UConn Basketball cruises to big win over East Texas A&M
Fresh off a massive 61-56 road win over the No. 21 Kansas Jayhawks, the No. 5 UConn men’s basketball team returned to action this past Friday night. The Huskies hosted East Texas A&M at Gampel Pavilion and took care of business yet again, winning 83-59.
Shortly before tipoff, UConn announced that Tarris Reed Jr. would miss his second game in a row. The senior big man has missed five games this season, nursing an ankle injury.
While the eventual outcome was never in question, Connecticut took a minute to find its footing. Lions’ guard Damian Garcia single-handedly kept his side afloat, finishing the first half with nine points thanks to a barrage of three pointers. However, the senior finished the half 3-7 from the field, with many of his looks either contested or coming from way beyond the arc. This proved to be a theme for East Texas A&M, which lived by the three-ball, with nearly half of its points coming from such makes. While the Lions were cashing in on some tough makes early, it was not all grim for the Huskies.
The Huskies’ point guard play in the first half looked polished defensively. While Silas Demary Jr. missed a few close looks, he still walked away with six points on efficient 3-6 shooting. Not only this, but the Georgia transfer was a nuisance defensively, forcing three steals, one of which led to a Solo Ball fastbreak slam that nearly blew the roof off Gampel Pavilion. Malachi Smith also had an encouraging first half off the bench, leading the team with seven points on 3-3 shooting.
While UConn had no individual scorer taking over in the first 20 minutes, when a bucket was required, someone was always there; nearly everyone who took the floor in the first half found the bottom of the net. Whether it was Jaylin Stewart fighting for a scrappy seven points at the rim or Alex Karaban with a buzzer-beating tip-in, UConn always had a scorer to keep East Texas A&M at bay.
Despite this, the program’s shot selection has been an issue. Many times, early into the shot clock, a shooter will take a three that is way beyond the arc and isn’t the most efficient shot, and Ball took self-accountability for this point.
“That’s part of my problem sometimes. I feel like I just see open space and I kind of let it fly,” Ball told media personnel. “Sometimes you just kind of got to go with what’s working. Going to the rim today was working, and the paint was open, so I just had to stay to that, and that’s where we were able to get easy buckets as a team.”
While UConn may not have jumped out to the lead they would have liked in the first half, the program was nevertheless in the driver’s seat, leading 38-27 at the break.
The second half of Friday night’s contest was a near copy and paste of the game’s first 20 minutes. The Huskies never lost control of the game, yet there was room for improvement. Ball was the main contributor for UConn early on, as it took him just six minutes to accumulate seven points on 3-3 shooting; the guard finished the half with 10 points after sinking a three-pointer late. While Karaban did add on an additional six points to his six-point first-half total, the biggest story on Friday night surrounded Braylon Mullins.
Mullins failed to record a bucket in the first 20 minutes against the Lions and seemed to be in a mild funk. While the freshman did exhibit some rust in the second half, he scored 10 points off the bench and looked more comfortable as the game progressed. Postgame, Connecticut Head Coach Dan Hurley noted that he believes that Mullins has the potential to impact the program massively.
“Like anything else, he’s still working his way back,” Hurley said. “I just don’t know that he’s quite at the point at 28 to 30 minute game range, potentially as a starter, that’s not where we wanted to go tonight,” adding, “I think Braylon [Mullins] is going to be a guy when he catches his rhythm that’s going to be hard to take off the court.”
While Ronnie Harrison did prove to be a thorn in Connecticut’s side, posting nine points on 3-5 shooting, his efforts were not enough, and the Huskies cruised to an 83-59 win that was never in question. However, the competition will ramp up quickly for UConn. Connecticut will travel down I-95 South for a business trip to Storrs South for a difficult out-of-conference showdown against No. 15 Florida.
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