Karaban wills No. 2 UConn men past Villanova 75-67
Alex Karaban missed three consecutive shots during warm-ups from the right elbow before No. 2 UConn’s game against Villanova Saturday.
The redshirt senior was already walking to the next spot on the court for his warmup routine when his rebounder stopped him.
“Stay there. Focus.”
He returned to that same spot and, unflapped, hit three in a row before turning around to head to the other end of the floor.
Karaban’s learned a lot during his illustrious four-year career at UConn. Perhaps the most valuable of those traits is the ability to forget.
He wasn’t thinking about last season’s end of game debacle at Villanova – when his two missed free throws ended up costing the Huskies the game in Philadelphia – when he was at the line with four seconds to go in overtime. He had grown past it.
“I learned from that game, I grew from it and I put it behind me and saw it as a learning opportunity.”
He gathered the ball and took a deep breath before smoothly swishing both from the charity stripe, sealing UConn’s (19-1, 9-0) 15th consecutive victory – the longest single-season streak since the 1994-95 season – and third straight over the Wildcats (15-5, 6-3), 75-67, to celebrate the team’s Coaches vs. Cancer game.
“You’re talking about somebody with a different level of maturity, a different level of championship confidence,” Dan Hurley said of Karaban. “The most decorated player in the history of UConn basketball is not going to go in the tank after a bad first half.”
The Huskies, who’ve tempted the fates seemingly every game since New Year’s, weathered nine lead changes and 11 ties to force overtime with the Wildcats, who led for over 29 minutes.
It was thanks in part to Karaban, who scored all 17 of his points in the second half and overtime, that the Huskies were able to stave off Villanova’s upset bid. Karaban found alleys to get down hill to the rim on Villanova’s cushioned man coverage and flared off screens from the top of the key to find open looks from the elbow.
But it was Solo Ball’s reemergence on the wing that powered Connecticut to win No. 19.
“Solo’s volume went up today and I think it just gave him a lot more freedom since the ball was in his hands a lot more,” Dan Hurley said. “For him this was a really good step forward. The guy is a beautiful shooter.”
Ball’s 24 points and five made 3-pointers led all scorers, marking the fourth time in his career that he’s drained five or more triples in one game. The junior wing’s final trey gave Connecticut a lead it wouldn’t surrender in the final two minutes of overtime.
“It was definitely a good feeling to get out there,” Ball said with a pointed smile when asked what it meant to break out of his near two-month slump.
But he wasn’t playing just to break out of a slump, he was playing for something deeper. Ball’s mom, a cancer survivor, made the trip from Leesburg, VA for the tribute game.
“One thing going into the game that made me tear up was seeing the flashlights go up and seeing my mom hold up her flashlight,” Ball said. “That really sparked this for me. I was just thinking about my mom.”
His first basket of the day tied the game at 11. His second whittled Villanova’s lead down to one possession before the under-12 of the first half. His third brought the game within a point in the final minute of the first half. Ball was keeping the Huskies afloat.
Silas Demary Jr. wanted to be more than just afloat, however. After crossing the 1,000 point mark for his career early in the first half, Demary chipped away at Villanova’s perpetual one possession lead with a slew pull-up jumpers and dishes to cutting teammates.
Perhaps no play was more vital than his dive for a loose ball early in overtime and throw to Tarris Reed Jr., who ran to the rim for an uncontested dunk to bring the game within one point.
“I just saw a chance for me to make a play on the ball. I lost the ball and thought I wasn’t going to go after it,” Demary said. “I think that’s a testament to [the coaches], coaching us to play hard. That was a momentum swing for us.”
It was a day that the Huskies had to play hard to win. Kevin Willard’s undermanned Wildcat crew, anchored by Duke Brennan’s hardy effort on the defensive glass, outrebounded UConn by three in the first half. The Huskies answered with a plus-six margin in the second half, which they converted into 13 second chance points.
Its defense had to stiffen up, too. The backcourt defense comprising Demary, Jayden Ross and Jaylin Stewart held Villanova’s two leading scorers, Acaden Lewis and Bryce Lindsay to respective season-lows in points and field goals made. The two all-conference candidates combined to go 1-for-21 from the field and totaled just seven points.
The win gives Connecticut its ninth in Big East play, pitting the Huskies one game in front of St. John’s (15-5, 8-1) for the conference lead. The two meet on Feb. 6 in Madison Square Garden.
💬 Wondering what other UConn fans are saying?
Head to The Husky House forum and jump into the discussion →
