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STORRS — Liam McNeeley announced himself in college basketball on Wednesday night, leading the No. 25 UConn men’s basketball team past No. 15 Baylor, 76-72, in a sold-out Gampel Pavilion.
Without three-year starter and leading scorer Alex Karaban (concussion protocol), coach Dan Hurley said the team would need the type of performance it got from McNeeley — 17 points, eight rebounds, three blocks — in order to win.
Samson Johnson provided 13 points, four rebounds and two blocks and sophomore Solo Ball scored 11 on the back of three important 3-pointers.
Both teams were missing a star as Baylor freshman V.J. Edgecombe, who was a consensus top-five player in the 2024 class, was announced as out less than an hour before tip-off with a hamstring injury.
UConn is now 2-2 all-time in the Big East-Big 12 Battle.
The win goes a long way towards getting back some of what the team lost in terms of resume with three unranked losses last week at the Maui Invitational.
Baylor scored at will in the first few minutes of the game, while UConn’s offense sputtered and the Bears built their lead to as many as 11 points with about 12 minutes to go in the first half.
With the deficit at nine around the 10-minute mark, Hurley drew an out-of-bounds play to get an open 3-pointer for Aidan Mahaney – just 28% from beyond the arc entering the game – in the corner. The shot fell and Johnson made one of UConn’s seven blocks in the game on the other end, allowing Mahaney to step back and nail another triple.
The sold-out Gampel Pavilion crowd – including Dan Hurley – went crazy.
As Scott Drew called timeout and the light show began, Mahaney ran over to the bench where Hurley was waiting for him, arms wide, ready for a massive high-five – or some mix of a head-butt and a chest-bump all at once.
Both teams were in the bonus before the end of the first half, but it was the Bears who faced significant foul trouble first.
Baylor sent Johnson to the line for four consecutive free throws, his first…
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Author : Hartford Courant
Publish date : 2024-12-05 02:10:00
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