Box Score

STORRS, Conn. (11/14/13) – The UConn Huskies used a 35-9 run to close the first half en route to topping the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team 101-55 Thursday night at the Gampel Pavilion as part of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting the Wound Warrior Project.

The Titans led 17-13 with 12:03 left in the first half before UConn responded with a 21-2 run over the next seven minutes to take a 34-19 lead. Ugochukwu Njoku then responded with a dunk and a free throw to trim the lead to 13, before the Huskies closed the half witha 13-4 run, including a three-pointer at the horn from Ryan Boatright, to take a 48-26 lead into the locker room.

Freshman guard Matthew Grant led Detroit with a career-high 15 points, while junior forward Juwan Howard, Jr. added 14 points - 10 in the first half – with six rebounds. Senior Evan Bruinsma led the Titans with a team-high eight rebounds, while pitching in five points and two assists. Junior forward Patrick Onwenu was also productive off the bench with five points and seven rebounds.

No. 18/19 UConn (3-0) opened the game with a 6-2 run, off a pair of three-pointers from Omar Calhoun, before Howard scored six-straight points, followed by a three-pointer from Grant to give Detroit an 11-6 lead with 15:08 left. Howard scored the first eight points for the Titans for the third-straight game. After a basket from Boatright made the score 11-8, Grant responded with his second trifecta of the half to give the Titans their largest lead of the game 14-8 with 13:41 left. A 5-0 Huskies run then trimmed Detroit's lead to 14-13 with just less than 13 minutes remaining before Grant made three-straight free throws, after being fouled in the act of shooting, to put the Titans up 17-13.

Howard finished with 10 points in the first half, while Grant added nine. After starting the game 6-of-10 from the field, including 2-of-3 from downtown the Titans finished the half 3-of-22 from the floor and 0-of-6 from deep to shoot 28.1 percent, while UConn shot 51.7 percent, including 63.6 percent from beyond the arc.

The Titans opened the second half with a couple of quick layups from Carlton Brundidge and Howard to spark what looked like a possible comeback, before UConn answered back with a 27-7 run to extend its lead to 77-37 with 11:26 left. Both teams then exchanged baskets for the remaining 10 minutes, before UConn subs made some extra baskets down the stretch to finish the game with the largest lead 101-55.

Detroit (1-2) finished shooting 30.4 percent (21-of-69) overall, including 13 percent (3-of-23) from downtown, while UConn shot 57.4 percent (35-of-61) overall, including 57.9 percent (11-of-19) from beyond the arc. The Titans were held to just 34 rebounds and seven assists, while UConn grabbed 49 boards and dished out 21 assists.

Detroit will stay on the road when the Titans visit James Madison on Tuesday (Nov. 19) at the Convention Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET with live stats and video provided on the Titans Gameday Central.

GAME NOTES: The 101 points allowed were the most given up by the Titans since giving up 108 at Wisconsin in 1993 … Matthew Grant became the second freshman this year to score in double figures in back-to-back games (Jarod Williams scored in double figures in the first two) … The 46 point loss is the largest in school history, the previous record was 43 in a 110-67 loss against Western Michigan in 1963 … Juwan Howard, Jr. has scored the first eight points for the Titans in all three games this season.