UConn got its revenge on UCLA after 31 years. The 2-seeded Huskies (31-5) eliminated the 7-seeded Bruins (24-12), 73-57, advancing to their third Sweet Sixteen in four years.
Alex Karaban showed why he belongs in the Huskies of Honor, leading UConn with a career-high 27 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including four 3-pointers. He scored 11 first-half points and opened the second half with the Huskies’ first eight points.
“He’s not going down without firing all these bullets,” Dan Hurley said in his postgame press conference. “When the two-time national champion has that look in his eye and is making [those] type of shots and plays, that’s when the group was able to put the game away.”
Silas Demary Jr. returned to the floor after missing the NCAA Tournament opener against 15-seeded Furman with an ankle sprain suffered in the Big East Championship loss to St. John’s. While not 100%, he provided depth in the backcourt and played a role like what Tarris Reed Jr. did in the Black Friday win over Illinois. Malachi Smith started over Demary, with the latter coming into the game at the 14:15 mark of the first half.
Demary’s only points came from the free-throw line, but his impact came elsewhere. He had a team-high +22 plus-minus rating.
“Silas gutted it out,” Hurley said, revealing that Demary was on a 20-minute restriction but went slightly over that.
Demary told CT Insider’s David Borges that he knew that he would play on Sunday following the Huskies’ win over Furman on Friday night.
“I was going to put my body on the line for this team and this program to get to the Sweet Sixteen,” he said.
Smith filled in the starting role and provided some massive minutes for the Huskies. He played 32 minutes in both games of the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament, with 13 assists to three turnovers over that span.
“We need Malachi if we want to reach our goals, and he’s done a great job stepping up so far,” Karaban said.
Jayden Ross was the ultimate x-factor in this game, scoring 9 points in the first half (11 for the game) and playing solid defense on UCLA star point guard Donovan Dent, who finished with 11 points but did not make a basket in the second half. Ross struggled to stay on the court in the second half due to foul trouble, including a challenge from Dan Hurley that ended up in an even worse outcome.
“Jayden has been on a great trajectory,” Hurley said. “We were struggling defensively. He came in and changed that. The three was huge and the free throws, but this team needs his athleticism on the court, his size, and you just see a player that’s really developing, coming into his own right now, especially with Jaylin Stewart out.”
Speaking of Stewart, he did suit up today for the Huskies for the first time since seeing action on Feb. 21 in a 73-63 win at Villanova. However, he did not get any action on Sunday night.
“Jaylin had no chance [to play],” Hurley told local reporters after the press conference. “Jaylin was in an emergency role. He has taken no live reps. We wanted him to go through the pregame warm-up as part of his process of being ready for next week.”
UConn started the game poorly on both ends of the floor as the first 12 minutes saw Connecticut shoot 4-for-16 from the floor with seven turnovers. The Huskies made 8 of their last 10 shots with just one turnover in the last eight minutes of the first half to go up 38-33 at the midway point.
Braylon Mullins found his 3-point shot in the final minutes of the first half after starting the NCAA Tournament 0-for-10. The freshman phenom ended up hitting back-to-back 3-pointers in the final three minutes of the half and finished the game with 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
“I think you just got to come into every game with confidence,” he said. “My first three shots kind of rattled me a little bit. I think just getting all my composure on the bench, and all my teammates just believe in me…One of them has to go in, right?”
Tarris Reed Jr., coming off a historic first-round game, followed the performance with a 10-point, 13-rebound double-double.
UConn went on a 14-0 run at one point, the largest run this season. A 9-0 run, including a technical foul called on UCLA head coach Mick Cronin, helped the Huskies get out to their largest lead of the game (13).
Connecticut has now evened the overall series at one game apiece, both of which came in the NCAA Tournament.
The Huskies will take on 3-seeded Michigan State, another Big Ten opponent, in the Sweet Sixteen in Washington, D.C., on Friday night.