Jaylin Stewart three, set up by an impressive one-handed cross-court pass by Reed, made it 28-20 before a Reed block set up a Karaban lay-up to make it 30-20 at the U-8.
The senior big man finished with 12 points, six rebounds, and five assists on the night as UConn held Texas 7-footer Matas Vokietaitis, their leading scorer, to three first-half points. The Huskies took a 43-34 lead into the break and had hit 68 percent of their attempts to that point.
Texas (7-4) got off to a fast start in the second half, scoring five straight to cut the lead down to six, but that’s as close as it would get for Miller’s squad. UConn answered right back with buckets from Reed and Karaban before a Reed hook shot made it 51-41.
The Longhorns got to the free-throw line effectively throughout the night, allowing them to keep the game close late. They cut the lead down to six again before a really nice Malachi Smith lay-up and a Mullins jumper pushed it up to nine.
The visitors made many small runs to keep the lead from getting out of hand, but UConn had a response each time as it maintained a comfortable buffer throughout the second half.
Consecutive buckets off Longhorn turnovers, including a thunderous Jayden Ross dunk, put the Huskies up 57-45 with 11 minutes left. A 6-0 UT run cut the lead down to six, but a tremendous lay-in from Malachi Smith stopped the bleeding, and a Mullins jumper put them up by nine at the U-8.
Another Texas run threatened to make it close, with Jordan Pope and Tramon Mark doing a good job of creating buckets as they finished with 15 points each. Vokietaitis hit four of his six second-half free throws, finishing with nine points on the night.
The lead was back down to six, but Solo Ball hit a turnaround, 40-foot heave with the shot-clock winding down, and then a Karaban three pushed it back to 11 in a sequence that took less than 20 seconds. The senior scored a game-high 18 points.
The Longhorns would not let go. Pope and Mark hit consecutive buckets to cut the lead down to six again before a Smith jumper brought it back to eight.
The Huskies finished the game with more turnovers than the visitors, and lost the rebounding battle, and took way fewer free throws, but held on for the win.
Stewart closed it out with a fast-break dunk to get us to our final score. UConn head coach Dan Hurley praised the effort and heart of the junior from Seattle after he finished with 10 points in the win. He also expressed concern for the rebounding and turnovers, acknowledging that his team had been through quite the gauntlet over the last few weeks.
Next up, the Huskies kick off Big East play, hosting Butler on Tuesday night at PeoplesBank Arena. Tip-off will be at 8:30 p.m. on Peacock/NBC Sports Network.
Led by Thad Matta, the Bulldogs are 7-2 on the season with wins over Virginia and South Carolina, losing to SMU and Boise State. They’re ranked 48th in KenPom overall efficiency (48th Offense, 70th Defense).
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