Revenge is a dish best served Solo. The No. 5 UConn mens basketball team held off No. 18 Florida Gators (5-4) to improve to 9-1 on the season. Solo Ball — see what I did there? — paced UConn with 19 points, including four clutch free throws to ice the game. Alex Karaban added 13 points on three threes, while Tarris Reed Jr. returned from an ankle injury to add 12 points and five rebounds.
The Huskies won the rebounding battle despite Florida’s jumbo frontcourt. It was a gritty, physical tilt, with
39 personal fouls disrupting momentum on multiple occasions. UConn struggled at times with Florida’s length and size inside, but their depth won out; Malachi Smith shined off the bench with nine assists and several clutch plays.
UConn went right to Reed inside early and often from the opening tip. It was a high energy start, with the Huskies’ switching flustering Florida’s guards and the Gators having no answer for Reed inside on the other end.
UConn’s defense forced three early turnovers, including a shot clock violation on just the third possession. But after finding success with middle ball screens against some of UConn’s second unit, Florida started to settle in. Braylon Mullins and Silas Demary Jr picked up two cheap fouls, and after a Xaivian Lee and-one, Florida was suddenly up seven to cap off a 12-0 run.
Florida coach Todd Golden threw in some press to harass UConn’s backcourt, but with sharper drop coverage and high hedging, UConn was able to string together some stops and stop the bleeding. Both teams had to contend with the James Breeding Show, and Boogie Fland picked up a third foul, taking out one of the Gators’ premier backcourt weapons.
Florida sprinkled in some zone but that only got Ball untracked. The early bad calls became a self-fulfilling prophecy; UConn’s over aggressiveness resulted in real fouls that sent Reed to the bench. A Ball triple bookended by seven points from Reibe prompted the first Big Red chant of the night in the Garden. The Huskies had rattled off nine-straight points and were cruising.
Up 10, a nasty block and poster from Thomas Haugh threatened to give Florida some momentum at the half, but some tough plays from Jaylin Stewart gave UConn a seven point lead at the break.
“The rebounding situation is a little dire. We have to do a better job of taking away the paint,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley told ESPN at halftime. “Lee is a good shooter, but for everyone else, we have to pack the paint.”
The rebounding situation was dire; Florida had 11 offensive rebounds but only two second chance points. That screamed positive regression. And while UConn was excellent helping on switches, it left weakside open to Florida’s massive frontcourt. Foul trouble was also a story; the Gators shot 18 (!) free throws, while Smith, Ball, Reibe, Demary, Reed, and Mullins all went into the break with two fouls.
Florida came out with much more energy to start the second half, their frontcourt physicality bothering UConn and Lee heating up. Reed and Mullins picked up their third fouls as the bodies flew around the court.
UConn wasn’t thriving in the sped-up chaos but made enough plays to keep it a two-possession game. Every time the game flow was getting good, the refs would pull a madness; Haugh picked up a head-scratching third foul at 10:00. Hurley put Jayden Ross in try to throw off the crafty Lee and prevent switching abuse.
The Huskies found a lot of success getting Florida center Rueben Chinyelu in high ball screens, and the two-man game with Reed and Mullins started to look potent.
Then a Karaban block-and-triple brought the house down.
Just as Mullins was starting to cook, he picked up a fourth foul. No matter, Ball canned a triple as soon as he got in, and Smith put Fland on skates with a beautiful eurostep to give UConn an eight-point lead with 4:29 to play.
The Huskies would have to close with Mullins fouling out and Reed at four. A tough Karaban floater put UConn up six, and the backcourt pairing of Smith with Demary Jr. gave the Huskies a ball-handling premium.
Chinyelu missed two freebies, while Reed and Demary Jr made theirs, but UConn’s inbounding yips returned at the worst time, burning two crucial timeouts. UConn made their free throws, but a Jayden Ross turnover gave Florida the ball with 9.4 to play.
But the Huskies forced a five-second violation, and Ball hit the first free throw to ice the game.
Once more, depth won out. UConn can confidently trot out eight players to close out a game, depending on matchups. Stewart was a two-way force in the first half but wasn’t called on to do much in the second. Ditto with Reed, who nonetheless battled inside for 24 minutes on a still-healing ankle. Demary Jr. and Smith sharing the backcourt to close it out speaks volumes, as well as the Ross lever that Hurley pulled in the second half. Eric Reibe’s seven first half points kept UConn afloat.
Do you see what I’m getting at here? Everyone is contributing at various points in the game. It helps having Alex “The Sequence” Karaban, who is the great consistency, but this team has eight bonafide studs that can carry a team at any point. While it may not look pretty at times, that type of depth usually wins out.
