🎥 UConn MBB Postgame Media Availability - Seton Hall (Hurley, Demary Jr., Karaban, Reed Jr.)
UConn men’s basketball snapped its four-game losing streak at the Prudential Center Tuesday night, knocking off No. 25 Seton Hall, 69-64, to pick up its 13th consecutive win and seventh straight to start Big East play.
Tarris Reed Jr. starred for the Huskies (17-1, 7-0), scoring a game high 21 points with nine rebounds and three blocks. Alex Karaban and Braylon Mullins joined him in double figures with 13 and 11, respectively. Mullins also had a huge block on a late three-point attempt that would have tied the game.
UConn led by 13 at halftime and 18 in the second half before the lead dwindled down to one with 48 seconds left after the home team hit its first three-pointer of the evening.
The Pirates (14-3, 4-2) came into the night as one of the most surprising teams in the country under Shaheen Holloway, ranked in the Top 25 for the first time in four years. They won eight of their last nine entering Tuesday.
Reed Jr. scored a reverse layup on the opening possession to get the team on the board as this had the makings of a rock-fight early. The Pirate defense showed why they were ranked in the Top 10, as the Huskies started out with a cold shooting run. By the first media timeout, Seton Hall had four blocks and led, 6-5.
Both sides traded jabs for the next few minutes, with nobody leading by more than three at any point until the U-12 timeout. The Pirates were making a living in the mid-range area, leading 12-11 eight minutes in.
The Huskies stayed in the game early thanks to offensive rebounds and some early playmaking from Reed and Karaban. UConn had 11 offensive boards that resulted in 12 second-chance points in the first 20 minutes, headlined by a putback slam from Karaban.
Something clicked around the seven-minute mark for UConn. The Huskies closed the half on an 18-3 run, holding Seton Hall without a field goal for the final 7:05. Braylon Mullins got things going, finishing a dunk on a nice pass from Reed and knocking down a contested triple.
The Huskies put an exclamation point on the half with a fastbreak flush from Solo Ball to push the lead to 35-22 at the break.
Ball kept that momentum as he rattled home his first three of the game on UConn’s first possession of the second half, pushing the lead to 16. The Pirates followed it up with a bucket, ending a field goal-less run of 8:18.
UConn was thriving in the paint, and was dominating on the glass all night. Reed had two three-point plays in a short span, utilizing his great footwork and strength to finish through contact. Sandwiched in between those plays was a technical foul on Holloway that resulted in a pair of free throws for Karaban.
The lead peaked at 18 with those free throws at the 14:48 mark. After that, the Pirates began to press and it worked, forcing turnovers and overall sloppiness from the Huskies that got the game back within single digits by the 10-minute mark.
Reed silenced the run with another finish through contact underneath, but he missed the free throw. The big man finished 5-of-13 from the charity stripe on the night, missing in some key spots that could’ve extended the Husky lead during the ferocious comeback by the Pirates.
The pressure got to UConn a couple of times, resulting in easy Seton Hall baskets. Once the Pirates cut it back down to six after a fastbreak finish, they stole the ball from Silas Demary Jr. and nearly converted again, but Karaban and Demary combined to get the stop around the rim.
Mullins answered with a driving basket on the other end to make it 58-50 at the U-8 timeout.
Demary hit a pair of free throws out of the stoppage to push the lead back to double-digits. Seton Hall would quickly get it back to six, but Mullins responded again with another clutch deuce in the lane to make it 62-54.
The Pirate press continued generating turnovers, including a shot-clock violation after blocking a desperation triple from Reed to go into the final media timeout at 62-56.
Fear finally turned into serious concern when they scored on a putback right after the break to cut it to four, then got another steal off the inbounds and converted to make it a two-point game with two minutes to play.
Karaban hit two free throws, and Reed split a pair, to give UConn a 65-60 lead going into the final minute of regulation. Stephon Payne split a pair of free throws, but the second one trickled off Reed’s hands out of bounds. Mike Williams responded with the Pirates’ first three of the night, making it 65-64 with under a minute left.
After failing to get the ball in and calling a timeout, the Huskies got the ball across halfcourt before Demary was fouled. He hit two free throws to make it 67-64 before a Pirate timeout with 25.9 to play.
Mullins proved to be the hero on the defensive end, blocking a Williams three early in the clock. Demary secured the board and hit two free throws to put the game away.
UConn went the final 5:42 without making a field goal, but hit seven free throws down the stretch to keep the lead. Both sides missed 10 free throws in the game. The Huskies benefited from a 1-16 night from three for the Pirates, but weren’t much better themselves going 3-17 from beyond the arc.
The Hall pressure also meant a season-high 17 turnovers from the Huskies with 10 of them being attributed to the starting backcourt of Demary, Ball and Mullins.
Next up, UConn is back on the road to face Georgetown on Saturday afternoon.
Tip-off is set for 12:00 p.m. from Capital One Arena and will be televised on FOX. UConn has won 10 straight games against Georgetown dating back to when the Huskies rejoined the Big East in 2020.
Led by Ed Cooley, the Hoyas are 1-4 in conference play and 9-7 overall, losers of four straight conference games coming in. They’re ranked 109th in KenPom overall efficiency (108th Offense, 134th Defense).
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