DePaul put up a challenge on Sunday against the Huskies.
No. 5 UConn saw its challenges in the non-conference portion of the season, playing six tough opponents – five of them ranked – and going 5-1 with a scoring margin of just 4.7 points per game.
Once the Huskies got into Big East play, things were supposed to get easier.
DePaul didn’t get the message.
The Huskies (12-1, 2-0 Big East) defeated the Blue Demons (8-5, 0-2) in Chicago in a game that was much closer than the score.
Alex Karaban led UConn with 21 points and six rebounds, with center Tarris Reed Jr. contributing a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double effort.
Leading scorer Solo Ball sat out the game for the Huskies with what was characterized as a minor wrist injury.
Layden Blocker scored a team-high 11 points for DePaul, with Kruz McClure contributing 10. N.J. Benson had eight rebounds.
Unexpected beginning
UConn got off to an uncharacteristic start, with DePaul taking a page out of the Huskies’ playbook in the first half. The Blue Demons forced nine UConn turnovers, scored 16 points off of them and led for 7:20 of the half.
DePaul took its biggest lead of the game at 15-7 at the 10:54 mark.
UConn immediately went on a 9-0 run to take a one-point advantage, and the teams changed the lead five times before the Huskies took a 33-30 lead at the break.
The second half
It got off to a strange start when Silas Demary Jr. ran off the court almost 30 seconds into the half, vomiting, but returned to play a total of 13 minutes in the stanza and score six of his 13 points.
The Huskies didn’t take their largest lead of the game until the very end, with DePaul playing scrappy, determined basketball.
After Reed buried a jumper with just under eight minutes remaining, UConn went up by 17. DePaul went on an 11-4 tear to reduce the deficit to 10 at the 3:53 mark. That is as close as the Blue Demons got, with UConn making a 10-2 run to close the contest.
UConn-DePaul history
The game between the two Big East foes was the 23rd all-time, with UConn moving to 22-1. They first met in the second round of the 2004 NCAA Tournament, with UConn advancing. DePaul won the first matchup in the Big East between the two, and UConn has won the past 21 games in the series.
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