UConn didn’t just beat Wagner on Monday night. It steamrolled the Seahawks, 83-41, at Gampel Pavilion and did most of the damage by turning defense into a fast-break avalanche.
The Huskies forced 26 turnovers and cashed those mistakes into 37 points, a number that tells the story of the night as well as any box score line can. UConn (3-0) was disruptive from the jump, and once it got rolling early, Wagner never found a way to slow the pace or settle the game down.
Silas Demary Jr. was at the center of it. After his standout showing in Friday’s championship rematch over Michigan, he backed it up with 18 points, four rebounds, four assists and a career-high six steals. That was just three shy of the program’s single-game record, shared by Jerome Dyson and Scott Burrell at nine.
Jayden Ross added 12 points, while Braylon Mullins reached 10 even though he shot 2-for-12 from the field and 1-for-9 from 3-point range. All five starters finished in double figures.
But the night also carried a bigger concern. Forward Nik Khamenia left with an injury midway through the first half after scoring 11 points in just seven minutes. He went down awkwardly on his left foot during a defensive possession and headed to the locker room 10 minutes into the game.
Before that, Khamenia had been the spark. He hit a pair of 3-pointers, scored eight points, and helped fuel a 14-0 start over the first five minutes as UConn combined pressure defense with active work on the offensive glass. Na’jai Hines chipped in with a pair of putbacks during that opening burst.
Khamenia later knocked down a third triple in as many tries before appearing to take an awkward step and grabbing his foot. At that point, UConn led 21-9.
The Huskies kept extending the gap from there. They scored 23 points off 17 forced turnovers in the first half and went into halftime ahead 44-18 after former Huskies center Youssouf Singare and current Huskies backup center Oskar Giltay traded layups in the final minute.
Singare started and finished with five points, three rebounds and two steals.
Hines, who had been challenged by coach Dan Hurley coming into the season, was limited to four points in the first half because of foul trouble, picking up two fouls while scoring on second-chance chances. He stayed active on the offensive glass after the break and finished with 10 points and eight rebounds, with only one of those boards coming on the defensive end.
The second half turned into more of the same. UConn pushed the lead to 38 with 14 1/2 minutes left when Demary found Mullins for a transition dunk, Mullins’ first made field goal of the game. Demary had started 0-for-8 from the field, including six missed 3s, after pouring in a team-high 23 points at TD Garden on Friday.
Later, 3-pointers from Demary, Ross and Nils Machowski, along with another Ross basket, stretched the margin to 42. Mullins then buried his first 3-pointer on his seventh try to make it 45.
UConn finished 9-for-30 from beyond the arc and 18-for-24 at the free throw line.
The Huskies now turn to Ohio State at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford on Friday night, before their first true road game of the season at No. 12 Arizona on Wednesday.
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