DePaul upset bid falls short
HARTFORD, Conn. -- Connecticut extended its winning streak with another close one.
Sophomore center Hasheem Thabeet had 16 points, 13 rebounds and 8 blocked shots, and the 13th-ranked Huskies won their 10th straight, rallying from a 13-point deficit in the second half to beat DePaul 65-60 on Tuesday night.
Eight of the wins in the streak have been by single digits, including Saturday's 74-73 overtime victory at South Florida.
"I would like to get some more blowouts and stop being so nerve-wracking all the time," Huskies guard A.J. Price. "But as long as we keep winning, I'm fine by that."
Craig Austrie had 14 points, and Jeff Adrien added 12 points and 11 rebounds for UConn (21-5, 10-3 Big East).
Draelon Burns had 20 points for DePaul (10-15, 5-8), which has lost six of seven, while Will Walker added 10 points.
The Huskies outscored the Blue Demons 23-7 over the last 10:30 of the game, and held them to 3 field goals during that stretch.
"We just wouldn't let them score," UConn coach Jim Calhoun said.
Connecticut, which came into the game leading the nation in blocked shots with 217, finished with 15.
Thabeet had 3 during the Huskies' final push.
"I thought that one down the stretch might have been goaltending, but 1 basket does not determine the game," DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright said. "He is such a factor. I only wish our post players might have made a shot or two. I think we could have stopped the run."
Burns had 10 points in DePaul's 14-0 run to open the second half that turned a 1-point deficit into a 42-29 lead.
Calhoun was forced to use two timeouts during the run, as the Huskies missed their first five shots.
UConn trailed 53-40 with just over 10 minutes to play, then went on an 8-0 run.
The Huskies trailed 57-50 with five minutes to play, before Austrie hit a 3-pointer, then a drove for a layup. A block by Thabeet led to a jumper by Price that tied the game at 57-57 with 4:06 left.
After Burns hit 1 of 2 free throws, Thabeet made a spinning layup with 3:31 left to give UConn a 59-58 lead, its first of the second half.
Adrien and Burns exchanged baskets but Burns missed a 3-point attempt that would have given DePaul the lead with under a minute left.
Austrie hit 2 free throws to give UConn a 63-60 lead. Walker then missed a 3-pointer on the other end, and Robinson iced the game with 2 foul shots.
"We were down and desperate," said Austrie, who hit the game-winning shot against South Florida with less than a second to play. "Time was running out. We had to do something, really get something going, so we turned something on and played with a lot of heart the last couple minutes."