No. 11 UConn opens up Big East play with OT win over Xavier

UConn had a decent shot to win the game in regulation with this last-second three-point attempt from Solo Ball.

While Ball missed that shot attempt, it was a career night for the sophomore. Ball had a career-high 22 points to lead the Huskies while Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr. each put up 20 points.

This sequence of events, which ended with Karaban getting the putback under the basket, put the Huskies up 91-84 and essentially sealed the victory with 27.9 seconds remaining.

Xavier got a pair of 20-point performances from starter Ryan Conwell (23 points, 9-of-13) and Dante Maddox Jr. (22 points, four rebounds) off the bench.

UConn shot 47.8 percent from the floor and only 8-of-24 (33.3 percent) from long range. Impressively, the Huskies had 10 blocks and nearly doubled Xavier in the paint (50-28). 

The struggle for UConn was slowing the Musketeers down. Xavier shot 50 percent from the field and an efficient 13-of-24 (54.2 percent) from behind the arc.

While Wednesday night marked a fifth straight win for UConn after three consecutive losses, the defensive issues lingered. In each of those losses, UConn allowed Memphis (54.5 percent) and Colorado (56.3 percent) to convert at a high rate from three-point range while Dayton shot 50 percent overall.

UConn may have held off Xavier, but its defense has to get more stops throughout Big East play to bail the offense out when the shots are not falling. 

UConn (9-3, 1-0 Big East) heads into a pair of road games against Butler on Saturday and DePaul on New Year's Day.

After back-to-back losses to then-No. 22 Cincinnati and No. 11 UConn, the road does not get any easier for Xavier (8-4, 0-1 Big East) with a home game against No. 9 Marquette on Saturday.