No. 4 UConn men's basketball mounts thrilling comeback, escapes Providence with 103-98 road win

Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant on Jan 7, 2026

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Anything can happen at Amica Mutual Pavilion.

The Providence faithful was ready to explode as its Friars led the fourth-ranked UConn men’s basketball team by 11 points with 3:12 left in regulation on Wednesday. But the Huskies roared back with clutch shooting from veterans Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr., whose put-back with 13 seconds left sent the game to overtime.

It was the fab freshman, Braylon Mullins, who took over in the extra period and point guard Silas Demary Jr. who hit the midrange dagger that secured the Huskies’ escape with a thrilling, 103-98 victory in enemy territory.

Mullins rose to the occasion and scored eight of his game-high 24 points in overtime. On a night when UConn got only three points from its bench, a critical 3-pointer from Jaylin Stewart that keyed the comeback in regulation, all five starters finished in double figures. Demary, who finished with 23 points, 15 assists and five steals, had the best game of his UConn career. Karaban finished with 23 points and Reed wound up with 20.

The win, UConn’s 11th in a row, helped the Huskies improve to 15-1 and 5-0 in Big East play.

UConn started the game with a 3-pointer from Solo Ball (10 points, 3-of-10 shooting) but quickly fell into a drought with a series of unforced errors that allowed the Friars to move the ball in transition and get out to a 7-3 lead. Karaban and Mullins, both 3 of 4 from beyond the arc in the first half, helped keep pace after the first media timeout.

But, as the Huskies turned around their misfortune from beyond the arc in Sunday’s game against Marquette (when they made just 5 of 24), Providence answered. UConn made nine of its 16 first-half attempts from 3 but couldn’t establish much else, and the Friars — shooting 59.3% from the field and 7 of 12 from 3 — took advantage of a string of missed layups to storm back with a 21-4 run over five and a half minutes. Former Husky Corey Floyd Jr., who had 12 points before the break, made it a 13-point Providence lead with a minute left before halftime.

Coach Dan Hurley, presumably upset with the fact that his Huskies weren’t awarded a single trip to the foul line in the first half, was assessed his first technical foul of the season before the game resumed in the second.

It wasn’t a great first half for Reed, who had the best game of his career at the AMP last season. He had just four points on 2-of-7 shooting in the first half, but he came out of the locker room with a heightened intensity, attacking and starting to draw fouls on the Big East’s block leader, Oswin Erhunmwunse. Reed finished a three-point play and laid in a tough alley-oop finish through traffic to cut the deficit to six points before Jamier Jones hit a 3-pointer and finished a fast-break dunk to keep the momentum with the Friars.

The Huskies made another push to cut into their deficit as Demary made a straight-on 3-pointer with 11 and a half minutes left, but the defensive stops didn’t come at the other end to pull ahead.

Forward Duncan Powell, who was just 3 for 21 from beyond the arc on the season, made 2 of 3 from beyond the arc to stretch the Huskies out and keep them at arm’s distance down the stretch.

Stewart scored the Huskies’ first bench points of the game with a massive 3-pointer that cut the deficit back to six points with 2:29 to play. Demary made two at the free-throw line and Karaban saw a floater fall before hitting a massive 3-pointer, his fifth of the game, to make it a two-point game with 54 seconds left in regulation. The Huskies’ captain missed another floater attempt off the rim, but Reed was there to pull it in and made the put-back with 13 seconds to play. Floyd’s mid-range attempt to win the game in regulation was off.