UConn men surge past Butler late for 80-70 win

Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant on Feb 11, 2026

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INDIANAPOLIS — The UConn men’s basketball team pulled away late in the second half to beat Butler, 80-70, as Solo Ball returned to form with six made 3-pointers in a full Hinkle Fieldhouse on Wednesday night.

Ball, who scored a career-high 26 points in the first matchup against the Bulldogs in Hartford, sparked a 10-0 run in the last six minutes of regulation from beyond the arc as the Huskies turned a two-point lead into 12 down the stretch. The junior finished with 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the floor and 6-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc — a season high.

Braylon Mullins, about a half hour from his home in Greenfield, Ind., gave a large group of supporters plenty to cheer about as he scored 15 points with five rebounds, two blocks and a steal in his homecoming.

Center Tarris Reed Jr. quietly threatened a triple-double as he finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks with former teammate Samson Johnson seated behind the team’s bench. Silas Demary Jr. sealed the game from beyond the arc and finished with his third double-double of the season with 11 points, 10 assists and three steals.

Responding from its loss at St. John’s on Friday, UConn — now 13-0 all time against Butler — improved to 23-2 on the year and 13-1 in Big East play. The Bulldogs fell to 13-12 and 4-10 in the league.

Mullins missed his first three shots from the field but they all resulted in second-chance points as UConn dominated on the glass and hauled in nine offensive rebounds that led to 14 second-chance points in the first half. The freshman finally got his first points back in his home state with a tip-in before drilling a 3-pointer his next time down the court, which put the Huskies up five around the 13-minute mark.

But UConn’s interior defense, exposed in Friday’s loss at St. John’s, continued to offer little resistance as Butler saw nine of its first 13 shots fall through the net. The Bulldogs, scoring 13 points off of seven UConn turnovers in the first half, went on an 11-2 run to build their lead to as many as six points before Malachi Smith hit a wide open 3-pointer to stop the bleeding.

Mullins got his second triple to fall and Jayden Ross knocked down another, off-balance to beat the shot clock and put UConn back in front. The Huskies were able to hold Butler to 3-for-8 shooting over the last five minutes of the half as the 3-pointers continued to fall, allowing them to take a 41-38 lead into the locker room.

Ball helped build some separation with a pair of early triples out of the half as UConn’s lead grew to eight with 15:50 to play.

Going back-and-forth for about five minutes, UConn’s lead started to shrink as Butler continued to challenge the interior with bigs Drayton Jones and Michael Ajayi, making it a two-point game with just under seven minutes remaining. But the Huskies answered with a 10-0 run over the next two minutes, which included Ball’s sixth 3-pointer, another from Demary along with layups from Reed and Alex Karaban, who finished with six points on six shots.

UConn only turned the ball over once in the second half and finished the game shooting 50.8% from the field and 13 for 31 (41.9%) from 3-point range. The Huskies had a 33-26 advantage on the boards.