The No. 4 UConn men’s basketball team rolled to a routine, 72-60, victory over DePaul at PeoplesBank Arena on Saturday.
It was the 12th consecutive win for the Huskies, now 16-1 on the year and 6-0 in Big East play.
Freshman Braylon Mullins starred again with a game-high 16 points with seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks and three steals. Point guard Silas Demary Jr. continued to look comfortable with 14 points on seven shots with three rebounds, four assists and three steals. Alex Karaban made three Huskies in double figures as he finished with 15 points, five rebounds and two steals.
“Just going in, emotional game, emotional comeback on the road at Providence, get in late, early game today – I mean, this game was on top of us really quick. … I was worried about overall flatness, lack of energy with the group, but I actually thought we handled things pretty well, because that’s not the DePaul that’s rolled in here that you’ve seen in recent memory,” coach Dan Hurley said.
After hitting a program-record 18 3-pointers in Wednesday’s overtime thriller, UConn didn’t need such an effort with its defense, top-five nationally, returning to form. The Huskies made 12 steals and forced 15 turnovers as they held the Blue Demons to 47% shooting from the field and 4-for-13 from beyond the arc, the numbers a bit inflated by an 11-1 scoring run after Hurley turned to his bench with two and a half minutes left.
“I don’t think anyone who turned on the film is thinking that you’re in a fun game with Depaul. They guard, they’re physical, they were really physical in the game. It’s probably good preparation for Tuesday (at Seton Hall),” Hurley said. “I do think that there’s a lot of room for growth. I think we’re leaving points on the table. We easily could’ve shot 56%, 57% from the field today. We missed bunnies, I thought we missed some open threes, but credit DePaul, those guys play hard.”
Much like their trip to Chicago before the holiday break, a 72-54 win over the Blue Demons, turnovers kept the Huskies from operating their most efficient offense early in Saturday’s game. And after holding the Blue Demons to just the makes on their first 15 attempts from the field, the double-figure lead started to evaporate.
Layden Blocker (16 points) ripped the ball from Tarris Reed Jr. (eight points, five rebounds) in the post and finished a layup at the other end to make it a four-point game, but Demary answered with a pair of tough layups and Mullins turned a steal into a three-point play. Hurley called a timeout ahead of the final possession of the half, where Demary missed a fadeaway midrange jumper and corralled his own offensive rebound beyond the 3-point line. His shot just beat the buzzer to take a 37-27 halftime lead.
Solo Ball, who didn’t attempt a shot in the first half, got himself going with a strong finish through a foul for a three-point play that was part of a 13-5 run to start the second half.
“We’re trying to get him back into the flow,” Hurley said of Ball, who missed the first DePaul game with a wrist injury. “What these guys have got to be able to do offensively is just be efficient. You’re not gonna get 16, 17, 18 shots to find a rhythm, we’ve got too many weapons on offense. So these guys have got to figure out a way to be efficient. Some nights it’s not gonna be your night.”
The freshman duo of Eric Reibe and Mullins connected on a smooth bounce pass through the lane that led set up a Mullins floater and went on to combine for 10 straight points as UConn’s lead grew to 20.
Mullins hit his second 3-pointer of the game before coming up with a steal and assisting Ball for a transition layup, then getting another takeaway and hitting Karaban for a triple to go up 23 and take complete control with five minutes left.
After Hurley emptied his bench and DePaul flushed an alley-oop to make it a 16-point difference with 1:32 left, the Huskies’ coach went back to his starters.
“I felt like the bench could keep that score where it was. I didn’t want to put the starters back in. … You’re up 23 or whatever and I just felt like we’d be able to hold the lead and get guys minutes that didn’t get them versus Providence, but they did bad,” Hurley said.
The Huskies have another two-day gap between games as they seek their first road win at Seton Hall since the 2020-21 season on Tuesday night. It is one accomplishment that has alluded Karaban over his four years.
“We’ll learn from this DePaul game, move on quickly and just get ready for Seton Hall,” he said. “We’ve got to be ready. Obviously that atmosphere and that arena is something I want to get as a checklist (item) in my career. So we’ve just got to be ready to go. They’re a much-improved team and they’ve been playing really well.”
