By William Armstead –
The UConn Huskies defeated the Furman Paladins by a score of 82-71 in the first round of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament on March 20. Tarris Reed Jr. put up a stat line that has not been seen in the tournament for over 60 years.
The UConn Huskies were led by their center, who recorded 31 points and 27 rebounds on an outstanding 12-15 shooting from the floor. Out of those 31 rebounds, 11 of them were offensive, giving the Huskies multiple second-chance opportunities.
The All-Big East center became the first player with 30-plus points and 25-plus rebounds in an NCAA Tournament game since Houston’s Elvin Hayes in 1968.
Forward Alex Karaban added 22 points of his own, and guard Braylon Mullins contributed 12 points, despite missing all of his three-point field goal attempts.
The Huskies were 20.5-point favorites in the matchup; however, they found themselves up only five with about five and a half minutes left. However, they went on a 12-4 run late to put the game out of reach for the Paladins.
As a team, UConn shot an abysmal 5-25 from three-point range, but did win the rebounding battle, securing 21 more rebounds than Furman.
As for Furman, their scoring was led by their guard play. Alex Wilkins and Tom House had 21 points each. The Paladins would not go away for most of the game, and were only down four points at halftime. Furman shot almost 40 percent from three on the night, which effectively kept them in the game.
Furman finishes their season with a 22-13 record. UConn advances to face off against the UCLA Bruins in the Round of 32 on Sunday, March 22, at approximately 8:45 p.m. ET on TNT, March Madness Live on NCAA.com, and HBO Max.