WASHINGTON, D.C. – Alex Karaban led all scorers with 19 points to power the No. 9 UConn men's basketball team (13-4, 5-1 BIG EAST) to a 68-60 victory at Georgetown (12-4, 3-2 BIG EAST) on Saturday afternoon at Capital One Arena. The Huskies used an explosive start to the second half to go up as many as 23 in their ninth-straight victory over the Hoyas.

Karaban finished with 19 points, six rebounds, four assists, two blocked shots and a steal while playing all 40 minutes for the Huskies to bounce back from a tough setback on Wednesday night. Solo Ball added 15 for the Huskies and knocked down a trio of 3-pointers while playing less than an hour from his native Leesburg, Va, and fellow DMV-native Jayden Ross also had a strong homecoming less than 40 miles from Bristow, Va. with seven points, two rebounds an assist and a block off the bench.

The Huskies led by only four at the half but burst out of the gates of the half with a 17-2 run, forcing the Hoyas to burn a pair of timeouts in the first 5:30 of the period and never looking back. Samson Johnson had a strong day for Connecticut with nine points, a season-high five rebounds and a team-best +12 in 27 minutes, while Hassan Diarra and Aidan Mahaney each had six and combined for five assists. Curtis Williams Jr. led Georgetown with 15 points while Thomas Sorber had nine points and 10 rebounds for the Hoyas.

How it Happened

A slow shooting start for the Huskies allowed the Hoyas to take an early lead, before Ball's second 3-pointer of the opening half cut the deficit to 13-10 ahead of a timeout at 11:22. That triple was part of a 10-0 UConn to flip the early deficit as Georgetown called for time with the Huskies up 17-13 at 9:08 after a Karaban put-back.

Another Karaban bucket at 6:19 gave UConn its largest lead of the early proceedings at 25-17. The Hoyas pushed back to within two before back-to-back triples from Ball and Karaban stretched the edge to 33-25 inside of three to play in the first. The Huskies took a 35-31 lead to the half after a late GU 3-pointer.

The Huskies scored the first six points of the second half, with a steal-and-score from Diarra pushing the lead to double-digits for the first time at 41-31. That was part of an 11-1 start to the second stanza for Connecticut, and a deep 3-pointer from Karaban pushed the lead to 46-32 and prompted a Hoya timeout at 16:49.

The huge start to the second half continued and three straight dunks – a Johnson give-and-go, a Ross alley-oop and a Johnson transition flush – made it 52-33 Connecticut before another timeout at 14:30. Midway through the second back-to-back Karaban 3-pointers ballooned the margin over 20 for the first time at 61-39 with 9:21 to play.

An 8-0 run for the Hoyas combined with a three-minute scoring drought for the Huskies got GU back within shouting distance at 64-49 before using their final timeout with 5:20 remaining in regulation. Karaban ended the run with a driving lay-in and the Hoyas effectively never threatened again, even with a late 9-0 run cutting the lead to single-digits in the final seconds.

Inside The Numbers

• UConn shot 46.4 percent (26-56) for the day and was 9-of-26 (34.6 percent) from 3-point range, holding the Hoyas to a 38.9 percent (19-49) mark from the floor
  • The Huskies held the Hoyas to 8-of-24 (33.3 percent) shooting and forced nine turnovers in the second half
• The Huskies assisted on 14 of 26 buckets, led by four apiece from Diarra and Karaban
• Both teams committed 15 turnovers, but the Huskies held a 22-17 edge in points off those miscues
• UConn finished with a 30-22 edge in points in the pant
• The game-high 19 for Karaban came on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and a 4-of-6 effort from downtown
• Connecticut finished with a 9-6 edge in blocked shots
  • UConn entered the day second nationally with 6.6 swats per game
  • Tarris Reed Jr. led the Huskies with three blocks, while Johnson and Karaban each notched a pair

News and Notes

• UConn improved to 39-36 all-time against Georgetown, winners of nine-straight in the series since returning to the BIG EAST ahead of the 2020-21 campaign
• In his last three games against Georgetown, Karaban is averaging 23.3 points and shooting 66.7 percent (14-of-21) from deep
• The Huskies improved to 4-1 in true road games this season
• Coming into the day the win would be registered as a Quad 1 victory, UConn's fourth of the season – only four teams entered the day with more
• UConn has now held two BIG EAST foes below 40 percent from the field in a road game this season
• The 15 turnovers forced were the most by UConn since forcing 18 on Nov. 19 vs. ETAMU

Up Next

The Huskies hit their first bye week of BIG EAST play and will be off until Saturday, Jan. 18 when they welcome Creighton to Gampel Pavilion.