HARTFORD - UConn men’s basketball survived another close call on Saturday afternoon, taking down Villanova despite trailing early to pick up its 15th consecutive win.
Solo Ball led the way with 24 points and five threes. Alex Karaban chipped in 17 points, all in the final nine minutes of regulation and overtime. Both Silas Demary Jr. and Tarris Reed Jr. finished with 10 each, picking up the slack after Braylon Mullins departed early with an apparent head injury in the second half.
UConn was down 8-0 early and trailed for nearly 30 minutes, and came out on top despite losing the rebounding battle in a sold-out PeoplesBank Arena.
The Wildcats (15-5, 6-3) came into the day looking like a contender that’s expected to finish near the top of the standings.
Reed found a cutting Demary to get the Huskies on the board after the visitors’ 8-0 start. On the next possession, Mullins knocked down his first three of the game from the right corner.
A 9-0 flipped it into a 9-8 lead after Jaylin Stewart cleaned up a miss with a tip-in. After that, the two sides traded jabs, with the Wildcat’s ability to knock down the three-ball keeping them ahead.
Trailing 23-17, Ball connected on a three to cut the deficit in half and Eric Reibe cleaned up a Ball miss in transition with a putback to prompt a Willard timeout. Dan Hurley went to the middle of the floor and pumped up the crowd.
After the teams traded free throws, Ball buried his second three to cut it back to one, but Villanova connected on its sixth three of the half on its last possession to take a 31-27 lead into the locker room.
UConn came out of the locker room with a sense of urgency, tying the game after Mullins and Ball each hit from deep. Ball took four threes in the first four minutes of the half, but only converted on one.
Early in the half, Mullins took an elbow to the head in transition after a turnover and was slow to get up before heading to the locker room. He didn’t return to the game.
Not long after, Hurley picked up a technical foul from James Breeding after Demary was called for a foul. Villanova used its extra free throws to build the lead up to six at 39-33, but a 7-0 run capped off by a three from Ball gave the Huskies a 40-39 lead.
The scoring stretch for UConn ended up at 9-0 after Reibe converted a reverse layup, but Matt Hodge and Devin Askew each hit left wing threes in succession to put Villanova back on top 45-42 with 9:47 to play.
Karaban finally got on the board with the next four points for the Huskies, and Reed tied things at 48 with a post-up inside of seven minutes. A tough finish by the Wildcats’ Tyler Perkins gave them the lead, but Karaban responded with another basket. Perkins hit another difficult layup to give Villanova the lead 52-50 as Willard called a time-out with 5:30 to play.
After the stoppage, Ball was fouled while hoisting a three as the shot clock expired and buried all three from the free throw line to put the Huskies back in front 53-52. The Wildcats responded yet again to take the lead, but Karaban buried his first three to make it 56-54 UConn before the U-4.
Karaban converted a three-point play after the timeout in answer to some Wildcat free throws to make it a three-point game. Hodge hit the biggest shot of the game for Villanova soon after, a go-ahead three with 1:06 to play in regulation. Reed had a challenging offensive rebound and tip-in to knot things at 61 with 42 seconds left, and that's where things stood as neither side could get a good look on their last possession, and the game went to overtime.
Demary and Jayden Ross combined for perhaps the biggest stop of the season to this point on the defensive end, as Ross swatted a three-point attempt and Demary secured the jump ball on the rebound with the arrow pointing towards the Huskies.
In overtime, Villanova took the first swing with a triple, but Demary found Reed for a transition slam to get the Huskies going, and they didn’t stop. Once the game was tied at 67, UConn scored the final eight points with six free throws and a timely bucket from Demary inside to put the game away.
Behind a late surge from Karaban and a redeeming performance from Ball, UConn was able to keep up its winning ways and pass another test in a close game. The Huskies got 16 offensive rebounds as a team, but also gave up 16 to Villanova on the offensive glass.
Next up, UConn hosts Providence to wrap up their season series. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. from Gampel Pavilion in Storrs and will be televised on TNT and truTV. The Huskies beat the Friars in a thrilling overtime game on the road earlier this month.
Led by Kim English, the Friars are 2-7 in conference play and 9-11 overall, struggling in league play after a solid non-conference. They’re ranked 73rd in KenPom overall efficiency (27th Offense, 200th Defense).
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