HARTFORD – The No. 3 UConn men's basketball team (3-0) stayed perfect with a 90-49 victory over Le Moyne (1-3) on Wednesday night in front of a sold-out crowd of 15,684 at the XL Center. Alex Karaban led all scorers with 17 points for the Huskies, one of five from Connecticut to finish in double-figures.

The Huskies opened cold from the floor and only held a slim lead early, but stretched the advantage once shots started to fall. Liam McNeeley joined Karaban atop the scoresheet with 15 points, while Solo Ball finished with 12 – all three also hit three 3-pointers. Hassan Diarra and Tarris Reed Jr. posted big games for the Huskies off the bench, with Diarra scoring 10 and dishing out six assists while Reed Jr. notched a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double.

How it Happened

The Dolphins came out with gumption and took an early 7-4 advantage and a lead to the first media timeout. That was short-lived, as the Huskies put on the clamps and held the Dolphins scoreless for more than seven minutes over a prolonged 10-0 run that put Connecticut up 14-7 midway through the first.

At the 5:48 mark of the first, Karaban drilled his first 3-pointer to force a Le Moyne timeout with the Huskies up 24-16. That was part of another 10-0 run for Connecticut, with a Karaban slam putting the Huskies up 29-16 ahead of the final media stoppage in the first. In the dying moments of the opening stanza, Diarra found a cutting Jaylin Stewart for a buzzer-beating lay-in to put the Huskies up 38-19 at the break.

Early 3-pointers in the second half from McNeeley and Karaban helped UConn push its lead over 20 for the first time, going up 48-26 at the 16:32 mark. Minutes later, Ball scored eight-straight for the Huskies including two 3-pointers and electric dunk in transition to stretch the lead to 58-30.

Another 10-0 run pushed the advantage to 65-30 at 11:18 of the second. From there all that was left to determine was the final margin as UConn cruised to the 41-point win.

Inside The Numbers

• UConn shot 35-of-63 (55.6 percent) from the floor and 12-of-33 (36.4 percent) from 3-point range – holding Le Moyne to 19-of-54 (35.2) and 6-of-21 (28.6) marks
• The Huskies finished with a 42-23 edge on the glass, led by 10 boards for Reed Jr. and a career-high seven from Jayden Ross
• UConn dished out 24 assists on 35 field goals and recorded only seven turnovers
• The Huskies were only +5 in turnover margin, but finished with  a 17-0 edge in points off turnovers
• Connecticut held a 46-26 advantage in points in the paint, a 23-9 margin in second chance points and a 38-10 edge in bench scoring
• Karaban's 17 points came on 11 shots – so far this season he has needed 28 shots to score 54 points

News and Notes

• UConn now has a 30-game winning streak in home non-conference games
• The 19 first-half points allowed by UConn mark a season-low – against a team that averaged over 88 per game coming in
• UConn has scored 90+ in each of its first three games for only the second time in program history (1994-95)
• UConn opened 0-of 9 from 3-point range for the second-straight game despite mostly clean looks, but shot 12-of-24 (50.0 percent) from deep the rest of the way
• Stewart dished out a career-high five assists and did not have a turnover
• Jayden Ross posted career-highs of seven rebounds and four assists
• Ball has scored in double-figures in each of UConn's first three games this season – he scored in double-digits three times total as a freshman

Up Next

The Huskies conclude a season-opening four-game homestand on Tuesday, Nov. 19 when they host East Texas A&M at Gampel Pavilion.