UConn men's basketball holds on to beat Florida in Jimmy V Classic, 77-73

Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant on Dec 10, 2025

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NEW YORK — The No. 5 UConn men’s basketball team held on to beat No. 18 Florida, 77-73, in a matchup of the last two national champions in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night.

Another ranked nail-biter, it was Solo Ball who made the clutch free throws to seal the game in the final minute. Florida had a chance to tie the game, inbounding the ball down three with 10 seconds left, but the Gators couldn’t get the ball in and were called for a five-second violation that had UConn coach Dan Hurley pumping his fist in celebration.

UConn improved to 79-62 all time at MSG, 2-4 in the Jimmy V Classic and 6-2 in its all-time series with Florida, which ended the Huskies’ NCAA Tournament run last season in the second round along the way to its title.

The win was UConn’s third over a ranked opponent in four opportunities so far this season.

Ball finished as the Huskies’ leading scorer with 19 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Alex Karaban came up big in the second half on his way to 13 points and Tarris Reed Jr., making his return from an ankle injury, contributed 12 points and five rebounds in 24 minutes of action.

Malachi Smith, back in his native New York City, put on another show at the World’s Most Famous Arena. The senior point guard from the Bronx guided the Huskies along their 50% shooting night with four points and nine assists, matching his total when UConn beat Illinois in its first trip to MSG this season.

Reed, back on the court and in the starting lineup for the first time since Nov. 28, won the opening tipoff and set the tone immediately with consecutive layups in the post. The senior center scored six of the Huskies’ first nine points, then came up with a steal inside and fed Demary, who skipped off to the chorus of the UConn crowd after finishing a transition layup through a foul.

Florida erased its early five-point deficit with a 12-0 run that had back-to-back (2006-07) national champion Joakim Noah on his feet behind its bench, but UConn’s near five-minute scoring drought ended with a mid-range jumper from Ball. Karaban and Jaylin Stewart, who seems to always find a way to impact games at MSG, helped the Huskies cut their deficit to two and Ball hit a 3-pointer from the wing to retake the lead with seven and a half minutes left in the half.

Eric Reibe, the Huskies’ 7-foot-1 freshman center, continued his impressive run with a strong two-handed slam before stepping out and trading 3-pointers with Florida point guard Xavian Lee. UConn made nine consecutive shots when Ball saw his second triple fall on five attempts and Reibe put in a layup to push the lead to 33-26, exciting new football coach Jason Candle behind the Huskies’ bench.

UConn saw six different players pick up two fouls in the first half and Florida took advantage of the missing pieces, dominating inside and cutting its deficit to five before Stewart finished a second-chance layup to send the Huskies into the break up, 39-32.

Alex Condon became a problem to start the second half, blocking three of UConn’s first 11 shot attempts. It translated to some highlight plays in transition as the Gators dunked three of their first five second half baskets and got their sizable crowd going. A 3-pointer in front of the bench from Thomas Haugh gave Florida a 49-46 lead with 12 minutes to play.

Braylon Mullins, who had his night hampered by fouls, got himself going with a sweet fadeaway jumper and went on to trade buckets with the Gators until Karaban blocked a shot to set up his third 3-pointer of the game. After another strong finish from Condon, Ball came off a screen for a triple and Smith went coast-to-coast off a defensive rebound and made a highlight euro-step layup that pushed UConn’s lead to 66-58 with four and a half minutes to play.

Mullins fouled out before the final stretch, having played only 11 minutes, and it was the combination of Karaban, Smith and Reed who put the game away despite some troubles inbounding the ball around Florida’s length.

UConn will host Texas at PeoplesBank Arena in its final nonconference game of the season on Friday before beginning Big East play with Butler in the same building on Tuesday.