HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Ball scored a career-high 26 points and Tarris Reed Jr. added 16 as No. 5 UConn opened Big East play with a 79-60 victory over Butler on Tuesday night.
Jaden Rose came off the bench to score 13 points and 8 rebounds, and Braylon Mullins scored 12 points. The tenacious Huskies (11-1, 1-0) held Butler to 30 points below their season average after the Bulldogs shot 49 percent from the field.
advertise
Drayton Jones scored nine of his 13 points in the first half for Butler (8-3, 1-1). Azavier Robinson and Evan Haywood each scored 10 points.
UConn improves to 12-0 against Butler. Their first meeting was in the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
The Bulldogs made five of their first eight shots but missed 20 of their next 23 shots until Michael Ajayi’s putback shot broke the halftime buzzer.
Butler missed its first 11 attempts of the second half until Haywood hit a corner 3-pointer with 14:24 left. Prior to this, Butler’s shooting percentage was only 21%.
But then the Bulldogs hit five of seven shots from 3-point range to cut into UConn’s lead. The Bulldogs cut the deficit to 11 points when Mullins grabbed a rebound and passed the ball to Silas Demary Jr., who set up Rose for a dunk, completing one of his 11 assists. On the Huskies’ next possession, Rose assisted Reed for a dunk.
advertise
The most memorable offensive rebound of the game came when Rose drove to the rim and knocked down Ball’s missed shot.
Butler went on a 9-0 spurt and took a 7-point lead early, but Mullins, Ball and Reid combined to score 15 points and the Huskies went on a 17-3 run.
Next
Butler will face Northwestern in the Indy Classic on Saturday.
UConn visits DePaul on Sunday.
___
Get AP Top 25 poll alerts and updates all season long. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball