Behind a near-triple-double from Silas Demary Jr. and Solo Ball’s second-consecutive 20-point game, the UConn men’s basketball team survived a late push from Georgetown to take down the Hoyas 79-75.
In yet another night in which the No.6 ranked Huskies (22-4, 14-1 Big East) took another team’s best punch, UConn kept its composure, never trailed, and staved off repeated attempts by the Hoyas late in the game to crawl back in. The Huskies led multiple times by double digits, including a 14-point advantage early in the second half, bending but not breaking late to secure the win. Alex Karaban became UConn men’s all-time winningest player after picking up his 116th win during his time in Storrs.
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Ed Cooley’s squad, now 5-9 in Big East play, played admittedly solid basketball Saturday. The Hoyas shot efficiently both from the field (43.6%) and from three (42.9%). Georgetown entered the game leading the Big East in fewest turnovers per game and carried that trend forward, coughing it up just 11 times.
The Huskies opened the night with three-straight threes from Karaban, Braylon Mullins and Ball. The teams traded buckets back and forth, but it was ultimately Ball who emerged as the Huskies’ main threat once again. His 20 points marked a team high, following up his 24-point night Tuesday against Butler. Sixteen of those points came in the first half, including four of his five threes. Ball also crossed the 1,000 point threshold for his career on the night.
Ball’s counterpart Saturday proved to be Georgetown’s KJ Lewis, who scored 13 in the first half and a game-high 25 on the night. Leading by just two, UConn ripped off an 11-5 run to close out the half and enter the locker room leading 41-33. During the break, UConn honored Hasheem Thabeet, who was inducted into the Huskies of Honor.
Karaban and Demary Jr. buoyed UConn down the stretch, with Karaban chipping in 13 of his 18 points in the final 20 minutes and Demary nine of his 15. The two biggest points of the night belonged to Karaban, who stepped to the line with seconds to play, leading by a single possession, and knocked down two free throws to put the game on ice.
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Georgetown had been keeping things close, and with UConn leading by seven with under 30 seconds to play, Lewis drilled an and-1 three-pointer to cut the lead to one possession. Tarris Reed, who finished with just four points, fouled out in the process. Off the ensuing inbound, Karaban nearly turned it over, lobbing up a pass to avoid a 10-second violation, but Ball made an acrobatic catch to save the possession. A UConn timeout flipped the inbounds to the other side, and Karaban again threw the ball away. While Georgetown did not capitalize on his blunder, Karaban redeemed himself with his two big shots from the charity stripe. The Huskies did not score a field goal in the game’s final three minutes, scraping by the Hoyas to win their second-straight.
It was a game emblematic of the Big East’s intensity and one that left no milestone unturned, as Karaban, Ball and Thabeet all celebrated individual accolades and the Huskies notched another dub in the win column. Demary finished one assist shy of a triple-double, recording 15 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists. Mullins and Eric Reibe chipped in 10 points apiece as five Huskies finished in double figures.
UConn has just five regular-season games left as the race for the No. 1 seed in the conference continues to heat up. The Huskies inch slightly back ahead of St. John’s, who dispatched Providence earlier Saturday, and are back on the court Wednesday against Creighton at Gampel Pavilion. Tip-off is 8 p.m. ET with TNT set to broadcast the game.
