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UConn men's basketball dominates UMass Lowell, 110-47, in Reed's return

Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant on

Published in Basketball

HARTFORD, Conn. — Dan Hurley turned around and gestured for an ovation from the crowd at PeoplesBank Arena less than four minutes into the UConn men’s basketball team’s 110-47 blowout of lowly UMass Lowell for its second win of the season.

Tarris Reed Jr., the Huskies center who made his season debut Friday night, was coming out after his first stretch of action. Recovered from a hamstring injury, the senior scored four points and grabbed five rebounds in his first three and a half minutes, and when he took his seat, UConn already had a double-digit lead without surrendering a point.

Reed was everything he was hyped up to be during the offseason and more as he dominated his way to 14 points and eight rebounds in only nine first-half minutes, leading the Huskies into the locker room with a 47-point advantage — the largest halftime lead in program history.

The difference grew to as many as 66 points in the second half as Reed led seven double-figure scorers with 20 points (9 for 12), 12 rebounds and four blocks in just 17 minutes of action.

Point guard Silas Demary Jr. finished with 16 points, seven assists and four steals as Solo Ball and Malachi Smith added 14 points apiece. Alex Karaban scored 10 of his 13 points in the first half, Jaylin Stewart finished with 10 points and six assists, and freshman center Eric Reibe got up to 11 points, five rebounds and two blocks.

Reed’s energy carried over after Hurley gave him a seat with Ball and Karaban making consecutive 3-pointers. Smith, who was quiet in the opener, scored nine straight points, including a four-point play as he was fouled while making his second 3-pointer of the game.

Just about everything was falling for the Huskies, and nothing went the way of the River Hawks.

UConn’s lead was 28-2 when Reed reentered the game after the under-12 media timeout and he immediately got back to work, dominating down low for three layups as Stewart knocked down the Huskies’ fifth 3-pointer in seven attempts to go up, 37-2.

 

The Huskies’ advantage was 48-5 when UMass Lowell finally made its first shot from the field (1-for-18), a layup off the glass from guard Austin Green with 6:20 to go in the first half. Stewart nailed another 3 and Jayden Ross came up with a steal at half court and soared in for a dunk to respond.

The only frightening moment in the first half came when Karaban flushed a two-handed dunk in transition and came down hard on his face, but he walked off with a smile and eventually returned.

The River Hawks did close the first half on a 7-5 run, though it wasn’t enough to avoid being on the wrong end of the Huskies’ largest halftime lead ever.

UConn had some slip-ups in the second half, but there was very little for even Hurley to be upset about with the lead holding over 50 points and his third-string point guard, Alec Millender, consistently diving on the floor for loose balls.

The Huskies were aggressive on the defensive end as they forced 21 turnovers and held the River Hawks to just four assists and 21.3% (10-for-47) shooting from the field. Hurley’s squad finished with 26 assists on 42 made baskets, shot 60.9% from the field and 39.1% from beyond the arc, and posed a 46-22 advantage on the glass.

There is one more buy game on the schedule before the team’s first true test as the Huskies welcome Columbia to Gampel Pavilion on Monday night ahead of their Nov. 15 matchup with No. 8 BYU in Boston’s TD Garden.


©2025 Hartford Courant. Visit courant.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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