UConn men’s basketball beat Ohio State convincingly, 84-68, at PeoplesBank Arena Friday night to improve to 4-0.
The Huskies were up by as much as 14 in the first half before a 13-1 OSU run made it a two-point lead at the break. Dan Hurley’s squad powered through early foul trouble to triumph in their first game after Nik Khamenia’s foot injury.
Braylon Mullins got the game started with a quick three after the opening tip. With the game tied 7-7, Silas Demary Jr. drove and hit a lay-up while drawing a foul, making it 10-7. A Colben Landrew three made it 14-9, and a Junior County three made it 17-11.
After a Justin Pippen layup for OSU, the Huskies mounted a 9-0 run that saw two Mullins threes go down. Na’jai Hines hit one of two at the line to make it 26-13 with 10:55 remaining before a Buckeye layup stopped the bleeding.
UConn went cold for a bit, allowing seven straight points before a Landrew three-point play made it 31-22 with 7:42 left in the opening period.
After a steal by Jayden Ross, Mullins hit a three-point play to push the lead to 12. With 4:19 left, Egor Amosov pulled down a long rebound and hit a crazy turnaround three to give the Huskies their largest lead of the night to that point, 41-27.
Things tumbled from there as fouls piled up, two each for Hines, Mullins, Giltay, and Demary Jr. Ohio State (2-2) mounted a 13-1 run to end the first half down just 42-40 and took its first lead with a three for the first bucket of the second half.
Both teams were deadlocked for the next five minutes. A Mullins three and a Ross three helped rebuild the lead, and then Mullins was fouled on a three, hitting two free throws to make it 60-54. A nice finish by County pushed the lead to eight.
A three-point play by Na’jai Hines made it 67-56 and put UConn in the bonus with 9:37 left, and a Hines slam seconds later pushed the lead to 13.
A Mullins injury scare dimmed the vibe for a bit, but otherwise it was roaring in downtown Hartford as the Huskies closed this game with flair as Mullins returned without incident.
The sophomore finished with a team-high 22 points while Hines added 20 in just 20 minutes. Starting for Khamenia, Landrew scored 12 with four rebounds. Demary Jr. finished with 10 points and nine assists.
Next up, UConn hits the road to take on Arizona on Wednesday night. The Wildcats are 2-1 with a nine-point loss to UCLA in their season opener and two low-major wins. The game tips off on Nov. 18th at 9 p.m. and will be televised on FS1.
Box Score
Team Stats
