No. 11 UConn men’s basketball team secures its sixth straight win, 78-74, on the road at Butler

UConn veterans Alex Karaban and Hassan Diarra took matters into their own hands down the stretch as Butler refused to give up in a Big East battle Saturday afternoon in Indianapolis.

The Huskies never trailed in the 78-74 win, but Butler battled back to tie the game with less than five minutes left. As the Bulldogs hung around in the final two and a half minutes, Karaban hit a three-pointer, Diarra hit a floater over his head to beat the shot clock and Karaban struck again from outside the arc, extending UConn’s lead to five with 59 seconds to go. Free throws from Diarra and Liam McNeeley sealed the win.

“Something about this building,” Karaban told reporters in Indianapolis, thinking back to when he hit some big throws in a similar win at Butler last season. “It’s historic, everyone talks about how there’s a little magic in Hinkle Fieldhouse. The magic was on our side today.”

Hurley referred to Karaban as “Captain America” ​​as he finished the game with a game-high 21 points and six rebounds, a team-plus 18 when he was on the court. Diarra added 12 with four rebounds and seven assists, and McNeeley again played beyond his years as he finished the game with 17 points (3-for-3 from distance), five rebounds and seven more assists, the most he had this season.

Saturday’s win extended their winning streak to six games and gave the 11th-ranked Huskies a 2-0 start in Big East play and improved their record on the year to 10-3.

“It’s always exciting to come to Hinkle, it’s always exciting to play at Indiana. It’s like the holy land of basketball,” Hurley said. “I thought the game was very similar to last year’s game where we just had to fight for our lives to come out of here with a road win in the Big East.”

UConn is now 10-0 in its all-time streak against Butler, which began in the 2011 national championship game.

After sustaining a concussion early in the game against Gonzaga on December 14, center Samson Johnson was immediately back in the starting lineup and scored or assisted on UConn’s first eight points. McNeeley and Karaban went back-to-back as the Huskies took an early 14-2 lead and Butler missed his first six shot attempts.

McNeeley took advantage when the Bulldogs went into a zone on the other end and made his second three-pointer. Both Jayden Ross and Aidan Mahaney got in on the action, increasing the lead to 25-9 with a 5-for-6 start from beyond the arc.

UConn cooled off after its 11-for-14 start from the field, making just one of its next seven shot attempts, while Butler – switching back to man-to-man defense – fought back with balls inside and closed the deficit with under six reduced seven minutes before the end of the first half.

The Butler comeback was accelerated by 7-foot Andre Screen, who tied his career high with four blocks in the first 18 minutes of the game. Screen was also a problem for UConn on defense. He scored nine points in the first half, five of which came from the free throw line, while Johnson (six points, three rebounds, one block) picked up two early fouls. The Bulldogs’ leading scorer, Jahmyl Telfort (had seven points, six rebounds and seven assists), cut UConn’s lead to three with just over two minutes left in the half.

“Last year’s team, when we took a game to 14, you blinked and it came to 22. Last year we took the game to 11 and it came to 18. That’s not the case with this team at the moment. I still have that killer instinct and our quality just isn’t quite there yet,” Hurley said. “We’re going to improve a lot as the year goes on…We’re nowhere near where we’re going to be. But as we try to understand ourselves, we just have to find a way to win games, perform and maintain poise in the home stretch.”

But Diarra stepped back and made a three-pointer, and McNeeley found Karaban inside the court for a three-point play, allowing UConn to take a 42-33 halftime lead.

Just after halftime, McNeeley equaled his career-best assist mark by hitting Diarra for a three-pointer and then scoring his own goal from a corner. After a steal from Karaban, freshman Solo found Ball for a fastbreak layup that secured a 14-point lead – UConn’s largest lead of the second half.

“It helps us tremendously to have someone like (McNeeley), just his maturity and his personality and just a confident killer out there, especially as a freshman. “It’s incredible and something you don’t see a lot,” Karaban said. “He has been a big player for us this year and he will continue to be that player for us. He steps up in big moments.”

Butler refused to go out of the game and used a 9-0 run to get within five with 13.5 minutes left. UConn pushed its lead back to 11, but the Bulldogs took advantage of a four-minute break with Karaban to bring the score to within two points after an 11-2 run. Kolby King tied the game with a free throw at 4:43, but Diarra assisted McNeeley on a three-point play in response and received two more assists on great three-pointers from Karaban.

During the six-game winning streak, the fifth-year point guard has totaled 48 assists with just nine turnovers.

“He just plays all over the court, takes great care of the basketball for the most part and is a great leader,” Hurley said. “He is a guy with great courage and self-confidence. You look at him as a teammate in the huddle and believe that you are out there with General Hassan and that we will find a way to win.”

UConn has 10 days between games for the holiday before returning to action in a New Year’s Day game at DePaul.

Originally published: December 21, 2024 at 2:32 pm EST