NEW YORK (AP) — Braylon Mullins scored 15 of his 21 points in the first half, Jayden Ross hit a couple of momentum-stunting 3-pointers in the second, and sixth-ranked UConn defeated Georgetown 67-51 on Friday night to set up a showdown of the top two seeds in the Big East Tournament final.
The second-seeded Huskies (29-4) will face regular-season conference champion and 13th-ranked St. John’s in the title game Saturday night after the Red Storm beat Seton Hall 78-68 in the other semifinal.
Like St. John’s, UConn has yet to trail in either of its first two games this week at Madison Square Garden. Mullins scored five of the team’s first seven points to go up 7-0, and the closest 11th-seeded Georgetown (16-18) got after that was down three at the 7 1/2-minute mark.
UConn led by 11 at halftime, despite not attempting a free throw to that point, and finished with assists on 21 of its 28 field goals. Without leading scorer KJ Lewis, who was ruled out for the season with a left ankle injury, the Hoyas were ultimately overmatched by a stacked opponent they played tight in January and again in February.
Although not as dominant as in a quarterfinal rout of Xavier, coach Dan Hurley’s team has responded as he had hoped from what he called a “choke job” loss last weekend at Marquette that dropped UConn two spots in the AP Top 25.
That defeat and the “brutal film session” that Hurley said followed might turn out to be an important learning moment for the Huskies — if they keep this level of play going and make another lengthy NCAA Tournament run two years since the program won the second of back-to-back national championships.
Up next
A rubber match for the conference’s top two teams after they split the two-game season series. UConn won the second meeting on Feb. 25 by 32 points.
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