Solo Ball scored 17 points as UConn sped out to a big lead and cruised to an 81-50 rout of visiting Seton Hall Saturday afternoon in Storrs, Conn.
The Huskies (22-9, 14-6 Big East) ended the regular season with four straight wins after splitting their previous 12 contests. UConn secured at least the third seed in the Big East tournament and can get No. 2 seed if Creighton loses to Butler later Saturday.
Three weeks after blowing a seven-point lead at Seton Hall, the Huskies scored the first six points and led by double digits for the final 36-plus minutes in a dominating showing reminiscent of last season’s run to their second straight NCAA title.
Alex Karaban and Samson Johnson added 14 points apiece before exiting with 4:56 left to standing ovations on Senior Day. Karaban also grabbed 10 rebounds and made three of UConn’s eight 3s as the Huskies led by as many as 43.
Aidan Mahaney and Jaylin Stewart contributed 10 apiece while Tarris Reed Jr. collected eight points and seven rebounds as the Huskies shot 51.9 percent and scored 40 points in the paint.
Prince Aligbe led the Pirates (7-24, 2-18) with 13 of 15 points in the second half. Garwey Dual added 12 and Isaiah Coleman finished with 10 but Dylan Addae-Wusu was scoreless on 0-of-10 shooting as the Pirates shot 35.3 percent.
Seton Hall dropped its sixth straight since its overtime win over UConn and will face sixth-seeded Villanova in the opening round of the tournament after taking its most lopsided loss this season.
The Huskies raced out to a 13-3 lead on a 3-pointer by Ball with 16:33 remaining and Karaban’s 3 opened a 23-8 edge five minutes later. Seton Hall cut the lead to 11 with about 7 1/2 minutes left but the Huskies surged ahead again and opened a 43-22 lead by halftime.
Johnson converted an alley-oop dunk following a pass off the backboard by Hassan Diarra for a 53-26 lead less than five minutes into the second half. Reed’s alley-oop extended the lead to 63-28 with 12:51 left and consecutive 3s by Mahaney opened a 41-point lead with 10:18 to go.
–Field Level Media
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