STORRS – It was UConn’s bench that stepped up on Tuesday night as the second-ranked Huskies held on for another tight win, 87-81, over Providence at Gampel Pavilion.
After averaging only 7.6 bench points over the last five games, beginning when they visited the Friars three weeks ago and scored just three, the Huskies saw a combined 26 points from backup point guard Malachi Smith and center Eric Reibe, which put them over the top without star freshman Braylon Mullins, who was out with a concussion.
UConn led for 36 minutes in the game but the Friars kept it close throughout, as the regional rivalry typically goes. It was the Huskies’ Big Three – Alex Karaban, Tarris Reed Jr. and Solo Ball – who finally put the game away down the stretch.
The Huskies improved to 20-1 on the season and 10-0 in the Big East with their 16th consecutive win. It was their eighth straight victory in the all-time series against the Friars, who fell to 9-12 on the year and 2-8 in league play.
“Right now, we’re not playing at the level at both ends of the court, on the backboard. We’re not shooting the ball efficiently. We’ve got issues to be a team that’s destroying people, but we’re good at winning,” coach Dan Hurley said. “I don’t know if there’s ever been more consternation for a 20-1 team that’s won 16 in a row. But this is the monster that we created… The ’23 and ’24 teams, the way especially the ’24 team obliterated people, so everyone wants to see this ’26 team play like the ’24 team and we’re just not there yet. I think we’ve got a chance to get there.”
Reed wasn’t his best in the first half but finished with a team-high 19 points on 8-for-9 shooting, while grabbing six rebounds and blocking three shots. The other half of the Huskies’ two-headed monster, Reibe didn’t miss on six attempts from the field for 14 points as he hauled in eight rebounds and blocked two shots.
“We got saved by the center play. Obviously it was a huge positive,” Hurley said. “I think that’s the potential that those two guys can give us on a nightly basis, I think we’ve got to get those guys the ball more. Obviously we’ve got to play Eric more because he had a huge impact on the game.”
Smith sparked the offense with 12 points, seven assists and two steals as he hit a career-high four 3-pointers without missing from beyond the arc. Ball finished with 17 points, Karaban quietly threatened a triple-double with eight points, nine rebounds and seven assists, and Silas Demary Jr. added 15 points with four rebounds and six assists.
“The story of the game for us was Malachi being back, just having Malachi back does so much for us,” Hurley said. “On a night where Alex is 3-for-14, Solo goes 5-for-18, Jaylin (Stewart) goes 0-for-3 and Jayden (Ross) goes 0-for-1, it makes it tough to win. But the centers were awesome, Malachi was back. And when Silas was on the court he was a huge factor.”
Smith, who hadn’t been able to impact games the way he did in nonconference play, knocked down his first 3-pointer since New Year’s Eve after an early Providence run and hit another 90 seconds later. His emergence sparked a 12-2 UConn run over the next three minutes and built a double-figure lead with 10 minutes left in the half.
Without Mullins to worry about, Kim English was comfortable switching to a 2-3 zone and his Friars were disruptive, able to get stops and score in transition with the ball in the hands of freshman Jamier Jones, who scored seven straight during a 9-0 run to claw back.
Both teams made 13 shots from the field in the first half – UConn on 31 attempts (41.9%), PC on 27 (48.1%), and the Huskies went into the break with a 41-37 advantage thanks to their 6-for-12 mark from 3-point range.
UConn finished the game 11-for-24 from beyond the arc to Providence’s 5-for-14.
Hurley was frustrated early in the second half when he had to pull Reed after a missed chance at an offensive rebound and a third foul. But Reibe filled in nicely, scoring a pair inside to reach double figures for the first time since Dec. 5. Providence cut its deficit to one with a 3-pointer from Stefan Vaaks, but Demary answered with a triple of his own and Reibe forced a turnover to set up another.
Providence cut the difference to one with seven and a half minutes to play, but Karaban saw a floater fall, then Ball made his second 3-pointer and Reed finished inside to push it back to an eight-point game three minutes later.
The Friars tried for one last surge, but Reed jumped a pass at the top of the key and went coast-to-coast for a dunk and the final exclamation point with 58 seconds to play.
“We have to do a better job as a team of just having that killer mentality. But it’s the Big East, it’s one of the toughest conferences in the country. So knowing that conference play is really hard to win, we’re grateful for all of the wins. We have to learn from it and really be better for March.”
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