UConn men’s basketball bounced back from its loss and picked up a convincing win over Villanova, 73-63, at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.
After a stretch of lackluster defensive games, the Huskies stepped up in a big way on the road, forcing the Wildcats to shoot under 40 percent most of the game and 25% from three while the visitors hit more than half their shots and dominated on the glass.
It was a well-rounded scoring effort for the victors. Alex Karaban led the way with 12 points, while Tarris Reed Jr. (11) and Braylon Mullins (10) were the other top scorers.
UConn (25-3, 15-2) got a spark from the bench, netting 22 points from the reserves as they excelled in timely stretches. All four bench players had at least a +5 in the box score, led by a team-high +16 from Jayden Ross, while Eric Reibe dropped eight points.
The Wildcats (21-6, 12-4) came into the day unbeaten since their OT loss in Hartford to the Huskies.
Villanova’s Tyler Perkins came out of the gates firing, scoring eight points in the first two minutes to give the Wildcats an 8-4 advantage. Silas Demary Jr. stepped up with a three and a drive to the rim to ignite the Husky offense, but the Wildcats continued to answer back.
The first half went back and forth as both teams were hitting shots and trading ties and leads. UConn led 14-13 after the first media time-out.
After the stoppage, the Huskies got six straight points from their bench thanks to a pair of free throws from Ross, a layup on a broken play from Malachi Smith, and a lefty hook from Reibe. A transition slam from Solo Ball triggered a Willard timeout with the Huskies up 23-18.
Over the next five minutes, Villanova went on a 12-4 run before a Mullins three knotted things at 30. Then a 7-0 Husky run after a Reibe layup and a Demary jumper in the lane put them back ahead. Acaden Lewis hit a tough runner in the lane to stop the run at the 1:05 mark and make it 34-32, the halftime score.
UConn shot 57.7% from the field in the first half, but turned the ball over eight times. Demary had five turnovers in 15 minutes, most of them liveball opportunities that allowed Villanova to get out in transition, as he finished with seven giveaways.
Mullins opened the second half with a friendly bounce on a corner three to push the lead back up to five, and after some Wildcat free throws, a pair of buckets from Reed and Karaban got the lead to its largest at the time at 41-34.
The Huskies took control from there.
After some impressive defensive stands, Ball came around a Reed screen for a triple at the top of the key to make it 44-34 and force another Willard timeout at the 16:33 mark.
Reed splitting a pair of free throws and another layup from Karaban extended the run to 10-0 and made Willard call another timeout, his second-to-last of the game, less than two minutes later.
The offensive rebounding was impressive in the early parts of the second half. Smith got a critical one, fighting for a loose ball and finding Jaylin Stewart for a three to make it 52-41. The bench production continued to be the difference, as a Reibe reverse finish followed immediately by a Smith transition layup made it 56-41 and ignited Willard’s final timeout of the game at the 10:21 mark.
UConn had eight blocks and dominated the paint on the defensive end. One notable stretch came when Reed swatted a Lewis shot and it turned into a transition chance for Ross, on which he was fouled and hit some free throws to make it a 17 point lead.
As the clock went inside five minutes, Reed hit a spinning floater in the lane to make it 67-46. The Husky big man didn’t miss a shot, the third time he’s done that in the past three weeks.
The lead never went below double digits the rest of the way for UConn, as the Huskies cruised to the win thanks to a second-half outburst that put the game away before a 7-0 home run made the final score closer than the game actually was.
In the end, UConn comfortably picked up its 15th Big East win to set the stage for a huge meeting against St. John’s that will likely decide the regular-season league champion.
The Huskies outrebounded the Wildcats, 37-24, while holding Villanova star rebounder Duke Brennan, who averages north of 10 boards a night, to just three. Their star point guard, Acaden Lewis, didn’t score in the second half.
Next up, UConn host No. 17 St. John’s in Hartford on Wednesday night. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. and will be televised on Peacock and NBCSN.
Rick Pitino’s Red Storm are 22-5 overall and 15-1 in league play, winners of 13 straight games, including an 81-72 win over the Huskies in MSG on Feb. 6 and a thrasing of Creighton on Saturday. They’re ranked 21st in KenPom overall efficiency (46th Offense, 15th Defense).
Box Score
Team Stats
Win Probability
