NEW YORK – The No. 5 UConn men’s basketball team held on to beat No. 18 Florida, 77-73, in a matchup of the last two national champions in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night.
Another ranked nailbiter, it was Solo Ball who made the clutch free throws to seal the game in the final minute. Florida had a chance to tie it, inbounding the ball down three with 10 seconds left, but couldn’t get a pass off and was called for a five-second violation that had coach Dan Hurley pumping his fist in celebration.
“We were preparing to foul them to prevent the three to tie it,” Hurley said. “The guys just made an awesome effort of taking things away. When you play the people that we played – we’re literally playing the best teams, probably five of the top 15 teams in the country, so these are the type of games you’re going to find yourself in. These are teams you’re going to be playing in an Elite Eight game.”
UConn improved to 79-62 all-time at MSG, 2-4 in the Jimmy V Classic and 6-2 in its all-time series with Florida, which ended the Huskies’ run of 13-consecutive NCAA tournament wins in the second round last season along its way to the title.
UConn is now 3-1 against ranked opponents this season and making a strong case to avoid being the No. 8 seed meeting a No. 1 in the second round again.
Ball finished as the Huskies’ leading scorer with 19 points on 6 of 14 shooting. Alex Karaban came up big in the second half on his way to 13 points and Tarris Reed Jr., making his return from an ankle injury, contributed 12 points and five rebounds in 24 minutes of action.
“‘Revenge’ was just, like, added motivation,” Karaban said. “A lot of guys in that locker room last year were hurt, and we just remember that feeling being hurt. At the end of the day, we knew how good Florida was and we can’t let the emotions of last year carry into this year’s type of game.”
Malachi Smith, back in his native New York City, put on another show at the World’s Most Famous Arena. The senior point guard from the Bronx guided the Huskies along their 50% shooting night with five points and nine assists, matching his total when UConn beat Illinois in its first trip to MSG this season.
Reed, back on the court and in the starting lineup for the first time since Nov. 28, won the opening tip-off and set the tone immediately with consecutive layups in the post. The senior center scored six of the Huskies’ first nine points, then came up with a steal inside and fed Demary, who skipped off to the chorus of the UConn crowd after finishing a transition layup through a foul.
“I think when Tarris gets back to full strength – that’s twice that Tarris has stepped up as a gamer. I think he’s healthy enough now to be able to actually get in practice consistently and sharpen up his game,” Hurley said. “He got off to a fast start, but then you saw some of the rust. But we don’t win this game without his presence on the court.”
Florida erased its early five-point deficit with a 12-0 run that had back-to-back (2006-07) national champion Joakim Noah on his feet behind its bench, but UConn’s near five-minute scoring drought ended with a mid-range jumper from Ball.
Karaban and Jaylin Stewart, who seems to always find a way to impact games at MSG, helped the Huskies cut their deficit to two and Ball hit a 3-pointer from the wing to retake the lead with seven and a half minutes left in the half.
Stewart finished with seven points, four rebounds and a block.
Eric Reibe, the Huskies’ 7-foot-1 freshman center, continued his impressive run with a strong two-handed slam before stepping out and trading 3-pointers with Florida point guard Xavian Lee (19 points, six rebounds, five assists).
UConn made nine consecutive shots when Ball saw his second triple fall on five attempts and Reibe put in a layup to push the lead to 33-26, exciting new football coach Jason Candle behind the Huskies’ bench.
UConn saw six different players pick up two fouls in the first half and Florida took advantage of the missing pieces, dominating inside and cutting its deficit to five before Stewart finished a second-chance layup to send the Huskies into the break up, 39-32.
Alex Condon (14 points, nine rebounds) became a problem to start the second half, blocking three of UConn’s first 11 shot attempts. It translated to some highlight plays in transition as the Gators dunked three of their first five second half baskets and got their sizeable crowd going. A Thomas Haugh 3-pointer in front the Gators’ bench gave the visitors a 49-46 lead with 12 minutes to play.
Then Braylon Mullins, who picked up two fouls in seven seconds and only played two minutes in the first half, hit a sweet fadeaway jumper to get himself going. He went on to trade buckets with the Gators until Karaban blocked a Lee layup and set up his own 3-pointer in transition, putting the Huskies up 59-55.
“It was electric,” Karaban said. “Mali made a great pass. He had me in transition yelling to him. Those are the moments you play for. It’s the last three national champions going out in the World’s Most Famous Arena, and to have that special moment was awesome. That’s why we all came to UConn, to have those moments.”
Mullins saw only 11 minutes of action before he fouled out with 2:40 on the clock, but left the game with six points and two assists on 3 of 5 shooting.
Before its string of intentional fouls in the final minute, Florida had a 27-6 advantage in free throw attempts for the game.
“It just felt like – obviously the free-throw differential was kind of keeping them in the game, plus their second half surge offensively and just their character and what they’re made of,” Hurley said.
UConn will host Texas at PeoplesBank Arena in its final nonconference game of the season on Friday before beginning Big East play with Butler in the same building on Tuesday.
“As great as the 2023 nonconference slate was for us when we went undefeated, this would be our most impressive nonconference performance if we’re able to get the game on (Friday), just based on the teams we played and the health of the group,” Hurley said.
