UConn men’s basketball outpaces Le Moyne, 90-49

UConn’s depth wore the Dolphins down after a sluggish start

The No. 3 ranked UConn men’s basketball team continued to roll through its nonconference schedule, taming the Le Moyne Dolphins 90-49. The Huskies improve to 3-0 on the young season. Alex Karaban led UConn with 17, while Liam McNeeley and Solo added 15 and 12, respectively. Hassan Diarra chipped in 10 points and six assists, while Tarris Reed joined the double-figure crew with another 12-point, 10 rebound double double.

The Huskies feasted inside with 46 points in the paint and every player that saw game action found the scoring column.

The Dolphins stayed afloat early as UConn struggled defensively with dribble handoffs and fighting through screens. Three subs helped turn the tide, whether through Diarra’s ball pressure, Reed’s offensive rebounding, and Jayden Ross’ athleticism. A seven-minute Le Moyne scoring draught only yielded five points for the home team, as the Huskies missed their first nine threes of the game.

A Le Moyne zone couldn’t even unlock UConn’s shooting. But Dan Hurley was unfazed, telling his team the huddle: “We’re getting great threes, beautiful rhythm. But it has to be great threes or rim pressure. Straight line stuff, not east-west.”

The first defensive-stop-to-transition-three came at 5:42, finally giving something fans to U-C-O-N-N about.

After a few more stops and transition buckets, spearheaded by who else but Karaban, the Huskies broke through with a 19-3 run to end the half, featuring Evan Miya’s patented Kill Shot.

Out of the break, Le Moyne found some success penetrating off the dribble, but UConn’s elite shotblocking duo of Karaban and Samson Johnson protected the rim well. Splash plays from Ball shredded the zone — what is it with Syracuse schools and zone?!

It was the same story as the first two games; five minutes or so into the second half, UConn’s depth and array of different looks ran the Dolphins out of the gym. Ross was a pest on defense, Jaylin Stewart looked like a point forward, and Reed continued to punish second-half defenses inside.

Yes, we’re deep in the cupcake portion of the schedule. But three straight games putting up 90-plus points, while holding a Le Moyne team that dropped 82 points against Syracuse to under 50 points, is something to be enjoyed. The crispness isn’t there, some players are still stuck in neutral, but the broader body of work shows a lot of promise.

Next up for UConn is a Tuesday night clash against East Texas A&M on Nov. 19 at 7:00 p.m. ET.