HARTFORD, Conn. — UConn men’s basketball remained perfect on the young season, advancing to 3-0 with a 90-49 victory over Le Moyne Wednesday night at the XL Center.
After the Dolphins led 7-4 early, it was all Huskies. UConn, the nation’s third-ranked team, sprinted to a 38-19 halftime lead.
The second half was more of the same, as UConn outscored Le Moyne (1-3) 52-30 in the final frame. It was the first time this season that the Huskies failed to score 92 points, but UConn did more than enough to put the game away long before the final buzzer sounded.
The Huskies were led again by junior forward Alex Karaban, who scored 17 points on 7-11 shooting from the field. Karaban also contributed three shots from behind the arc and had three rebounds and two assists.
Forward Liam McNeeley, one of the top performing freshman in the country, stayed hot, scoring 15 points and shooting 5-10 from the field. Like Karaban, McNeeley also nailed three triples. The Texas native grabbed three rebounds as well.
After a scoreless first half, sophomore guard Solo Ball came on strong in the second half, nailing three three-pointers. He ended the game with 12 points.
Aidan Mahaney, the prize junior transfer from St. Mary’s, struggled again, as his shot would not fall. Multiple times during the game, Mahaney’s three-point attempts all but fell through the hoop only to bounce out. He shot just 2-8 in the game and did not hit a three-pointer, but the potential is certainly still there for Mahaney to have a strong season for UConn.
Junior transfer Tarris Reed, Jr. from Michigan shined off the bench again, scoring 12 points while securing 10 rebounds. He shot a perfect 4-4 from the field and added four free throws. Starting center Sampson Johnson, a senior, scored just four points on 2-3 shooting but added four blocks.
Freshmen guard Ahmad Nowell and freshman forward Isaiah Abraham each made a late three-pointer, and senior guard Hassan Diarra paced the offense coming off the bench with 10 points on 4-6 shooting and a made three-pointer.
For Le Moyne, junior forward Freds Pauls Bagatskis scored 11 points, while junior forward Dwane Koroma added 13 points.
On the evening, UConn shot 35-63 from the field (55.6%); Le Moyne made 19 of their 54 shots (35.2%). The Huskies also shot 12-33 (36.4%) from three-point range while the Dolphins only made six of their 21 (28.6%) three-point attempts.
UConn finished with 24 assists compared to Le Moyne’s eight and had 42 rebounds, while Le Moyne had just 23. UConn turned the ball over just seven times; Le Moyne had 12 turnovers.
A total of 15,664 people attended the game at the XL Center in downtown Hartford.
UConn’s next game is Nov. 19 at Gampel Pavilion against the East Texas A&M Lions (0-3).
----
Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
----
Do you have a story idea or something on your mind you want to share? We want to hear from you! Email us at newstips@fox61.com.
----
HERE ARE MORE WAYS TO GET FOX61 NEWS
Download the FOX61 News APP
iTunes: Click here to download
Google Play: Click here to download
Stream Live on ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching FOX61.
Steam Live on FIRE TV: Search ‘FOX61’ and click ‘Get’ to download.
