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  • No. 4 UConn Surges Past Ohio State To Break The Buckeyes, 84-68

No. 4 UConn Surges Past Ohio State To Break The Buckeyes, 84-68

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Basketball

HARTFORD – The No. 4 UConn men's basketball team (4-0) used a huge second-half surge to run past Ohio State (2-2), 84-68, on Friday night at a sold-out PeoplesBank Arena. The Huskies trailed by two with five minutes elapsed in the second half before ripping off a prolonged 24-6 run over eight minutes of game time to put the game out of reach.

Braylon Mullins led all scorers with 22 points and hit five 3-pointers, while Na'jai Hines set a new career-high with 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting. Colben Landrew added 12 points in his first career start and Silas Demary Jr. was the fourth in double-figures, narrowly missing a double-double with nine assists against no turnovers. Jayden Ross finished with eight points and three steals in a game-high 37 minutes and Junior County posted a 5p-3r-3a-2s line in 23 minutes off the bench.

As a team the Huskies shot a blistering 61.2 percent in the win. It marked UConn's first 60-percent effort against a high major non-conference foe in over a decade and the seventh time it has hit the mark under Dan Hurley.

How it Happened

Mullins hit a 3-pointer on the game's first possession, part of a 7-2 spurt to open the game for Connecticut. Ohio State answered with the next five to level the score before a Demary Jr. three-point play gave UConn a 10-7 lead at 16:04. Later in the frame back-to-back 3-pointers from Landrew and Junior County pushed the lead to six, and moments later a Mullins triple forced an OSU timeout with the Huskies up 22-13. After the stoppage, Mullins connected once again and UConn took a 12-point lead to the U-12 timeout with 11:19 on the timer. 

A 7-0 run for the Buckeyes pulled them within six before a Landrew hoop and harm wrapped around a timeout gave UConn a 31-22 lead with 7:42 to play in the opening stanza. UConn took its largest lead of the half at 4:19 when Egor Amosov hit a circus 3-pointer off his offensive rebound, and on the other end Mullins took a charge to ignite the crowd ahead of a media timeout at 4:00 and UConn up 41-27. 

The Buckeyes answered again and used a 13-1 close to the half to pull within two at the break, with the Huskies clinging to a 42-40 advantage. The Huskies shot 58.3 percent in the first half but allowed OSU to match that mark and turned it over nine times in the opening 20.

Ohio State took its first lead of the day with a 3-pointer early in the second half and the sides continued to trade blows. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Mullins and Ross minutes later helped ignite a 12-2 run, and OSU called a snap timeout after stemming the tide but with the Huskies up 62-56 and 12:02 remaining. 

At 9:37 a traditional three-point play for Hines pushed the lead back to double-figures, and another bucket for the big man on UConn's next trip made it 69-56 and triggered an OSU timeout with 8:46 to play. At 7:03 a Mullins triple gave UConn its largest lead of the day, and two minutes later a Landrew transition slam topped that and put the Huskies up 76-60 with 5:04 on the timer. From there the Buckeyes never pulled within single-digits again.

Inside The Numbers

  • The Huskies shot a staggering 61.2 percent (30-49) in the win, best in any game since connecting at 62.5 against LIU on Dec. 10, 2022, and hit at a 47.4 percent (9-19) clip from 3-point range
    • It marked the seventh time under Dan Hurley UConn has shot 60 percent or better in a game
    • UConn shot 60 percent or better against a high-major non-conference foe for the first time since connecting at a 60.4 percent clip against Ohio State on Dec. 12, 2015
  • The Buckeyes had a hot-shooting first half (58.3 percent), but the Huskies ramped up in the second half to hold them 10-of-25 (40.0) for an overall shooting day of 49.0 percent (24-49) from the field and 28.6 percent (4-14) from three
  • UConn took a 24-21 edge in the rebounding column and was +3 in turnover margin


News and Notes

  • UConn is now 4-4 all-time against Ohio State in a series dating back to 1983 – Friday night marked the first meeting since 2016
  • Landrew made his first career start and has scored in double-figures in three of the first four games of his career
  • Mullins finished three shy of his career-high of 25 points
    • Mullins has knocked down a 3-pointer in nine-straight games dating back to last season and has hit two or more in seven of those contests
    • The sophomore has scored 20 or more in three of four games this season
  • Hines set his new career-high with 20 points, topping his previous best of 14 he reached four times as a freshman
  • Through four games, Demary Jr. has 25 assists and two turnovers. He is the first Husky with 25+ assists and two turnovers or less in a four-game span in the Elias stats era (1996-on)

Up Next

The Huskies head west for their first true road test of the season, visiting No. 12 Arizona in Tucson on Wednesday, Nov. 18.