HARTFORD – The No. 11 UConn men's basketball team (9-3, 1-0 BIG EAST) took a wild 94-89 victory over Xavier (8-4, 0-1) in overtime on Wednesday night in front of a sold-out crowd of 15,684 in the league opener at the XL Center. All five starters scored in double-figures and three finished with at least 20 in an offensive explosion that featured 11 ties and 22 lead changes.

Solo Ball led the Huskies with a career-high 22 points, including eight-straight in a crucial second half run. Tarris Reed Jr. posted a monster double-double in his first start at Connecticut with 20 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks. Alex Karaban was the third Husky to hit 20, finishing with five rebounds and three blocks to boot. Liam McNeeley scored 14, all after halftime, and Hassan Diarra notched his first career double-double with 12 points and 11 assists against one turnover.

UConn was able to overcome a white-hot shooting second half from the Musketeers that saw Xavier hit 14-of-20 (70.0 percent) from the floor and 8-of-10 from 3-point range by getting clutch late free throws from McNeeley to force overtime. In the extra frame, Karaban took over and the Huskies finally were able to string together stops, holding XU 4-of-12 in the final five minutes. For the Musketeers Ryan Conwell led all scorers with 23 points and Dante Maddox Jr. had a huge day with 22, including a quintet of 3-pointers.

How It Happened

The two sides traded blows early, swapping leads before back-to-back buckets from Reed Jr. inside and Ball on a reverse lay-up forced an early Xavier timeout with the Huskies ahead 10-7 at 14:37 of the first. UConn pushed the advantage after the stop, taking their first double-digit lead at 20-10 with a Youssouf Singare put-back at 10:25 of the first.

Xavier answered emphatically, going on a 12-0 run over four-plus minutes of game time to force a Connecticut timeout trailing 22-20 with 5:34 left in the opening stanza. Ball finally ended the run with UConn's first 3-pointer in eight attempts to re-take the lead, kicking off a run of three-straight triples after the Huskies started 0-7 from deep. In a first half that saw four ties and 11 lead changes, the Musketeers held a 31-30 edge at the break.

After trading body blows again in the early minutes of the second, a five-point spurt from Ball and Diarra gave the Huskies a 38-34 lead and prompted a Xavier timeout at 16:22. The Musketeers pulled back even at 41-all with 14:42 and the two sides settled in.

Neither side would pull ahead by more than a possession over the next several minutes as each offense found its stride. A Karaban 3-pointer followed by a pair of Reed Jr. free throws at 7:55 briefly made it a five-point game, but Xavier kept its offense humming and UConn called for time clinging to a 64-63 lead with 6:31 to go in regulation.

Two more 3-pointers for the Musketters, who started 7-of-8 from deep in the second half, made it a 9-0 run and gave Xavier its largest lead of the second half at 69-65 before a Ball lay-in off a Diarra feed stopped the run. Ball knocked down a triple on the next trip after a stop, and UConn evened the score at 69-69 to provoke a XU timeout at 3:56.

After the Musketeers briefly regained the advantage Ball was true again from downtown, his third hit of the night and the eighth-straight UConn point. A McNeeley lay-in and a pair of Reed Jr. free throws in the final minute pushed the lead back to three, but Maddox Jr. was true again for his fifth 3-pointer of the game on the next trip to level the score once again at 76-76 ahead of a UConn timeout with 29.8 ticks to play.

With 12.6 to go, McNeeley was fouled cutting through the line before he stepped up and drilled a pair of from the stripe. Maddox returned the favor on the next trip with two freebies and the contest was tied once again in the final 10 seconds. After a final timeout, McNeeley hit the deck kicking out to Ball for an attempt at a game-winning 3-pointer that missed left and the contest went to overtime.

Karaban got the scoring started in the extra frame with a deep 3-pointer, and McNeeley found Reed Jr. on a slick feed inside to make it 85-80 before a Xavier timeout at 2:46 of overtime. Inside of the final 30 seconds, Karaban blocked a 3-pointer and then scored on a put-back to make it a 91-84 advantage. That would prove to be the difference in the eventual five-point triumph.

Inside The Numbers

• UConn was out-shot 50.0 percent to 47.8 percent from the floor and 54.2 percent to 33.3 percent from 3-point range
• Connecticut turned in a sterling 20-of-21 performance from the free throw line
  • The Huskies got big performances from the line from Ball (7-7), Reed Jr. (6-6) and McNeeley (5-5)
• UConn won the rebounding battle, 35-27
  • Reed Jr. led all players with a season-high 13 caroms
  • The Huskies turned 14 offensive rebounds into a 13-2 edge in second chance points
• The Huskies finished with a 10-2 edge in blocked shots
  • UConn got a combined seven swats from Reed Jr. and Karaban and a pair from Jayden Ross
  • The Huskies recorded four of their 10 blocks in the first four minutes of action
  • UConn entered the game leading the nation with 6.8 blocks per game
• Connecticut out-scored Xavier 50-28 in the paint and 16-12 off a +3 turnover margin
• The Huskies got 88 of their 94 points from the starting five

News and Notes

• UConn is not 7-4 all-time against Xavier and 19-20 in BIG EAST openers
• The victory was UConn's first in a conference opener played at home since 2003 and first in a conference opener played at the XL Center since 1995
• Dan Hurley improves to 2-5 in league lid-lifters at Connecticut
• UConn improved to 2-1 when trailing at halftime this season
• All five UConn starters scored in double-figures for the first time this season
• UConn's last league opener to go to overtime was Dec. 20, 2020 vs. Creighton
• The double-double for Reed Jr. was his fifth through 12 games this season – he had three in his career over 66 games prior to UConn
• Singare scored a career-high four points, his first game with multiple field goals
• Diarra scored in double-digits for the fifth time this season and the 19^th time of his career
  • Diarra finished with 12 points and tied his career-high (recently set at Texas on Dec. 8) with 11 assists  
  • The double-double for Diarra was the first of his career
  • It was the first point-assist double-double for UConn since Tristen Newton in the 2024 BIG EAST title game and the first for a non-Newton Husky since Alterique Gilbert had 12 points and 10 assists vs. Iona on Dec. 4, 2019
  • In seven games as a starter, Diarra has averaged 7.4 assists and posted a 5.20 assist/turnover ratio
• The 22 lead changes were by far the most in a UConn game this season, topping the previous high mark of seven vs. Memphis on Nov. 25

Up Next

The Huskies hit the road for their final contest of 2024, visiting Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Saturday, Jan. 21 for a noon tip.