STORRS – A career night from Alex Karaban and double-doubles courtesy of Liam McNeeley and Tarris Reed Jr. helped the No. 3 UConn men’s basketball team (1-0) cruise to a 92-56 victory over Sacred Heart (0-2) on Wednesday night at a sold-out Gampel Pavilion. The contest marked UConn’s season opener as Connecticut unveiled the 2024 National Championship banner pregame in a ceremony presented by Keybank.
Karaban (Southborough, Mass.) looked every bit the part of his preseason All-America status on Wednesday, dropping a game-high 20 points along with career-highs of seven blocks and seven assists and six rebounds. He shot an efficient 7-of-9 from the floor, 5-of-7 from deep and was a +30 in 31 minutes of action. Karaban became the first player with since 2003 with 20 points, seven assists and seven blocks in a game, per ESPN Stats & Info.
McNeeley (Richardson, Texas) dropped 18 points and 10 rebounds in his UConn debut, becoming the first Husky freshman to open his career with a double-double since Emeka Okafor in 2001. Reed (St. Louis, Mo.) scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, adding a pair of blocks and two steals in his UConn debut. The Michigan transfer became the first Husky to debut with a double-double since Shonn Miller in 2015.
Overall the Huskies shot 51.6 percent from the field dished out 25 assists, displaying Dan Hurley’s signature ball-moving offense right from the jump. Solo Ball was the fourth Husky in double-figures with a career-high 16 points including four 3-pointers. Nine total Huskies found the scoresheet and 11 saw action. For Sacred Heart, Amiri Stewart led the way with 13 points.
How it Happened
The Huskies came out of the chute with intent, scoring the first seven points of the game. Later in the opening stanza, back-to-back 3-pointers from Ball and Karaban stretched the lead back to seven, 18-11 at 12:30 mark.
With 6:33 to play in the first, McNeeley canned a wing 3-pointer to push the lead to double-digits for the first time at 30-20. The Huskies would close the half on an 11-2 to run to take their largest lead of the day, 46-31, into the break.
The second half saw more of the same early from the Huskies, and a 3-pointer from Ball pushed the lead to 57-33 at the 14:49 mark. Connecticut stretched its lead past 30 for the first time with a McNeeley 3-pointer at the 7:39 mark to take a 74-42 advantage and prompt a Pioneer timeout.
The Huskies continued to keep up the pressure, turning in a dominant defensive second half that saw the Pioneers shoot 25.0 percent (8-32) from the floor after halftime. In the final minutes of regular, freshmen Ahmad Nowell and Isaiah Abraham scored their first career baskets as UConn polished off the 36-point win.
Inside The Numbers
- UConn went 32-of-62 (51.6 percent) from the floor and was 13-of-31 (41.9 percent) from 3-point range
- Conversely, the Huskies held the Pioneers to 33.9 percent from the floor and 40.0 percent from distance
- UConn finished with a 47-25 edge on the glass, including a 14-6 advantage in offensive rebounds
- The Huskies held a 13-2 edge in blocked shots, led by Karaban’s seven and two apiece from Samson Johnson and Reed
- UConn recorded 1.31 points per possession and held Sacred Heart to 0.77
- Reed, Hassan Diarra and Johnson each had two of UConn’s 10 steals
News and Notes
- UConn improves to 8-0 all-time against Sacred Heart and 92-30 all-time in season openers
- Hurley is a perfect 7-0 in openers at UConn
- Connecticut has now won 28-straight home games against non-conference foes and 21-straight home games overall
- The Huskies have won 28 of their last 29 games at Gampel and Hurley improves to 47-6 in UConn’s on-campus home
- Karaban set his career-high with five blocks in the first half and finished with seven to set a new personal-best
- The seven blocks for Karaban were the most for a Husky since Donovan Clingan swatted eight in the NCAA Tournament vs. Northwestern
- Karaban also set a new career-high with seven assists – it was only the second time in 79 career games he has led the Huskies in helpers
- The Huskies finished with 13 blocks after reaching double-digit rejections twice a season ago
Up Next
The Huskies make their XL Center debut on Saturday, Nov. 9 when New Hampshire visits Hartford an 8 p.m. tip on FS2.
