UConn men’s basketball took Ohio State’s best shot in Hartford, but managed to hold on and eventually pull away for a comfortable victory. The Buckeyes showed some fight as the Huskies dealt with foul trouble in the first half, but UConn’s talent eventually was too much as they ran off with an 84-68 victory to get to 4-0 on the seaosn.
The Huskies first pulled away from OSU with a 9-0 run to double up the Buckeyes 26-13 with 10:55 to play. But Ohio State punched back and cut the lead down to six.
UConn would stretch the lead to as much as 14 in the first half after a wild Egor Amosov 3-pointer beat the shot clock, and looked to be cruising to a comfortable victory. With just over four minutes left in the first half, UConn was up 41-27 with 4:19 to play.
An experienced Ohio State squad took the Huskies’ best punch and countered with one of their own. With Silas Demary Jr., Na’jai Hines and Braylon Mullins all on the bench with two fouls, the Buckeyes held UConn scoreless from the field for the rest of the half and ripped off a 10-0 killshot. While Oskar Giltay hit one free throw to stop the bleeding, John Mobley Jr. hit a three with six seconds left in the half, and OSU pulled within a basket to go into the break down just 42-40.
The Buckeyes would take their first lead of the night on the opening possession of the second half on a three from Justin Pippen, and led by two after another 3-pointer from him heading into the under-16 timeout. But Mullins got hot from deep again, and quickly put UConn back in the lead. The sophomore scored five points on back-to-back possessions to put the Huskies back in front and in the lead for good.
With Mullins hitting shots and Demary Jr. and Hines back in the rotation, UConn eventually started to pull away. The Huskies ripped off a 14-2 run with contributions from Hines, Mullins and Demary Jr and ramped up the defensive pressure, holding OSU to just eight points in eight minutes between the under-16 and under-eight timeouts. By the time Mullins hit his fifth and final three of the night, the Huskies lead was up to 16 with 7:05 to play and the game was all but over.
UConn would stretch the lead to as much as 18 with 47 seconds to play after a jumper from Hines, who used his strength and size in the post to overwhelm the Buckeyes frontcourt in the second half. Hines had 17 of his 20 points in the final 20 minutes, and added three rebounds and two blocks to put together his best game yet as a Husky.
Mullins led all scorers with 22 points, bouncing back in a big way after struggling Monday night against Wagner. He was 5-9 from the 3-point line on the night after going 1-9 from deep against the Seahawks and played a career-high 32 minutes. Demary Jr. snuck into double-figures with 10 points and added nine assists and two rebounds in 24 minutes after dealing with first-half foul trouble.
Colben Landrew earned the start in Nik Khamenia’s absence due to a foot injury, and the freshman was the fourth and final Husky in double figures with a 12-point effort. Senior Jimmie Williams led OSU off the bench with 17 points, while John Mobley Jr. added 16.
Up next, UConn heads west to take on No. 12 Arizona in Tucson on Wednesday, Nov. 18. FS1 will broadcast the game and tip-off is set for 9:00 p.m. ET.
