STORRS – UConn may have its own pair of splash brothers.
Alex Karaban and Cam Spencer combined to shoot 11 of 15 from beyond the 3-point line as the Huskies clicked late and sprinted to a 101-63 rout of Arkansas Pine Bluff inside Gampel Pavilion on Saturday.
UConn had just a one-possession lead with less than three minutes left in the first half but went into the break on a 12-2 run and took complete control in the second when it outscored the Golden Lions, 56-30.
“The last 22 minutes of that I thought was really, really good basketball,” head coach Dan Hurley said. “Our goal was to keep them under 60 (points) and they scored 63 and shot 36% overall, a little bit under that. For us offensively it was good to see us shoot it better, our expectation for the way that we would shoot the ball this year was more in line with the way we shot it today.”
Karaban, who appeared fully comfortable after dislocating his finger in practice before Tuesday’s game against North Carolina, finished with a career-high 26 points on 9 of 12 shooting from the field, 6 of 9 from beyond the arc. He added seven rebounds, two offensive, and three assists. Spencer scored all 15 of his points from the 3-point line, where he was 5 of 6 for the game, and had four rebounds and four assists.
“He couldn’t miss today,” Spencer said of Karaban. “You definitely feed off of that as a teammate and when you see the confidence that he’s shooting with, it lifts your confidence as well.”
Tristen Newton and Solo Ball each added a 3 of their own and finished with 16 and nine points, respectively. In 21 minutes, center Donovan Clingan had 11 points, seven rebounds and three blocks, and freshmen Jaylin Stewart and Stephon Castle each scored seven off the bench; Castle added four rebounds and four assists in 18 minutes as he returns from a knee injury.
Karaban, just 4 of 24 on 3-point attempts over the last four games, got the Huskies started early with a 3-pointer on the first possession of the game and another at the 18-minute mark.
“It felt really good, just to see the ball go in with my shot and just having that confidence back to knowing I’m a great shooter,” he said. “The coaches have been telling me that all the time, to keep my confidence up, they’ve been giving me confidence too and then my teammates have been doing a great job telling me just to keep shooting. I knew eventually I would get out of the slump.”
UConn missed its next seven attempts from beyond the arc after Karaban’s second fell through.
Meanwhile, Arkansas Pine Bluff, which attempts more 3-pointers per game than almost any team in the country, made 6 of 14 from deep in the first half and, with a 20-17 rebounding advantage, was able to keep the game within a few possessions for most of the opening period.
Karaban exited after a pair of early fouls and the Huskies gave Stewart a chance for some extended minutes. Stewart made his first three shot attempts from the floor over his initial five-minute stretch, employing a sweet head-fake for a mid-range jumper and then converting a layup through a foul on the next possession as UConn tried to pull away in the first half.
He heard a nice ovation from the fans once he returned to the bench.
“It was good to see him give us a lift there, it earned some trust in the staff and trust from his teammates and now gets him into a position where he becomes a guy that can now get into the rotation here coming out of today,” Hurley said. “Going back to (his hometown) Seattle gives us more confidence that we’ve got somebody that we can go to to get Alex off the court so we don’t run him into the ground.”
UConn’s lead over the Golden Lions was just two, 33-31, with 2:34 left in the first half.
A putback dunk from Newton, his first made field goal of the game and his first dunk of the season, started a 12-2 UConn run to take a 45-33 lead into the break. “They didn’t box me out so I just tried to bring some type of energy because at that point I was doing absolutely nothing in the game,” he said. Spencer followed Newton’s highlight with the Huskies’ first made 3-pointer since Karaban’s second just two minutes into the game, Ball flew down the court for a pair of fastbreak layups and Newton added another, plus a pair of free throws, to close out the half.
“At half time we probably should’ve had 57 points. We missed layups, we missed open 3s. Cam didn’t have it going yet, he was pretty passive today, wasn’t very aggressive,” Hurley said. “Our defense, I thought, was not the issue today I just thought it took us awhile to start really getting it going offensively.”
The Huskies matched the Golden Lions’ shooting to start the second half as Karaban, Spencer and Newton each converted from deep to offset Pine Bluff’s three triples in the first four minutes. The 3s kept raining in as UConn’s lead grew to 40 points at the six-minute mark with Spencer and Karaban combining for five triples during a 22-1 run.
UConn shot 10 of 16 from beyond the arc in the second half to Pine Bluff’s 6 of 16. The Huskies also took complete control of the backboard, outrebounding the visitors 25-8 after the break.
“These games (against mid-majors) are necessary,” Hurley said. “We need some of these so we can get the young players on the court and work on some different things, you can’t play 31 heavyweight championship fights.”
Friday’s game against No. 7 Gonzaga in Seattle, UConn’s third top-10 matchup in two weeks, will complete the nonconference slate before Big East play begins with a trip to Seton Hall on Dec. 20.
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