Back in Hartford, Huskies Best DePaul, move to 16-1.
No. 4 UConn ended its season series against DePaul on Saturday with a 72-60 victory in Hartford in a game that impressed head coach Dan Hurley – until the end, at least.
The Huskies pulled off a wire-to-wire win with the outcome never in doubt, even though the Blue Demons were able to stay close for much of the first half and never gave up in the second. For the fans on hand at PeoplesBank Arena, the calm of the game was a welcome relief after a frantic 103-98, come-from-behind victory at Providence on Wednesday.
And it was satisfying for Hurley after what he termed a quick turnaround.
“Emotional game, emotional comeback on the road at Providence. You get in late, you have an early game today," he said. "I mean this game was on top of us really quick. I think you have a clock in your head about games and, yeah, I was worried about overall flatness, lack of energy with the group. I actually thought we handled things pretty well.”
For UConn (16-1, 6-0 Big East), Braylon Mullins scored 16 points and Alex Karaban added 15, both on 5-of-10 shooting. Mullins pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Silas Demary Jr. scored 14 points, and his four assists led the Huskies.
The Huskies beat DePaul 72-54 on Dec. 21 in Chicago. The win Saturday sent their record to 23-1 all-time vs. the Blue Demons (10-7, 2-4).
Hurley appreciated the win that kept the Huskies undefeated in Big East play, but he will have something to say about the way the game ended to his second team, based on his postgame comments.
The coach said he saw the game as one “we could have won by 20, 25” and faulted the second group. He said the starters played so many minutes at Providence that he wanted to get the bench players some time.
After a Tarris Reed Jr. layup gave the Huskies a 71-49 lead with 4:05 to play, UConn didn’t hit another field goal. DePaul ended on an 11-1 run in the final 2:57, and Hurley put his starters back in from a brief stretch in the final two minutes.
“I wanted to play them more tonight, so it felt like a good time to play them,” Hurley said of the bench. “They needed those minutes, and so obviously having to put the starters back in was disappointing. I didn't like how they handled that, that group. That was bull***t.”
More UConn stories
Hurley on DePaul
While Hurley didn’t heap compliments on his bench, he did on coach Chris Holtmann and the Blue Demons. Holtmann is in his second season after taking over a DePaul team that went 3-29 (0-20 Big East) in the 2023-24 season. Entering the game, the Blue Demons had won back-to-back conference games for the first time since 2022.
“That's not the DePaul that’s rolled in here that you've seen in recent history,” he said. “You can see the growth there.”
Layden Blocker led DePaul with 16 points. Brandon Maclin scored 12 and CJ Gunn had 11.
Join the Conversation
Remember to join our UCONN on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other Huskies fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!