No. 5 UConn Bounces Back From Loss to Beat Villanova

Alex Karaban scored 12 points, Tarris Reed Jr. added 11 and No. 5 UConn used a dominating second half to defeat Villanova 73-63 on Saturday night. Braylon Mullins added 10 points for the Huskies (25-2, 15-2 Big East), who rebounded from Wednesday’s 91-84 home loss to unranked Creighton. Tyler Perkins scored 15 points and Matt Hodge had 13 for Villanova (21-6, 12-4), which had won six in a row since losing 75-67 in overtime to UConn on Jan. 24 in the teams’ first meeting. The teams were locked in a two-point game at the break after a competitive first half, but Villanova went without a field goal in the opening 5:25 of the second half. UConn took advantage with a 13-2 run after the intermission. And the Huskies continued from there. The lead reached as many as 21 points later in the half on a nifty spin move and finish by Reed. The Wildcats, who are still in position to end a three-year NCAA Tournament drought under first-year coach Kevin Willard, struggled from long range the entire game. They finished 6 for 24 from beyond the arc. UConn, the 2023 and ’24 national champs, are pushing for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and beating Villanova for the eighth time in the last nine meetings will help. The Wildcats have four regular-season games left, and Willard almost certainly will pass Jack Kraft for the most wins by a first-year coach. Kraft went 21-7 in 1961–62. Up next UConn: Hosts St. John’s on Wednesday. Villanova: Hosts Butler on Wednesday. Reporting by The Associated Press.