No. 25 UConn rolls in Alex Karaban's return, takes down Texas for 76-65 road win

Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant on Dec 8, 2024

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Alex Karaban was on a mission to make up for lost time when he returned from injury in a 76-65 road win at Texas, in which the UConn men’s basketball team returned to form.

The Huskies’ captain and leading scorer, returning from a mild concussion he suffered near the end of the team’s third loss in Maui, played all 40 minutes at the Moody Center on Sunday evening.

After two games in a polo shirt on the bench, coaching up his teammates as much as he could, Karaban wasted no time in helping the Huskies take over Sunday’s game. He scored 14 points in the first half and finished with a team-high 21 points and 11 rebounds, plus two blocks and two steals. It was the first double-double of his career.

After the game, coach Dan Hurley told the ESPN broadcast that he saw an “All-American-level performance” from his captain.

“That’s what he’s gonna have to do for this team this year. He played like a star and he delivered in every way,” Hurley said. “He had some fresh legs today, maybe we’ve been practicing too hard. This is something now, everyone’s gonna want some days off.”

Solo Ball, the only Husky to score in double-figures in each of UConn’s first 10 games this season, got to 13 in the first half and finished with 16 points on four made 3-pointers. Samson Johnson and Tarris Reed Jr. added 12 points a piece from the center spot, with Reed grabbing five rebounds.

Liam McNeeley scored seven with nine rebounds in his homecoming and Hassan Diarra (11 assists) directed the offense as the Huskies assisted on 21 of their 28 made shots.

UConn scored the first points of the game with a 3-pointer from Ball 93 seconds in and never trailed. The Huskies improved to 7-3 on the season and have won three straight against East Texas A&M, No. 15 Baylor and now the 7-2 Longhorns since returning from the Maui Invitational.

“Everything that happened on the Hawaii trip was jarring for the program, but the response since our return to the mainland I think speaks to the culture and the championship DNA,” Hurley said.

The Huskies came out with energy and dominated the first nine minutes of the game, holding Texas to just 2-for-11 shooting from the field. As the Longhorns put their defensive focus on the 3-point line, where UConn has attempted 48.6% of its shots this season, the Huskies drove inside and scored 10 of their first 19 points in the paint.

Starting 7 for 10 from the field, two makes on three attempts from beyond the arc, including Karaban’s first attempt, UConn sprinted out to a 22-6 lead in the Moody Center.

Ball and Karaban nullified a 6-0 flurry from the Longhorns with back-to-back 3-pointers. The second triple of the game from Karaban put him over the 1,000-point mark for his career, becoming the 53rd player in program history to reach the feat in a UConn uniform. It also made the score 28-12 through 11 minutes.

Bringing confidence early, Ball drove for consecutive buckets at the rim and nailed his third 3-pointer of the game off an assist from Karaban in transition. The personal 7-0 run from the breakout sophomore helped build UConn’s lead to 35-16 with just over five minutes to go in the opening half, even as centers Johnson and Reed sat on the bench with two fouls a piece. Youssouf Singare played eight first-half minutes in their place, picking up four fouls while Texas’ shooting misfortune continued.

The Longhorns went just 8 for 26 from the field, 1 for 7 from 3 and 7 for 14 from the free throw line in the first 20 minutes. Their first assist of the game came on their first made 3-pointer, with 55 seconds left before the break.

UConn assisted on 12 of its 14 made shots (53.8% shooting from the field) and carried a 42-24 lead into halftime.

Texas made seven of its first eight shots after the break, but was only able to trim the deficit to 15 as Johnson shot 5 for 5 for 10 points over the first five minutes of the second half, helped by three well-placed assists from Diarra.

Tre Johnson, one of the best freshmen in the nation who was held to just six points on 3 of 8 shooting in the first half, made his first four shots in the second half, including a second 3-pointer which brought Texas within 12 with 13 minutes to go. Johnson continued to score and made it a 10-point game with nine minutes to go, but Ball was left open in the corner for his fourth 3-pointer, Diarra’s 10th assist of the night.

Johnson finished with a game-high 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting, adding four assists and three steals.

With a 3-pointer from former Creighton and Kansas State forward Arthur Kaluma (20 points, nine rebounds), Texas cut its deficit to eight with a minute left, but Diarra and Karaban sealed the game at the free throw line.

UConn left the Moody Center with a 39-25 advantage on the glass and a 38-18 advantage scoring in the paint.

The Huskies will meet No. 7 Gonzaga in their nonconference finale at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, an 8 p.m. ET tip-off, before beginning Big East play against Xavier next week.

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