Final: UConn Men’s Basketball Obliterates USF, 97-51

While the forecast calls for heavy snow tomorrow, it was raining threes all night long Wednesday evening inside Gampel Pavilion as the UConn Huskies slaughtered the USF Bulls, 97-51.

It was the most points the Huskies scored in a conference game and the largest margin of victory.

The Huskies also hit a school-record 16 three-pointers, with Jalen Adams, Rodney Purvis, and Christian Vital all shooting over 50% from beyond the arc. Purvis finished with 23 points on 5-of-8 shooting.

UConn jumped out to a 17-1 lead to start and completely overwhelmed the Bulls.

Despite such a hot start, UConn fell back down to Earth as the half wore on and let USF claw its way back in. The Huskies’ 20-point lead dissolved to just six after a pair of free throws by Geno Thorpe.

The Bulls continued to hang around, hitting a three with just 27 seconds left in the half to cut the deficit to seven. But Rodney Purvis answered back with a three of his own in the final seconds to push the lead back to 10 going into the break.

The Huskies wouldn’t look back.

UConn quickly put USF away with an onslaught of threes over the course of a 25-2 run. After a dunk by Amida Brimah to open the second period, the Huskies next six baskets were from behind the arc.

During this stretch, Jalen Adams caught fire as he hit four straight three-pointers. He finished the night 6-of-8 from three, finishing with 18 points while also dishing out 10 assists.

He wasn’t the only one dishing, however. UConn had one of its best passing games of the season, handing out 28 assists, the Huskies’ highest total ever in the conference schedule.

After a limited return to action last game, Steven Enoch played his first full game back from a foot injury and let everybody know of his return. The sophomore scored was a perfect 6-of-6 from the field as he scored 15 points off the bench.

With the game well in-hand, walk-on Mike Noyes got in for six minutes and even scored on a pull-up jumper from the foul line.

Although USF is the worst team in the conference by a wide margin, it was very good to see UConn truly dominate the way they did tonight. Despite letting up late in the first half, the Huskies were in total control the entire night. Even when the lead grew to over 50 at one point, they kept their foot on the gas.

UConn is now one game under .500 at 11-12, with a 6-5 conference record. The Huskies have the chance to reach the mark for the first time this season at UCF on Saturday. The Huskies are 4-0 against Florida teams this season, which bodes well for their chances. Tip-off is at 6 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.