No. 6 UConn Suffocates No. 15 St. John's In 72-40 Rout

Wednesday, February 25

Hartford, Conn.

7 p.m.

University of Connecticut

26-3,16-2Big East

St. John's

22-6,15-2Big East

St. John's (NY)

UConn

2/25/2026 11:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)

HARTFORD – The No. 6 UConn men's basketball team (26-3, 16-2 BIG EAST) dominated from start to finish in a 72-40 demolition of No. 15 St. John's (22-6, 15-2 BIG EAST) on Wednesday night at PeoplesBank Arena. The Huskies turned in by far their best defensive performance of the season and became the first team in 12 years to hold a top-15 foe under 20 percent from the field. The 32-point win was UConn's largest margin of victory ever against St. John's.

The win concluded a perfect Hartford slate for Connecticut for the third season in a row. UConn has won its last 27 games in the building now called PeoplesBank Arena and is 31-1 in Hartford since the start of 2022-23.

UConn used a 9-0 run in the first half to take an early lead, then burst out with an 18-0 run later in the frame to go up 20 before taking a 15-point lead to the break. In the second half, it was a 16-0 surge that pushed the lead to 30 with 10 minutes to play and turned the contest into a laugher. The Huskies held St. John's to a paltry 19.6 percent (11-of-56) from the field for the game and an absurd 7.1 percent (2-of-28) in the second half. Connecticut held St. John's without a field goal for the final 17:28 of regulation, a span in which the Red Storm missed their final 24 shot attempts.

Tarris Reed Jr. led the way for UConn and turned in a huge day with 20 points, 11 rebounds, six blocks, two steals and three assists on 9-of-14 shooting. He was one of three Huskies in double-figures joined by Alex Karaban with 14 and Solo Ball who scored 11. Silas Demary Jr. stuffed the stat sheet with seven points, eight rebounds and a game-high five assists while Braylon Mullins hit a troika of 3-pointers and finished with nine points, three rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Jayden Ross led a strong effort from the bench with four points and four rebounds in 17 minutes, during which he was a +23.

How it Happened

The Red Storm scored first, but UConn answered promptly with a 9-0 run kicked off by a Karaban three and capped with a Reed Jr. 3-point play. Back-to-back baskets from Reed Jr. minutes later pushed the Husky lead to four, and a steal from the big man led to a transition 3-pointer from Mullins that put the Huskies up 18-11 and forced a St. John's timeout at 12:27 and Hartford in a frenzy.

The Huskies kept coming after the stop, immediately getting a 3-pointer and dunk from Karaban on the next two trips. UConn pushed its run all the way to 18-0, going up 31-11 at 6:37 with another Mullins 3-pointer. After a brief cold spell, Ball hit a second-chance 3-pointer off an offensive rebound and feed from Reed Jr. at 1:11 to help the Huskies take a 41-26 halftime lead. UConn got 14 points from Reed Jr. in the opening stanza and eight apiece from Ball and Karaban.

Reed Jr. got the scoring started in the second half with a slam and the Huskies were off. A Mullins three and Karabandrive and finish were part of 9-0 run to go up 54-31 before a St. John's timeout at 13:48. Following the stoppage UConn stretched the run to 16-0, with a Ball three at 10:07 triggering another SJU timeout down 61-31. From there all that was left to decide was the final margin. St. John's went from 17:28 to 6:41 without a point and did not score a field goal in the final 17:28 of regulation.

Inside The Numbers

UConn shot 47.5 percent (28-59) from the field and 28.0 percent (7-25) from three while limiting St. John's to 19.6 percent (11-56) and 25.0 percent (5-20)
- In the second half, SJU was 2-28 (7.1 percent) and missed its final 24 shots
The Huskies out-scored the Red Storm 42-12 in the paint
UConn had a season-low five turnovers and turned a +3 turnover margin into a 9-3 advantage in points off miscues
The Huskies finished with a 41-37 edge on the glass
- Despite a 16-9 deficit in offensive rebounds, UConn finished with a 12-6 edge in second chance points
- Reed Jr. snared 11 caroms and Demary Jr. snagged eight, the game's two highest totals
Connecticut dished out 20 assists on 28 field goals
- Coming into the game UConn was top-10 nationally in assist/game (18.6) and assist/FGM percent (64.4)
UConn had nine blocks compared to four for St. John's
- Reed Jr.'s six blocks matched a career-high set on March 1, 2025 at Providence
The Huskies out-scored the Red Storm 14-0 in fast break points

News and Notes

UConn improves to 37-40 all-time against St. John's and 7-5 since rejoining the BIG EAST
The Huskies sold out PeoplesBank Arena in all eight of its appearances there this season for the second-straight year. The sellout streak in Hartford is now at 21 games dating back to Dec. 23, 2023
It was the first time in the last 30 seasons that UConn has held a BIG EAST opponent to 20 percent shooting or worse – the last time it did so in any game was in the 2011 National Championship vs. Butler (18.8 percent)
Karaban continued his climb in the UConn record books
- Made his 139^th career start, extending his program record
- Appeared in his 140^th career game, three shy of tying Shabazz Napier's record
- Is up to 1,729 career points, six back of Christian Vital (1,735) for top-10 in UConn history
- Now has 266 career 3-pointers, passing Vital (265) for second in UConn history and sitting 10 behind Rashad Anderson's program-record of 276
- Finished his UConn career with a 31-1 record in Hartford
- His fourth rebound of the game was the 700^th of his career
Reed Jr. notched his seventh double of the season and the 17^th of his career, it was also his second '20 and 10' game this season and the sixth in his career
Prior to tonight the last time a team held a top-15 foe under 20 percent from the field was Nov. 18, 2014 when No. 1 Kentucky held No. 5 Kansas also 11-56, also in a 72-40 win
Mullins hit three triples and entered the game first in the BIG EAST with 2.8 per game in league action