University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
25-3,15-2Big East
Villanova
21-6,12-4Big East
No. 5 UConn Runs Past Villanova With Big Second Half
2/21/2026 9:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball
PHILADELPHIA – The No. 5 UConn men's basketball team (25-3, 15-2 BIG EAST) used a huge second half run and a balanced overall effort to knock off Villanova (21-6, 12-4 BIG EAST) by a score of 73-63 on Saturday evening at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Six different Huskies scored eight points or more and all nine that saw action had at least four points, two rebounds and an assist.
UConn took a two-point lead to the break after a fast-paced start, shooting nearly 58 percent in the opening frame. The Huskies then opened the second half with a 13-2 blitz, ripping off a 10-0 'kill shot' run over four minutes to turn a three-point lead into a 13-point advantage. A 7-0 burst in 100 seconds later in the second swelled an eight-point advantage to 15 with 10:28 to play and the Wildcats never got back within single-digits.
The win was UConn's second this season against the Wildcats, sweeping the regular season series for the third time in four campaigns. The victory leveled the all-time series at 40-40, the first time since VU took a 3-2 lead in 1981 that the Huskies have not trailed in the series. Connecticut is 7-1 in the last eight meetings.
For the game the Huskies shot 54.9 percent and saw three hit double-figures, with six players finishing between 8-12 points. Alex Karaban led the balanced attack with 12 points and added five rebounds, two assists and two blocks. Tarris Reed Jr. scored 11 on 5-of-5 shooting and snared a team-high six rebounds with three assists and three blocks, while Braylon Mullins added 10 points and hit a pair of 3-pointers. The duo of Solo Ball and Silas Demary Jr. each scored nine points as Demary Jr. dished out a game-high six assists.
The UConn reserves had a huge day, with the Husky bench out-scoring their Wildcat counterparts 22-8. Eric Reibe scored eight and grabbed five rebounds and Jaylin Stewart hit a pair of threes to finish with six points and three boards. Jayden Ross totaled four points and two blocks whole posting a team-best +16 plus/minus and Malachi Smith also scored four with two boards and two assists. UConn held Villanova to 40.7 percent from the field and 25.0 percent from three, keeping VU under 40 percent nearly the entire contest until a window dressing 7-0 run to end regulation. Tyler Perkins led Villanova with 15 points and six rebounds, Matt Hodge added 13 and Acaden Lewis scored 11 with four assists.
How it Happened
Both teams started strong in an up-and-down open to the contest. UConn took its first lead at the 16:00 mark with a Mullins jumper to go up 12-11 and led 15-14 when the game finally reached its first media timeout at 13:44. Minutes later UConn took a 23-18 lead by way of a Reibe lay-in and a fast break dunk from Ball after a Jaylin Stewart steal. That prompted a Villanova timeout with 10:21 on the timer in the opening stanza.
Five-straight from VU's Lewis after the stoppage leveled the score, part of a prolonged 12-4 overall run that flipped UConn's advantage into a 30-27 deficit and triggered a Dan Hurley timeout at 4:35 of the first. Mullins drilled a triple to level the score after the stop and kick off a 7-0 run that concluded with a Demary Jr. jumper in the paint at 1:30. The spurt helped UConn take a 34-32 lead to the half. The Huskies shot 57.7 percent in the opening 20 minutes and saw eight players combine for 10 assists.
Mullins started the second half with a triple to push the lead to five. After a Villanova bucket, the Huskies scored the next seven and Ball drilled a 3-pointer at 16:33 to prompt a Villanova timeout. After the stoppage UConn extended its run to 10-0 with a Karaban lay-in to go up 47-34 before VU's second timeout in less than two minutes at 14:39
A Hodge three capped a 7-2 VU mini-run and slimmed the lead to 49-41, but the Huskies responded like champions with a 7-0 burst of their own keyed by Smith. After coming up with an offensive rebound and kicking to Stewart for a three, Smith grabbed a long rebound and went coast-to-coast for a euro-step lay-in. That put the Huskies up 56-41 and led to Villanova's final timeout with 10:28 remaining.
Another Stewart triple pushed the lead to 61-44 with 8:00 to play and UConn never looked back. Back-to-back buckets from Reed got the lead to its largest of the day at 21 inside of five minutes, and it stayed over 15 until a lightly contested 7-0 run by VU over the final 1:42.
Inside the Numbers
- The Huskies finished 28-of-51 (54.9 percent) from the field, 6-of-19 (31.6) from three and 11-of-13 (84.6 percent) from the line
- Conversely, UConn held VU to 24-of-59 (40.7) from the field and 6-of-24 (25.0) from distance
- UConn was a near-perfect 9-of-10 from the foul line in the second half
- UConn dished out 19 assists on 28 made field goals
- Demary Jr. led all players with six helpers, Reed Jr. had three and Ball, Karaban and Smith each had a pair
- All nine Huskies that saw action had an assist
- Connecticut finished with an a 8-4 edge in blocked shots
- The Huskies entered play 12th nationally with 5.4 swats per game
- Reed Jr. had three rejections while Karaban and Ross both added a pair
- The UConn bench out-scored the Villanova reserves 22-8
- The Huskies improve to 11-0 this season when the bench adds at least 20
- The Huskies finished +13 on the glass and improved to 19-0 when out-rebounding their opponents
News and Notes
- The Huskies improve to 40-40 all-time against Villanova and are 7-1 in their last eight with the Wildcats
- The Huskies evened the all-time series with VU for the first time since it was tied at 2-2 in 1969…UConn has not led the series since going up 2-1 in 1952
- Since Dan Hurley's infamous 'better get us now' speech at Villanova, UConn is 3-1 at the arena in South Philadelphia and 8-4 overall vs. the Wildcats
- UConn improves to 9-1 in road games this season and 26-8 in true away contests since the start of '23-24
- The 26 road wins in that span are the most of any high-major
- The Huskies join Michigan as the only high-majors this season with nine true away victories
- Karaban continued his ascent in the UConn history books
- A lay-in at 8:42 moved him past Jalen Adams (1,706) for 11th on the program's all-time scoring list – he now sits 20 back of Christian Vital (1,735) and the top-10
- He expanded his program-records for starts (138) and wins (117)
- It was his 139th game as a Husky, four back of Shabazz Napier's program record
- The Huskies are now 8-2 in Quad 1 games and 14-3 in Q1+Q2
Up Next
The Huskies return home for their final Hartford game of the season, hosting No. 17 St. John's on Wednesday night.
