No. 25 UConn men’s basketball rolls in Alex Karaban’s return, takes down Texas for 76-65 road win

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Alex Karaban was on a mission to make up for lost time when he returned from injury in a 76-65 road win at Texas, in which the UConn men’s basketball team returned to form.

The Huskies’ captain and leading scorer, returning from a mild concussion he suffered near the end of the team’s third loss in Maui, played all 40 minutes at the Moody Center on Sunday evening.

After two games in a polo shirt on the bench, coaching up his teammates as much as he could, Karaban wasted no time in helping the Huskies take over Sunday’s game. He scored 14 points in the first half and finished with a team-high 21 points and 11 rebounds, plus two blocks and two steals. It was the first double-double of his career.

After the game, coach Dan Hurley told the ESPN broadcast that he saw an “All-American-level performance” from his captain.

“That’s what he’s gonna have to do for this team this year. He played like a star and he delivered in every way,” Hurley said. “He had some fresh legs today, maybe we’ve been practicing too hard. This is something now, everyone’s gonna want some days off.”

Solo Ball, the only Husky to score in double-figures in each of UConn’s first 10 games this season, got to 13 in the first half and finished with 16 points on four made 3-pointers. Samson Johnson and Tarris Reed Jr. added 12 points a piece from the center spot, with Reed grabbing five rebounds.

Liam McNeeley scored seven with nine rebounds in his homecoming and Hassan Diarra (11 assists) directed the offense as the Huskies assisted on 21 of their 28 made shots.

UConn scored the first points of the game with a 3-pointer from Ball 93 seconds in and never trailed. The Huskies improved to 7-3 on the season and have won three straight against East Texas A&M, No. 15 Baylor and now the 7-2 Longhorns since returning from the Maui Invitational.

“Everything that happened on the Hawaii trip was jarring for the program, but the response since our return to the mainland I think speaks to the…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/no-25-uconn-men-basketball-003900862.html

Author : Hartford Courant

Publish date : 2024-12-09 00:39:00

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