Philadelphia, Pa. – Forward Tarris Reed Jr. totaled 31 points and 27 rebounds to help second-seeded UConn pull away in the final minutes as the Huskies topped No. 15 seed Furman, 82-71, in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament before a crowd of 19,636 Friday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
The Huskies (30-5), ranked seventh in the final Associated Press Poll of the regular season, advance to face No. 7 seed UCLA in second round action on Sunday. The Southern Conference champion Paladins concluded their season at 22-13.
With its lead trimmed to 69-64 after Furman's
Alex Wilkins buried a three with 6:41 to go, UConn held the Paladins without a basket until the final 10 seconds of the contest to claim the 11-point win. The teams traded free throws to give UConn a 70-65 lead and Furman pulled down a defensive rebound to regain possession with a chance to cut the margin to 2-3 points with just over five minutes to play, but a steal by Braylon Mullins led to a dunk on the fastbreak by Reed to push the lead back to seven points.
After turnovers by the Paladins on their next two possessions, Malachi Smith connected on his first free throw attempt. Reed rebounded a miss on the second shot and followed back-to-back missed jumpers with offensive rebounds before senior Alex Karaban buried a triple with 2:06 remaining to put UConn in control at 76-65.
Reed finished the game 12-for-15 from the floor and 7-of-9 at the foul line to complete his career night and notch a double-double. Karaban went 9-for-16 from the floor, including 4-for-9 behind the arc, to add 22 points and Mullins finished with 12 points and a game-high six assists.
Wilkins and
Tom House led Furman with 21 points apiece and
Charles Johnston reached double figures with 10 points. House drained four triples and converted on 7-of-9 trips to the foul line in his final collegiate game while Wilkins, 8-of-15 on the night, also connected on four three-pointers for the Paladins.
UConn jumped out to an early 12-4 lead, but Furman to hit on 6-of-12 three-point attempts in the opening half, including Johnston's triple from the wing at the buzzer, to pull the Paladins within four points at 40-36 heading into the locker room. The Huskies extended their advantage to 11 points in the first five minutes of the second half. Furman answered with baskets from
Cole Bowser and Johnston, and the Paladins did not trail by more than 10 points again until the final 2:06.
Despite a 5-for-25 effort from three-point range, the Huskies shot 49.2% from the field and converted on 13-of-18 opportunities at the foul line. They outscored Furman 46-24 in the paint and 16-6 on second-chance opportunities on the strength of a 44-23 rebounding edge that included 18 offensive boards.
Furman connected on 44.7% of its shots, drained 9-of-24 three-point attempts, and went 20-of-26 at the foul line on the night.
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