Head coach Dan Hurley loved his team's effort in the first half, not so much in the second half against the "tough" Lions.
Solo Ball scored a game-high 23 points as No. 3 UConn engineered an 89-62 victory against Columbia on Monday night in Storrs, Conn.
The 27-point margin almost mirrored the Huskies’ season-opening 79-55 win over New Haven a week ago. They crushed UMass Lowell by 63 points on Saturday.
Alex Karaban had 20 points, six rebounds and four assists for UConn. Tarris Reed Jr. contributed 19 points and a game-high eight rebounds, while Jayden Reed scored 10 of the Huskies’ 19 bench points.
After the Lions’ Zine Eddine Bedri dropped in a layup to move Columbia to within a point – 14-13 – with 12:39 to go in the first half, UConn went on a 14-0 run behind a 3-pointer by Malachi Smith and two from Ross, a Ross foul shot and buckets from Reed and Silas Demary Jr.
UConn (3-0) now has won 36 straight nonconference home games.
A 17-10 Connecticut run followed that sent the Huskies to a 50-27 halftime lead.
In the first half, the Huskies were 20-of-33 shooting from the field (60.6%) and 8 of 16 from the 3-point line.
Karaban (14 points), Ball (13) and Ross all scored in double figures in the first half.
Columbia (1-1) shot just 34.4% in the first half (11 of 32 from the field, 4 of 15 from 3-point range) but was vastly improved in the second half at 41.7%. And the Lions kept up with Connecticut, being outscored just 39-35 in the half.
The Lions also outrebounded the Huskies (19 to 14), and outscored them from the bench (29 to 4) and on fast break points (8 to 3).
Coach Hurley's review
After the game, Hurley said he was disappointed with the Huskies’ second-half performance but couldn’t speak more glowingly about UConn’s first half or about Columbia and its 37-year-old, first-year head coach, Kevin Hovde.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for their team. I just thought it was going to be a tough game," Hurley said.
“I wasn't expecting us to be able to do what we did the first half, to get that level of separation. I thought the first 22 ,25 minutes of the game were an extension of the last game. I thought we showed a level of dominance on defense – 15 assists, two turnovers in the first half -- and suffocating defense. I thought it was awesome."
“Second half, human nature kicked in. And Columbia. They’ve got pride and they're well coached. They got tough kids, and they’re good players. They didn’t want to get 40 pieced.”
Miles Franklin and Blair Thompson scored 10 points each to lead Columbia. Mason Ritter had seven rebounds for Columbia.
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HISTORY MADE: The UConn men's basketball team dominated UMass-Lowell on Friday night, making history at halftime. CLICK HERE:
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