Fifth-ranked UConn men take down No. 13 Illinois, 74-61, at Madison Square Garden

NEW YORK – The fifth-ranked UConn men’s basketball team rolled to a 74-61 win over No. 13 Illinois in a Black Friday rematch of the 2024 Elite Eight in the SentinelOne Showdown at Madison Square Garden.

There was no 30-0 run, but the Huskies built a double-figure lead about eight minutes in and held on to secure the wire-to-wire victory in their first trip to MSG this season. Illinois threatened a comeback down seven with less than three minutes left, but New York City native Malachi Smith drew a foul as he heaved a 3-pointer with the shot clock expiring (and malfunctioning). The four-point play, UConn’s second of the game, was confirmed after a lengthy review and served as a knockout blow.

“I didn’t know the shot clock was going off, I just looked at the sideline and everybody was telling me to shoot it. He fouled me so I was trying to concentrate at least a little bit and hit the rim,” said Smith, from the Bronx. “I just want to make sure I’m ready when my number is called… When my shot is there, make it count.”

It counted and Smith finished with 14 points and nine assists off the bench as Silas Demary Jr. (nine points, three rebounds, three assists) dealt with foul trouble. Solo Ball scored 13 of his team-high 15 points in the first half and Alex Karaban loaded the stat sheet with 12 points, nine rebounds, five assists, three blocks and a steal.

UConn (6-1) improved to 78-68 all-time in the World’s Most Famous Arena and 4-1 all-time against Illinois, which fell to 6-2 on the season. It was UConn’s second top-15 victory this season.

The Huskies returned to full health, though maybe not full strength, as Tarris Reed Jr. returned and Braylon Mullins made his college debut, both on minutes restrictions as they continue recovering from ankle injuries. Mullins played 10 minutes and finished with two points on 1-for-5 shooting and Reed played 15, going 0-for-2 from the field and grabbing five rebounds.

Eric Reibe, Reed’s freshman backup, had another impressive performance off the bench as he scored eight points with seven rebounds and two blocks. He grabbed two offensive boards during the possession that ended in Smith’s four-point dagger.

“Short-term, with the schedule that we’re playing, it was very, very dangerous for us to play the level of opponents that we’re playing without a healthy team. Especially a guy like Tarris Reed, who is one of the most impactful players in the country. He’s one of the best big guys in the country, he’s going to be an NBA Draft pick this year. He changes everything about our offense and defense, but that being said, his situation health-wise has been great for Eric,” coach Dan Hurley said. “It’s giving us two centers that I think are gonna be able to play at a high level and that was the key to a lot of our success in ’23 and ’24.”

Defensively, the Huskies held Illinois to just 31.7% shooting from the floor (19-for-60) and 20.7% from beyond the arc (6-for-29). The Illini scored almost a third of their points from the free throw line, where they went 17-for-18.

Senior point guard Kylan Boswell accounted for most of the Illini offense with 25 points (8-for-16 shooting) and three assists. Illinois came into the game with five players averaging in double-figure scoring but only had two on Friday as center Tomislav Ivisic posted an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double. Andrej Stojakovic, the Illini’s leading scorer and son of former NBA all-star Peja Stojakovic, was held to only three points on 1-for-7 shooting.

“They’ve got great schemes and they’re so good in isolations,” Hurley said. “Stojakovich was a guy that we talked about relentlessly as a guy that we had to show a lot of bodies to, limit his rim attacks… These guys are really, really hard to guard and, just like us, it’s early in the year, I think they have a chance to be as good as anybody.”

Ball, who had been struggling with his 3-point shot to start the season, began a highly-entertaining first few minutes with a made triple. The teams traded shots before the Huskies’ junior took over, finding his spots from all three levels. Ball made another 3-pointer from the top of the key and was fouled on the shot, giving him a four-point play and UConn a 10-0 run.

The Huskies’ lead grew to as many as 14 points in the first half before Illinois went on a 6-0 run, led by the veteran Boswell. UConn’s vet, Karaban, ended it with his second 3-pointer of the half and then blocked a layup attempt from Stojakovic on the other end. Both teams ended the half in a shooting drought, the only made field goal in the last two and a half minutes coming on a dunk from UConn’s third-string center, Dwayne Koroma, with 10 seconds left to send the Huskies into the break with a 43-32 lead.

UConn started the second half just 1-for-8 from the field before Smith fed Karaban for a pair of layups that started an 11-2 run with Reibe contributing and Jayden Ross pushing the lead to 17 with a 3-pointer. Mullins’ first collegiate bucket, a mid-range jumper, pushed the Huskies’ lead to 19 points and Reibe made it 21, the largest lead of the day.

But Boswell and the Illini weren’t done. Boswell converted a three-point play to start a 16-2 run over more than seven and a half minutes, cutting the difference to seven with three minutes to play.

With neither team shooting the ball well, Smith’s heave was the final blow.

“He’s just a big-game player,” Ball said of Smith. “You always know he’s gonna step up and this is home for him, too, so you know it’s a big game for him and I know he had a lot of people here.”