Instant Classic: UConn comes back to beat Providence in OT

UConn MBB Postgame Media Availability - Providence (Hurley, Demary Jr., Karaban, Mullins)

PROVIDENCE –- UConn men’s basketball pulled off a come-from-behind, overtime win over Providence, 103-98, at the Amica Mutual Pavilion on Wednesday night.

The Friars went on a 21-4 run late in the first half to take an early 13-point lead, but the Huskies closed out regulation on a 14-3 run before eight points from Braylon Mullins in overtime helped seal the deal.

All five starters finished in double figures for the Huskies, with four of them over 20 points as their normally productive bench players struggled.

Mullins finished with a career-high 24 points, while Silas Demary Jr. posted a monster double-double with 23 points and 15 assists, also nabbing five steals on the night. Alex Karaban scored 23 and hit some huge shots late. Tarris Reed Jr. overcame a rough first half to finish with eight boards and 20 points, including the game-tying basket on a putback.

The starters fell in the hole and pulled themselves out of it in an absolute classic in the AMP. The Friar faithful were raucous as the home team built up a sizeable lead through halftime and maintained it for most of the second half.

Kim English’s squad was fresh off its best win of the season, taking down St. John’s on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. After receiving some backlash for their 7-6 start going into Saturday’s game, English had some momentum brewing after beating the Red Storm and the first 30 or so minutes Wednesday night.

The Huskies (15-1, 5-0 Big East) struck on the opening possession with a corner three from Solo Ball, but the Friars responded with seven straight points to take the lead into the first media timeout.

Mullins and Karaban each responded with triples. The Huskies started 8-of-13 from three by the U-8 timeout on their way to a 56% (18-32) finish.

The Friars were striking the nets as well, mounting an 11-0 run to go up 37-30 before Demary Jr. ended the run with a tough turnaround jumper in the paint. The run picked back up from there and ended at 21-4 over the course of nearly six minutes.

Providence hit five of its last seven from the field to end the first half and was dominating on the glass as it went into the locker room up 47-37. The Huskies were without a free throw through the first 20 minutes, much to the chagrin of Dan Hurley, who let the referees know.

Hurley received a technical foul for his jawing, assessed at the beginning of the second half. Perhaps his campaigning worked, as the Huskies attempted eight free throws before the first media timeout of the half.

After a sluggish first half, Reed Jr. burst out of the locker room with 10 points in the first six minutes to give the Huskies a prayer. Both sides were trading jabs and mini-runs, but that didn’t serve the visitors’ comeback effort.

Demary Jr. connected on consecutive threes to cut the deficit down to six and five respectively, but that would be the closest the Huskies would get for a while as Providence continued to respond to any UConn run.

The junior point guard stayed active even as the situation grew increasingly desperate. He answered multiple momentum-shifting Friar runs with buckets of his own. With under five minutes to play, he converted on a tough three-point play to get the deficit back down to just seven.

After a pair of fastbreak finishes pushed the lead back to 11 for the Friars, Demary keyed a 9-0 to make it a two-point game with 54 seconds left. He made two great steals as Karaban hit a pair of floaters in the lane and one of those steals set up a Jaylin Stewart three for the only Husky bench points of the night.

English called a time-out with 1:27 to play and the score 86-84 after the second of those Karaban jumpers.

Providence hit a three off a rebound to push the lead back to five before Karaban answered right back with his fifth three of the game to cut it back to two.

After the Friars missed on their final chance to take a two-score lead with 33 seconds left, Demary grabbed the rebound and sent it to Karaban, who attempted a game-winning three that missed but fell to Reed, who laid it in to tie the game with 11 seconds remaining. Corey Floyd Jr. got a good look for the win but missed to send the game to overtime.

Mullins took over in the extra period, hitting two dagger-like threes before a Reed lay-up pushed the lead to six. A Duncan Powell three cut the deficit to three, but Demary connected on a game-sealing pull-up jumper with 10 seconds remaining to make it 103-98 as Providence elected not to foul.

The Huskies set a new program record with 18 made threes. Mullins and Karaban combined for 11 after going 1-12 as a pair in the last game.

Next up, the Huskies return home on Saturday to host DePaul for their second matchup of the season. Tip-off is set for 12:30 p.m. EST from PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford, and the game will be televised on TNT.

Led by Chris Holtmann, the Blue Demons are now 2-3 in conference play after beating Xavier and Georgetown. They’re ranked 108th in KenPom overall efficiency (200th Offense, 45th Defense).

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