No. 5 UConn doesn’t need much motivation heading into its high-profile showdown against No. 15 Florida in the Jimmy V Classic on Tuesday in New York.
After all, the Huskies’ quest for a three-peat came to a halt with a 77-75 setback to the Gators in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last March. Florida went on to win the national championship.
Alex Karaban scored 14 points in that game and added 12 on Friday as UConn (8-1) recorded its fourth straight win with an 83-59 home victory over East Texas A&M.
Freshman Eric Reibe collected 13 points, six rebounds and three blocks versus the Lions while starting in place of senior center Tarris Reed Jr. The latter, who is averaging 15.5 points and 8.2 rebounds to lead the team, sat out his second straight game and fourth in the last five contests with an ankle injury.
Celebrated five-star recruit Braylon Mullins scored all 10 of his points in the second half on Friday. The freshman guard was playing in just his third game of the season and second since erupting for a team-best 17 points off the bench in Tuesday’s 61-56 win at Kansas.
Jaylin Stewart, a junior, added nine points and a team-best seven rebounds for the Huskies on Friday.
Stewart told reporters that he’s not worried about keeping his starter’s role over Mullins, who missed six games due to an ankle injury.
“I feel like my whole career, I’ve always been a selfless player,” Stewart said. “To see (Mullins) go crazy that game, I loved every part of it. There’s not going to be any change from me. I’m just going to do what I’ve got to do for the team, and he’s going to do the same thing. It’ll work.”
UConn head coach Dan Hurley said he has yet to formalize a plan for Mullins.
“I don’t know that’s the role I necessarily envision for him,” Hurley said. “He’s still working his way back. He was awesome in Kansas, but I just don’t know that he’s quite at the point where he’s at 28-30 minutes as a starter, potentially. That’s not where we want him to go tonight.
“I think Braylon’s going to be a guy, once he catches his rhythm, that’s going to be really hard to take off the court. But we’ve got a lot of guys that do a lot of things that help us win.”
Florida (5-3) fell for the second time in three games with a 67-66 setback versus No. 4 Duke in the ACC/SEC Challenge on Tuesday night in Durham, N.C.
Gators junior forward Thomas Haugh scored 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the floor.
“He was exceptional,” Gators head coach Todd Golden said of Haugh, who is averaging a team-best 18.6 points to go along with 7.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists.
“Never taking it for granted, but he delivers every night for us,” Golden said.
Haugh collected seven points and seven rebounds off the bench in the NCAA Tournament game versus UConn.
Alex Condon is averaging 15.1 points per game, followed by Boogie Fland (12.5), Rueben Chinyelu (10.3) and Urban Klavzar (10.0).
