STORRS – The second-ranked UConn men’s basketball program stormed past East Texas A&M for an 81-46 win in Gampel Pavilion on Tuesday night behind a dominant defensive performance and four double-figure scorers.
Solo Ball got it going early and finished with a team-high 12 points. Alex Karaban (3-for-5) and Liam McNeeley (5-for-9) were just behind with 11 points a piece. Tarris Reed Jr. nearly recorded his third double-double of the year but was pulled with 90 seconds left in the game, sitting at nine points and 10 rebounds, plus three blocks.
Karaban, McNeeley and Ball have each scored at least 10 points in all four of UConn’s games to start the year, which the Huskies have won by an average of 37.8 points.
It wasn’t the cleanest game from the back-to-back national champions, who had eight turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the game and finished the first half with 11, much to the displeasure of head coach Dan Hurley. But it was enough to storm past the Lions, who came in ranked No. 352 in the nation by KenPom.
UConn finished the game with a season-high 19 turnovers as four different players had at least three.
Ball, responsible for giveaways on the Huskies’ first two possessions, made up for his mistakes quickly. The sophomore started UConn’s scoring with a 3-pointer, then did a pull-up on the rim after a fastbreak dunk and nailed another 3 on the next possession for a 10-2 lead.
Veteran guard Hassan Diarra made an instant impact when he entered the game, snatching a steal and racing for a layup at the other end about six minutes into the game. He assisted McNeeley on a fastbreak slam after another steal later in the half and came out of nowhere to swat away a layup from East Texas A&M’s Camerin James, forcing a Lions timeout as the lead stretched to 33-17. Diarra finished with seven points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block, but led the team with five turnovers.
Leading the nation with 10.7 blocks per game entering Tuesday, UConn got six from four different players in the game’s first 10 minutes and finished with 11 on the night.
Jayden Ross got in on the action with a pair of highlights in the first half – first a chasedown block on Lions 6-foot guard Evan Phelps. He then put 6-8 senior Josh Taylor on a poster with a massive tomahawk dunk through contact with less than a minute left in the opening frame.
UConn went into the halftime break with a 42-20 lead after freshman Ahmad Nowell, in early because of the turnover trouble, tacked on two more points from the free throw line.
Aidan Mahaney, sporting a new buzz cut after a slow start to the season, had his highest-scoring game in a UConn uniform as he finished with 10 points on 4 of 10 shooting. The St. Mary’s transfer started the second half with a layup and made his second 3-pointer of the night to put the Huskies up 30 with over 16 minutes to go.
It was a quiet first half for Karaban, who only took two shots before the break, but the team’s leader nailed a pair of 3-pointers early in the second half and tacked on three rebounds, three assists, a block and two steals.
Defensively, UConn forced a season-high 18 turnovers and held the Lions to 25.4% shooting from the field and just 3-for-17 from beyond the arc.
UConn (4-0) is set to fly out for the Maui Invitational, where it will return to action against Memphis from the Lahaina Civic Center on Monday (2:30 p.m. ESPN2).
