WASHINGTON, D.C. – The UConn men’s basketball team escaped with another tight victory on a rough shooting afternoon at Capital One Arena on Saturday, holding on in the final minute to beat Georgetown, 64-62.
UConn built a lead of as many as 10 points in the first half but lost its momentum after point guard Silas Demary Jr. went out with foul trouble and the Hoyas clawed back, jumping ahead with a 14-2 run over the final minutes of the first half and into the second. The Huskies led by seven with less than three minutes to play but made only two of their last eight free throws to give Georgetown a fighting chance down the stretch.
It wasn’t pretty, but 18-1 and 8-0 in the Big East is 18-1 and 8-0 in the Big East.
“Conference games are hard, no matter what,” coach Dan Hurley said. “There’s games like this. We were able to kind of gut this out on a night where – again, Braylon Mullins is one of the best shooters in the country, so is Solo Ball and so is Alex Karaban, those guys went a combined 3-for-19 (from 3).”
UConn, winning its 14th game in a row and its 11th straight against Georgetown, shot only 36.2% from the field (21-for-58) and 5-for-26 (19.2%) from beyond the arc. The Huskies were outrebounded, 40-34, but only turned the ball over six times.
“We’ll take 18-1, 8-0 in the league. Obviously very hard to do, so we’ll take it. It wasn’t the prettiest out there, offensively or defensively, but glad we’ve got a week now to rest, regroup ourselves and get ready for Saturday,” said Karaban, looking ahead to the next matchup, a home game in Hartford against Villanova.
Demary was the difference again as he finished a team-best plus-six with 12 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals, leading the Huskies’ defense which held Georgetown to 43.9% shooting and forced 13 turnovers. Mullins added 11 points with a block and two steals and Ball tacked on 10 points despite an inefficient shooting effort.
The game plan early was to feed Tarris Reed Jr. and set the tone down low. The Huskies’ senior center was a force early, scoring 11 of the team’s first 13 points as they got out to an early 13-4 lead over the first five minutes. Reed finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds (eight on the offensive end), three blocks and three steals.
Georgetown, with 7-foot center Vince Iwuchukwu, a St. John’s transfer, playing in his fourth game back from injury, switched its coverage to key on Reed and the UConn offense stalled after Demary went out with his first foul. He made an immediate impact when he came back, assisting Jaylin Stewart on a 3-pointer in the corner and hitting one of his own before Jayden Ross pushed the lead to double figures.
But Demary sat out the final 9:16 in the first half after he was whistled for his second foul and the Huskies made only three of their next 16 shots to take a 32-28 lead into halftime.
“Coach was hard on me about not picking up those fouls early. I think the impact I have for the team and what I can do defensively helps us get going, and I think I kind of let the team down in the first half,” Demary said. “Just gotta be smarter and be more aware of how the refs are calling the game, and just pick and choose my spots when to be aggressive on the defensive end.”
Georgetown’s run continued into the second half as they grabbed eight rebounds before the Huskies grabbed one and jumped ahead with an 8-0 run out of the locker room. It took four and a half minutes for the Huskies to get back into the scoring column as Demary was fouled on a 3-pointer and lifted the lid off the rim with 2 of 3 from the line.
A putback from Eric Reibe tied the game back up before Karaban, who had two points in the first half, reclaimed the lead with a layup. Mullins then pushed it to five with a triple to cap a 9-0 Huskies’ run, stopped only by a 3-point response from former Husky Isaiah Abraham.
UConn’s lead hovered around five points until Demary hit a fadeaway midrange jumper to make it seven with 2:45 to play as the defense held the Hoyas without scoring for four minutes.
Malik Mack ended the drought with a mid-range jumper and Ball answered with a runner as the shot clock expired with a minute left in regulation, UConn’s last made field goal of the game.
Mack made a 3-pointer with 46 seconds left and assisted a KJ Lewis dunk to cut Georgetown’s deficit to three with 32 seconds to play. After Ball went 0-for-2 at the line, Lewis missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer, Mullins grabbed the offensive rebound and split his free throws to put the game out of reach.
“When (Lewis) shot it, I just kind of turned and was starting to prepare for overtime,” Hurley said. “Usually when you make a mistake like that (going under on a screen in that situation), then you see the trajectory of the ball, now you’re looking to see who’s on the defensive glass. So we caught a break there, we didn’t play very good situational basketball… But just thrilled to be able to get to 18-1, get to 8-0. We knew it was gonna be tough.”
