The University of Connecticut men's basketball team moved to 6-1 on the season with a 74-61 win over No. 13 Illinois on Friday afternoon at Madison Square Garden in New York.

More than 16,000 people saw the No. 5 Huskies earn the 13-point victory.

Here's what you need to know from how it happened:

For the first time all season, the Huskies were whole: Big man Tarris Reed Jr. started, playing 15 minutes and scoring two points. Freshman Braylon Mullins, a McDonalds All-American in high school, made his season debut, scoring two points in 10 minutes of action. 

While they didn't make big contributions offensively in this contest, the Huskies are a national championship contender with everyone on the floor.

--The Huskies shot 41 percent from the floor (26-of-63), while the Illini shot 32 percent (19-of-60).

--UConn also had the edge from three-point rage, outshooting their opponents 36 percent to 21 percent. UConn made 10 threes in total.

--Illinois had the advantage at the free-throw line, hitting 17-of-18 compared to Connecticut's 12-of-17.

--Both teams had 10 turnovers on the afternoon and both teams had 24 points in the paint.

--UConn led by 21 at one point while Illinois never led.

--Three players scored in double-figures for Connecticut, including Solo Ball, who led the way with 15. He was only 2-of-9 from the perimenter.

--Malachi Smith had 14 points off the bench.

--UConn out-rebounded the Illini by five, 43 to 38.

Reed and Mullins will both be better than four combined points moving forward. Once they get re-acclimated, they'll provide another dynamic duo for the Huskies. Reed had been averaging 20 points per game entering play.

After playing No. 7 BYU, No. 4 Arizona and No. 13 Illinois, the Huskies are nearly through their pre-conference play gauntlet.

They'll take on unranked Kansas on Dec. 2 before playing East Texas A&M on Dec. 5. Then they'll take on No. 10 Florida on Dec. 9. That will be a rematch of last year's NCAA Tournament second-round, which was won by the Gators.

They'll then take on Texas before starting conference play on Dec. 16 against Butler.

The Connecticut women will open up Big East play on Sunday afternoon when they take on Xavier at 2:30 p.m. ET. That game will be played in Cincinnati, Ohio. Though league play will have started, Geno Auriemma's team will still have non-league games against Southern California, Notre Dame and Tennessee.

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