No. 6 UConn blasts Xavier in Big East tourney romp

NEW YORK -- Solo Ball scored 19 points as No. 6 UConn led by double digits most of the way and cruised to a wire-to-wire 93-68 rout of 10th-seeded Xavier in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament on Thursday night.

The second-seeded Huskies (28-4) led by double digits for the final 28:35 and advanced to the semifinals for the sixth straight season since rejoining the Big East for the 2020-2021 season. UConn will face Villanova or Georgetown on Friday.

Ball shot 34.1% (15 of 44) in his final five regular season games and made 5 of 12 shots, including four 3s.

Tarris Reed collected 17 points and a season-high 14 rebounds for his 10th double-double this season. Reed had a trio of dunks as part of an 8-of-12 showing from the floor and his effort helped the Huskies get a 40-28 rebounding edge.

Alex Karaban bounced back from a two-point showing in the Huskies' six-point loss at Marquette on Saturday and added 15 on 5-of-10 shooting from the floor.

UConn shot 57.4% and made 12 of 32 3s after missing 21 of 24 triples in the regular season finale. The Huskies also thrived at the rim as they went 13 of 18 on layups and converted all six of their dunk attempts while finishing with 22 second-chance points.

Filip Borovicanin led Xavier with a career-high 22 points, but the Musketeers lost the three meetings with UConn by a combined 80 points. Roddie Anderson III added 15 and Tre Carroll struggled and shot 2 of 10 in a 12-point showing.

Xavier also saw the duo of Malik Messina-Moore and Jovan Milcevic struggle all night. Messina-Moore was held to five points on 1-of-7 shooting and Milecevic finished with six on 2 of 9.

Xavier shot 37.3%, was 9 of 28 from behind the arc and missed 12 of its 33 free throw attempts.

Karaban's open corner 3 following an offensive rebound put the Huskies up 22-10 with 12:28 remaining. The Huskies ripped off a 12-1 run by converting two dunks and three layups and another Karaban hoop extended the lead to 39-19 with 5:03 left.

UConn finished the half with a 50-30 lead after Ball hit three free throws with 35 seconds left.

Xavier scored the first seven points of the second half and cut the lead to 50-37 on two free throws by Borovicanin with 16:59 left.

UConn gradually pulled away again and took a 59-41 lead when Reed and Jayden Ross converted dunks in a span of 32 seconds. The Huskies regained their 20-point lead when Ross got a corner 3 to roll in with 8:50 left and took an 80-55 lead with 5 1/2 minutes to go when Reed had a one-handed slam and Ball hit a corner 3.

--Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media