Winning a college basketball game cannot be done solo. Especially when that Solo isn’t available.
It was announced before gametime on the Big East Injury Report that Solo Ball would not be available for No. 5 UConn’s road game with DePaul on Sunday.
Ball has been the Huskies’ leading scorer this season, averaging over 15 points per game. He injured his wrist on Tuesday against Butler, in a win where he scored a career-high 26 points.
“He was questionable coming off the last game and just couldn’t get healthy enough to go today,” Head Coach Dan Hurley said.
UConn was forced to find offense elsewhere on the way to a 72-54 victory without its Solo act.
Both teams struggled to protect the ball in the first half as there were 18 total turnovers before the intermission. The Blue Demon defenders were able to use their hands to disrupt plays and block shots. Before the second media timeout, the Huskies had already committed seven turnovers.
Brandon Maclin made it on every UConn fan’s naughty list at the start of the game, plucking four steals in just the first ten minutes. He made two steal-and-score plays to help DePaul jump out to a 15-7 lead. The Huskies turned the ball over 15 times by the end of the night.
“They defended so hard and were so physical,” Hurley said. “They blew up our screens and made everything tough on us.”
UConn shot itself into the eight-point hole, going 2/8 from the field to start the game and missing all three of their attempts from beyond the arc. Alex Karaban steered the offense back on course shooting a perfect 4/4 from the field and burying two triples in the first half to put UConn up 33-30 at halftime.
The Huskies stretched the advantage to 12, as Karaban scored 11 during UConn’s 13-4 run to open the second half. DePaul missed all but one of its first nine shot attempts following the break. Karaban didn’t miss a shot until there were less than 15 minutes to go, finishing with a game-high 21 points, his third 20-point game of the season.
He has found success when playing at Wintrust Arena in Chicago in his career. When Karaban faced DePaul last season, he finished with 18 points while shooting 50% from three.
“I really do think it’s a shooter’s hoop. The rims are nice here, and I love playing here,” Karaban said.
Silas Demary Jr. engined the offense with eight assists while committing just two turnovers. His thirteen points made him one of the Huskies’ three double digit scorers in the game. Demary was close to having his second triple-double of the season as he finished the game with seven rebounds.
The Georgia-transfer started the second half with a bang. Or maybe a “splat” is more appropriate. Or less.
When Demary walks away from a game, he likes to do so knowing that he “didn’t leave anything out of the floor.” The mentality is a testament to his will as a competitor, giving 110% on each possession.
On Sunday night, his efforts resulted in him leaving something on the floor.
Demary assured the post-game press conference that he was not sick; he simply had been “over-exerting” himself.
“He gives everything he’s got. He does stuff that doesn’t even show up on the stat sheet,” Karaban said.
UConn outrebounded DePaul by 12 and batted eight Demon shot attempts. Tarris Reed Jr. led the effort on the interior, notching his second double-double of the season with 14 points.
The Demons managed to keep the Huskies from feeding Reed inside early on, which Hurley credited to a style of defense that DePaul runs that involved shutting off passes “on the top side of bigs” and “trapping from the baseline.”
“We wanted to get the ball inside more, but the pressure pushed our catches so far away from the basket,” Hurley said.
Braylon Mullins moved to the two-guard spot in place of Ball. Hurley noted the difference in creating looks without the “gravity” that Ball creates.
“Braylon doesn’t quite know how to get shots the same way yet, but now we’ve got time to get him up to speed.”
Mullins didn’t find the bottom of the net till the midway point of the second half. But when DePaul crept back in and made it a 10-point game with three minutes to go, it was Mullins who drilled two more nails into the Demons coffin in the form of spot up three-pointers, securing the win.
“This is a much different DePaul program. I was real nervous about the game. They play incredibly hard, they’re physical, and I’m really impressed with the job Chris [Holtmann] has done in such a short period of time.”
The Huskies improved their record against DePaul to 22-1 all-time. The holiday will give UConn a 10-day hiatus before its next contest with Xavier. It will be the first time the Huskies have played back-to-back true road games this season.
The game tips off on Wednesday, Dec. 31 at 5 p.m. and can be streamed on Peacock or NBC Sports.