By Pete Janny (@pete_janny)
STORRS, Conn. — UConn escaped an embattled Providence team, 87-81, on Tuesday night at Gampel Pavilion. The win raised the No. 2 Huskies’ collective body of work to 20-1 on the season, their best start to a campaign since 1998-99.
On Tuesday night, UConn needed to rely on its veterans to clinch the season series sweep of the Friars. That meant going to Solo Ball and Tarris Reed, Jr. when it was a one-possession game at times down the stretch. The pair combined for 12 of UConn’s last 18 points, which included Reed picking off the Friars at midcourt and surging for a fastbreak jam to extend the Huskies’ lead to eight in the final minute.
A lot happened in the second half that Dan Hurley will take delight in after enduring a strange first half that saw UConn make eight threes, but only lead by four (41-37) at halftime. The defense was mostly lazy, while Providence big man Oswin Erhunmwunse had his way down low and kept possessions alive for the Friars. But Providence suffered its own self-inflicted damage with fouls, putting the Huskies in the bonus by the 13:55 mark of the opening stanza. UConn missed five free throws in the first half, but was able to make the Friars pay for their shoddy three-point defense.
Jamier Jones was a factor for the Friars, and continued to step up with Jason Edwards still sidelined due to plantar fasciitis. The freshman had five of nine points during a 9-0 run that cut the UConn lead from 10, its largest of the night, down to just one with 7:01 left in the first half.
Coming out of the break, Providence poured in the first four points of the second half to tie the score at 41. UConn responded with a pair of baskets from freshman Eric Reibe before Silas Demary, Jr. canned back-to-back triples to force a Friar timeout with the Huskies ahead, 53-46. The timely threes continued with an additional pair from Malachi Smith, who normally doesn’t draw significant attention as a shooter, but was able to hit a pair of threes in each half to finish a perfect 4-for-4 from distance. The four triples were a career high for the Bronx native.
“The story of the game was getting Malachi back,” Hurley said.
Additionally, Smith and Demary were able to feed Reed and Reibe at will inside. The duo combined for 13 helpers, led by Smith’s seven, and neither committed a single turnover. Alex Karaban tied his career-high with seven assists to offset a 3-for-14 night from the field, ending the evening with a deceptively strong eight points and nine rebounds to go with those seven dimes, flirting with a triple-double.
While UConn was outscored 38-34 in the paint, it was Reed whose impact was still the loudest. He finished with 19 points on 8-for-9 shooting in only 19 minutes due to foul trouble. UConn is at its best when running the offense inside through Reed, while hitting enough threes to keep the defense guessing at what comes next. UConn loves to feed the hot hand, and it’s almost a sure-shot win when four players hit multiple threes, which happened Tuesday.
Because of Reed’s big night, it was easy to lose sight of Reibe’s impact, which amounted to an impressive 14 points on 6-for-6 shooting. His 21 minutes played were the most for the freshman since clocking 26 minutes against East Texas A&M on December 5. Having the extra big body in Reibe is going to go a long way when the physicality turns up a notch against St. John’s and throughout March.
Despite sitting pretty at 20-1, Hurley keeps coming back to people trying to compare this year’s team with the 2023-24 behemoth that produced four NBA players. While he’s seen a lot of good things and boasts a richness of depth, Hurley feels there are still certain things holding this year’s Huskies back from crushing teams. Tonight, the defensive struggles early on and a few missed threes on naked looks in the first half prevented them from pushing Providence to the point of breaking. But give credit where it’s due. The Friars played two tight games against the Huskies, the first of which they arguably deserved to win before falling in overtime.
“We’ve got issues if we want to be destroying people, but we’re winning,” Hurley said. “Everyone wants to see this team destroy teams like the ’24 team, but we’re just not there yet.”
Hurley, who demands perfection, knows the fans will keep nitpicking, and so will he. But in the immediate aftermath of hitting 11 threes and assisting 23 times on 29 makes, this program deserves to rest on its laurels with a month and change left until March.
“The monster we created was the ’23 and ’24 teams,” Hurley explained. “Obviously, the ’24 team obliterated people, so everyone wants to see this ’26 team play like the ’24 team. I think we have a chance to get there.”
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