NEW YORK – The third-seed UConn men's basketball team (23-9) used a huge second half surge to come back from a halftime deficit and knock off six-seed Villanova (19-14) by a score of 73-56 on Thursday night in the BIG EAST Tournament Quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden. A tie game with 7:58 to play, Connecticut closed regulation on a 22-5 run to advance to the BIG EAST Semifinals for the fifth-straight Tournament.

Alex Karaban led the Huskies across the board with 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists, playing 38 minutes with only one turnover while shooting 4-of-6 from 3-point range. He was joined in double-figures by Liam McNeeley, who scored 12 with seven rebounds, along with Solo Ball and Samson Johnson who scored 11 apiece. Villanova got a game-high 25 points from Wooga Poplar and 10 from Jordan Longino.

The Huskies turned in one of their best overall defensive performances of the season to key the comeback, holding Villanova to 20.8 percent shooting in the second half and a 31.9 percent mark for the game. UConn limited VU's Eric Dixon, the nation's leading scorer who came in averaging nearly 24 per game, to a season-low eight points on 2-of-15 shooting. It snapped a streak of 47-straight double figure scoring games for sixth-year big man.

Connecticut moves on to the Semifinals, a round it has reached in every BIG EAST Tournament since returning to the league for the 2021 Tournament. It will face two-seed Creighton for the rubber match of a season series that each squad won on the opposing side's home floor.

How it Happened

The Huskies started quick, using a pair of early Johnson dunks to break the ice. The squads traded leads in the early going before Villanova used a prolonged 10-0 run to go up 17-8 at 11:33 for the largest lead of the day.

A Reed Jr. bucket and Karaban 3-pointer stopped the run, and a Ball lay-in at 9:05 pulled the Huskies back within three at 20-17. Villanova pushed the lead back to multiple possessions for much of the half, before an Aidan Mahaney 3-pointer made it 29-26 and prompted a VU timeout with 3:05 to play in the opening stanza.

Another bucket from Mahaney after the stop and a McNeeley 3-pointer leveled the score at 31-all ahead of the two-minute mark. The tie was short-lived as the Wildcats closed the half on a 5-0 mini-run to take a 36-31 lead to the break. UConn trailed by only five at the half despite being out-attempted 16-2 from the free throw line and shooting 3-of-12 from 3-point range.

Ball snapped his 0-for-4 start from 3-point range with a corner triple early in the second to pull the Huskies within one at 37-36. The Wildcats pushed the lead to five again thanks to Poplar, but a Karaban 3-pointer had UConn back inside a possession before the media timeout at 11:46. Mahaney tied the score at 46-up with a driving floater a minute later.

At 9:09 Karaban sunk a pair from the line to give UConn its first lead in nearly 25 minutes of game time, going up 49-48. Later a Johnson left-hand finish in traffic pushed the Huskies' edge to four, and Karaban followed with a deep 3-pointer to give the Huskies their largest lead of the day at 58-51 with 6:18 showing on the timer.

Karaban found Johnson on a slick feed inside at 4:47 that prompted a Villanova timeout with the Huskies up 60-54 and the familiar "U-C-O-N-N" chant reigning throughout the Garden crowd. After a stop, Karaban dialed up another deep 3-pointer to make it a nine-point lead, then fed Johnson inside again for a hoop and the harm sending the game to the final media timeout at 2:53 with Connecticut up 65-54.

Johnson completed the 3-point play after the stop and a corner 3-pointer from Jaylin Stewart inside of the final two minutes served as an effective dagger. From there all that was left was the free throws as Connecticut salted away a 17-point victory.

Inside The Numbers

• UConn shot 57.8 percent (26-45) from the floor and 40.0 percent (8-20) from downtown
  • Johnson finished 5-of-5 from the floor to up his field goal percentage this season to 76.9 percent, which would set the program single-season record
  • He also upped his career field goal percentage to 72.8 percent – also the program record
• Conversely, Connecticut held Villanova 15-of-47 (31.9 percent) from the field and 7-of-21 (33.3 percent) from distance
  • Villanova was stifled to a 5-of-24 (20.8 percent) mark in the second half
• The Huskies were +9 on the glass, out-rebounding Villanova 31-22
  • Connecticut has now out-rebounded its last 11 opponents
  • In that 11-game span, UConn holds a +10.0 rebounding margin
  • On the year the Huskies have surged into the top-20 nationally in rebound margin, currently sitting at +6.5 on the year
• UConn finished with 17 assists on 26 field goals, led by Karaban's six and five from Hassan Diarra
• Mahaney and Stewart scored seven points apiece to help the Huskies to a 19-2 edge in bench scoring – Mahaney added three assists and Stewart grabbed three rebounds in 16 and 20 minutes, respectively
• The Huskies finished with a 34-10 advantage in points in the paint

News and Notes

• UConn moves to 43-29 all-time in the BIG EAST Tournament and 7-3 under Dan Hurley
• Connecticut is 38-40 all-time against Villanova after taking two of three from the Wildcats this season
• The Huskies rallied from a halftime deficit for the eighth time this season, improving to 8-6 on the year when trailing at the break
• Since halftime of the St. John's game on Feb. 23, Karaban is 16-of-31 (51.6 percent)  from 3-point range
• Over the last two years UConn is 35-1 when an opponent shoots under 40 percent

Up Next

UConn faces two-seed Creighton at the World's Most Famous arena on Semifinal Friday night, with tip set for 9 p.m. on FOX.