University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
24-2,14-1Big East
Georgetown
13-12,5-9Big East
Karaban Sets Win Record As #6 UConn Tops Georgetown
2/15/2026 12:41:00 AM | Men's Basketball
STORRS – The No. 6 UConn men's basketball team (24-2, 14-1 BIG EAST) never trailed and held off a feisty Georgetown (13-12, 5-9 BIG EAST) for a 79-75 win on Saturday night at Gampel Pavilion. Alex Karaban became UConn's all-time winningest player in the triumph, notching win No. 116 of his storied Husky career.
Karaban scored 18 points and was 4-of-6 from 3-point range in his record-setting night, one in which he also established himself as UConn's all-time leader in games started with his 136th starting nod. As he has time and time again in his Connecticut career, Karaban made a slew of key winning plays late including a clutch wing 3-pointer with 2:54 to play and a game-sealing rebound plus two free throws in the final moments of regulation.
Solo Ball led the Huskies with 20 points against the Hoyas, his second-straight game hitting at least five 3-pointers and scoring 20 or more. Silas Demary Jr. had a double-double for the second contest in a row and barely a missed his second triple-double, finishing with 15 points and game-highs of 12 rebounds and nine assists. The freshman duo of Braylon Mullins and Eric Reibe scored 10 points apiece to round out five Huskies in double-figures.
UConn took an eight-point lead to the half after shooting 56 percent in the opening stanza and swelled its lead to as many as 14 early in the second. The Hoyas used a hot 3-point shooting second half to stay alive and claw within a possession in the final seconds, but the Huskies made their free throws late to hang on. KJ Lewis led Georgetown with 24 points, nine rebounds and five steals, Vincent Iwuchukwu scored 16 and Kayvaun Mulready dropped a career-high 15 and hit four 3-pointers.
How it Happened
The Huskies had the three-ball working in the opening minutes, using triples from Mullins, Ball and Karaban to race out to a 9-3 lead. UConn kept a multi-possession lead for next several minutes, building a 23-16 lead with a Tarris Reed Jr. lay-in at 9:45. The Hoyas answered with a 9-2 run to pull even at 25-all with 7:06 to play in the first.
Ball snapped the Georgetown run with a 3-pointer which was followed by a Demary Jr. floater to push the lead back to five. Starting at 5:07, Ball reeled off a personal 7-0 run and gave the Huskies a 37-28 lead with a put-back dunk at 3:48. UConn took a 41-33 lead to the half behind 16 first half points for Ball.
Buckets from Mullins and Karaban to open the second half pushed the UConn lead into double-figures for the first time, and back-to-back buckets inside from Reibe gave UConn its largest lead with 15:20 to play up 49-35.
The Hoyas took advantage of a nearly three-minute field goal drought for the Huskies later in the second and pulled within seven with a 3-pointer before a timeout at 12:30. Another triple got GU within six, before back-to-back hits from downtown off the hands of Karaban and Ball pushed the Husky lead back 58-46 and triggered a GU timeout with 10:48 to go.
Georgetown got back within seven ahead of Karaban's third 3-pointer of the day which put UConn up 61-51 at 8:41. Reibe kept the lead at 10 with a bucket off a slick feed from Ball at 6:07 that gave Connecticut a 67-57 edge. The Hoyas again persisted and got back within four via another 3-pointer with 3:16 to go. It was Karaban who answered again and his 3-pointer from the right wing with 2:54 to play gave UConn a 72-65 lead.
A Demary Jr. free throw inside of the final minute kept the lead at seven, and two more with 33.9 seconds to play put the Huskies up 77-70. On Georgetown's next trip Lewis came away with a four-point play, slimming the margin to three with 24.8 to play. After a Husky turnover Mulready went to the line with 11.4 to play and hit the first, but Karaban soared in through traffic to rebound the second and was fouled before putting the game on ice with a pair of free throws.
Inside The Numbers
- UConn shot 47.2 percent (25-53) from the floor and 32.4 percent (11-34) from three, going 18-of-25 (72.0 percent) from the free throw line including 12-of-15 in the second half.
- The Huskies have hit double-figure 3-pointers in a game nine times this season, including five of their last six contests
- UConn shot 56.0 percent (14-25) in the first half, but struggled to 39.3 pecent (11-28) in the second stanza
- Conversely, Georgetown finished at 43.6 percent (24-55) from the field, connected at a 42.9 percent (12-28) clip from downtown and hit at 65.2 percent (15-23) from the line
- UConn finished with a +3 edge on the glass, out-rebounding GU 34-31
- Demary Jr. led all players with a career-high 12 caroms
- Ball added six rebounds, two shy of his season-high
- The Huskies turned 10 offensive rebounds into a 12-11 advantage in second chance points
- The Huskies dished out 20 assists on 25 field goals against only 10 turnovers
- UConn held a +1 turnover margin and out-scored Georgetown 13-8 off miscues
- Connecticut finished with a 26-22 edge in paint points
News and Notes
- UConn improves to 42-36 all-time against Georgetown, and is now on an 12-game winning streak since returning to the BIG EAST in 2020-21, the second-longest run for either side in the history of the series
- The Huskies improve to 12-1 at home this season and 6-1 at Gampel Pavilion, where they have won 39 of their last 43
- Karaban continued to etch his name throughout the UConn record books
- Win number 116 broke a tie with former teammate Samson Johnson for the program's all-time wins record
- He made his 136th career start, snapping a tie with Jake Voskuhl to set a new program record
- With four 3-pointers he broke a tie to move past Shabazz Napier (260) into third in UConn history with 264 career 3-pointers, one behind Christian Vital (265) for second all-time and 12 back of Rashad Anderson's program record (276)
- He now has 1,701 career points, five behind Jalen Adams (1,706) for 11th in UConn history and 34 from reaching Vital (1,735) to crack the top-10
- Ball has knocked down 11 threes in his last two games – his previous high in consecutive games this season was seven
- Reibe scored in double-figures for the eighth time this season and the third time in league play
- Over his last six games, Reibe is 20-of-23 (87.0 percent) from the floor
- Prior to the contest UConn officially inducted program legend Hasheem Thabeet into the Huskies of Honor
Up Next
The Huskies are back on campus on Wednesday night to host Creighton.
