No. 5 UConn men’s basketball outlasts Texas, 71-63

UConn men’s basketball closed out its non conference slate with one last win Friday night, as the Huskies dug deep to grind out a 71-63 win over Texas. It may not have been UConn’s prettiest win of a tough non conference schedule, but the Huskies did everything they needed to do to keep the Longhorns from making it interesting. UConn led for over 37 of the game’s 40 minutes, and Texas only got within as few as five points for less than a minute in the second before the Huskies put the game to an emphatic end to finish the toughest non conference schedule in program history with 10 wins and just one loss.

After four-straight Texas free throws, the Longhorns cut UConn’s lead to just five with 4:30 left to play in the second half. Texas forced the Huskies’ offense to work deep into the shot clock, and Alex Karaban fired off an errant pass to Solo Ball, who caught the ball near the PeoplesBank Arena logo. With just seconds left on the shot clock, Ball collected the pass, hoisted up a shot and connected from way downtown. The three was UConn’s first of the second half and gave the Huskies an eight-point lead.

Advertisement

But UConn wasn’t done. Tarris Reed Jr. swatted Simeon Wilcher’s layup on the ensuing possession and got the ball to Malachi Smith, who quickly pushed the ball up the court. Smith then found an open and eager Karaban with a cross-court pass, and the redshirt senior delivered with a dagger of a 3-pointer. Karaban’s three made it six points in 13 seconds, and gave the Huskies a 67-56 lead with 3:23 to play, squashing any shot of a Longhorns comeback.

While the Huskies and Texas traded baskets to start, Braylon Mullins gave UConn the lead for good with a deep three less than three minutes in to go up 9-7. Reed would find Mullins on the team’s next possession, and the freshman converted a tough turnaround jumper to continue growing the lead. A dunk from Ball on UConn’s next time off a nice cut to the hoop made it 13-6 Huskies.

Reed would pace…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/no-5-uconn-men-basketball-053711789.html

Author :

Publish date : 2025-12-13 05:37:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.