Solo Ball and Tarris Reed Jr. each scored a team-high 16 points as No. 25 Connecticut used a second-half surge to defeat visiting DePaul 72-61 on Wednesday night in Hartford.
The Huskies (15-6, 7-3 Big East) trailed by as many as 14 in the first half before chipping away to take their first lead on Ball’s three-point play to kick off a game-winning 14-0 run with 9:38 left in regulation.
Ball netted 14 of his points after halftime.
Jaylin Stewart scored 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting while Aidan Mahaney added 10 for UConn. Alex Karaban, who shot just 1 of 14 and scored eight points, added eight assists and six rebounds. Reed also pulled down six boards.
Layden Blocker led DePaul (10-12, 1-10) with 18 points and five rebounds, while CJ Gunn scored 14 on the strength of three 3-pointers.
DePaul found early success at both ends of the floor, starting 9 of 14 while holding UConn to a 5-of-20 start and just 12 total first-half field goals.
But the Blue Demons shot just 6 of 20 in the second half.
Thanks to a Stewart jumper and Ball’s transition three off his own block, the Huskies climbed to within a single possession at 37-34 in the first 76 seconds of the second half. Stewart’s second triple in just over two minutes and two Reed free throws evened UConn at 44-44 with 13:21 left.
NJ Benson’s driving layup started a quick 4-0 DePaul run but two Reed layups preceded the hosts’ clinching run which Ball began with seven straight points.
A Karaban steal led to Hassan Diarra’s transition three, giving the Huskies a double-digit lead at 62-50 with 6:30 left. A Conor Enright 3-pointer with 3:00 to go brought DePaul within eight, but a 14-of-14 second-half performance from UConn at the foul line helped end the game.
After the Blue Demons opened an early 13-4 lead, Gunn’s left-corner three and a Blocker layup made it a double-digit game at 11:41. Benson’s three-point play then kicked off a 10-4 run that made it 28-14 DePaul with 6:27 left in the half.
The Huskies were 0 of 10 from distance before consecutive makes by Stewart and Mahaney highlighted a late 8-2 run before halftime. Reed ended that stretch with a transition dunk before his layup through contact for the eight-point difference at the break.
Blocker scored DePaul’s last five first-half points, including a 3 to temporarily give the Blue Demons a double-digit lead before Reed’s latter bucket.
–Field Level Media
