STORRS – A career evening by Alex Karaban and double-double courtesy of Liam McNeeley And Tarris Reed Jr. helped the No. 3 UConn men's basketball team (1-0) to a 92-56 victory over Sacred Heart (0-2) on Wednesday night at a sold-out Gampel Pavilion. The contest marked UConn's season opener as Connecticut unveiled the 2024 National Championship banner before the game in a ceremony presented by Keybank.

Karaban (Southborough, Mass.) appeared every bit equal to his preseason All-America status on Wednesday as he dropped 20 points and set a career-high seven blocks, seven assists and six rebounds. He shot an efficient 7 of 9 from the floor, 5 of 7 from deep and posted a +30 in 31 minutes of play. According to ESPN Stats & Info, Karaban became the first player since 2003 with 20 points, seven assists and seven blocks in a game.

McNeeley (Richardson, Texas) dropped 18 points and 10 rebounds in his UConn debut, becoming the first Husky freshman since Emeka Okafor in 2001 to open his career with a double-double. Reed (St. Louis, Missouri) scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in his UConn debut, adding two blocks and two steals. The transfer from Michigan became the first Husky to debut with a double-double since Shonn Miller in 2015.

Overall, the Huskies shot 51.6 percent and provided 25 assists Dan Hurley'S typical ball movement offensive from the jump. Solo ball was the fourth Husky to score in double figures with a career-high 16 points, including four 3-pointers. A total of nine Huskies made it onto the scoresheet and eleven saw action. For Sacred Heart, Amiri Stewart led the way with 13 points.

How it happened

The Huskies came out determined and scored the first seven points of the game. Later in the opening stanza, Ball and Karaban extended the lead back to seven, 18-11, on back-to-back three-pointers by Ball and Karaban at 12:30.

With 6:33 minutes left in the first game, McNeeley hit a 3-pointer from the wing to extend the lead to double digits for the first time at 30-20. The Huskies finished the half 11-2 and went into halftime with their largest lead of the day at 46-31.

The Huskies had more of the same early in the second half, and a 3-pointer from Ball increased the lead to 57-33 at 14:49. Connecticut pushed its lead past 30 for the first time when McNeeley hit a 3-pointer at 7:39, giving it a 74-42 lead and triggering a Pioneer timeout.

The Huskies continued to keep the pressure on and displayed dominant defense in the second half, with the Pioneers shooting 25.0 percent (8-32) from the floor after halftime. In the final minutes of the regular freshmen Ahmad Nowell And Isaiah Abraham scored their first career baskets as UConn completed the 36-point victory.

In the numbers

• UConn went 32 of 62 (51.6 percent) from the floor and was 13 of 31 (41.9 percent) from 3-point range
• Conversely, the Huskies held the Pioneers to 33.9 percent from the floor and 40.0 percent from distance
• UConn finished the game with a 47-25 lead, including a 14-6 advantage in offensive rebounds
• The Huskies had a 13-2 advantage in blocked shots, led by Karaban's seven and two apiece Samson Johnson and Reed
• UConn scored 1.31 points per possession and held Sacred Heart to 0.77
• Reed, Hassan Diarra and Johnson each had two of UConn's 10 steals

News and notes

• UConn improves to 8-0 all-time against Sacred Heart and 92-30 all-time in season openers
• Hurley is a perfect 7-0 in the opening games at UConn
• Connecticut has now won 28 straight home games against non-conference opponents and 21 straight home games overall
• The Huskies have won 28 of their last 29 games in Gampel and Hurley improves to 47-6 at UConn's home stadium on campus
• Karaban set his career-high with five blocks in the first half and finished the season with seven, setting a new personal best
• The seven blocks for Karaban were the most for a Husky in memory Donovan Clingan hit eight in the NCAA tournament against Northwestern
• Karaban also set a new career high with seven assists – only the second time in 79 career games that he led the Huskies in assists
• The Huskies finished with 13 blocks after reaching double-digit rejections twice a season ago

Next

The Huskies make their debut at the XL Center on Saturday, November 9th when New Hampshire visits Hartford at 8 p.m. on FS2.