There was no letting up in the second half on Wednesday as the UConn men’s basketball team cruised to a 101-65 win over DePaul in Chicago.
The win extends UConn’s streak to 13 in a row as the top-ranked Huskies improved to 23-2 overall and 13-1 in Big East play.
Alex Karaban had his seventh 20-point game of the season and led six Huskies in double-digit scoring. He finished with 21 points on 6 of 10 shooting from the field and was 5 of 8 from 3-point range. Stephon Castle also had another big scoring night with 15 points on 7 of 10 shooting, plus four rebounds and six assists.
Cam Spencer added 14 with five rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals while Tristen Newton and Donovan Clingan each had 10. Clingan also had five blocks.
The Huskies, still looking to expand their depth as they approach the final stretch of the regular season, received 20 combined points from freshmen Jaylin Stewart and Solo Ball, who had 11 and nine, respectively, each shooting 4 of 5 from the field.
Spencer had seven of the Huskies’ first 20 points as DePaul, winless in Big East play, managed to keep its deficit under 15 through the first 10 minutes. Then UConn head coach Dan Hurley turned to his small-ball lineup with Clingan and Samson Johnson each going to the bench with two fouls.
Karaban, acting as the Huskies’ center, scored seven of their next 10 points and had a game-high 12 at the half. UConn started to pull away when Hurley subbed in Hassan Diarra, who came up with his fourth steal of the half around the five-minute mark and went coast-to-coast to finish a layup in transition and extend the lead to 20. Diarra answered a pair of layups with a deep 3-pointer, his 14th of the season, with three minutes left in the half.
He finished with eight points.
UConn had nine different players in the scoring column as it took a 52-29 lead into the break.
PURE ART 🎨🔥 pic.twitter.com/g6xAxAjroY
— UConn Men's Basketball (@UConnMBB) February 15, 2024
Keeping the foot on the gas in the second half, Castle threw down a windmill dunk in transition before a layup from Clingan and back-to-back 3-pointers from Karaban extended the lead to 33 with 14 minutes left. Hurley gave Karaban a breather, brought in Stewart and he didn’t miss a step. Just 3-for-17 from 3-point range entering Wednesday’s game, the freshman forward picked up right where Karaban left off and made three in a row from beyond the arc to make it an 81-42 UConn lead.
Ball scored UConn’s last seven points of the game, including a 3-pointer that served as the game’s final basket with 1:18 left and put the Huskies over 100 points for the third time this year.
The Huskies shot 56.3% from the field and 13 of 28 (46.4%) from 3-point range, scoring 25 points off of 13 DePaul turnovers. They have not allowed more than 65 points in any of their last seven games.
The toughest part of the schedule begins with a top-five matchup against No. 4 Marquette in Hartford at 3 p.m. on Saturday
