HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — DeAndre Daniels had 21 points and eight rebounds to help No. 13 Connecticut remain undefeated with a 76-66 win over Loyola, Md., on Tuesday night.
Ryan Boatright added 13 points and eight boards for the Huskies (7-0) and Lasan Kromah, a transfer from George Washington, chipped in a season-high 12 points.
Dylon Cormier had 23 points for Loyola (4-1). The senior guard had been averaging just under 30 points per game.
A 3-pointer by Cormier early in the second half cut what had been a 15-point UConn lead to 38-35.
Kromah gave The Huskies some breathing room, hitting a 3-pointer, then stealing the ball and going in for a layup that put the Huskies up 61-50. A 3-pointer by Daniels closed the 10-2 run and gave UConn a 14-point lead.
The Greyhounds cut the lead to nine late, but couldn’t get closer.
Both teams got off to slow starts, shooting a combined 3 of 11 from the field in the first 4 minutes, leaving the game tied at 4-4 going into the first media timeout.
Niels Giffey hit a 3-pointer and dunked the ball the next two times down the court, sparking a 9-0 run that gave UConn a 15-6 lead.
Connecticut extended the run to 17-3 before Loyola’s R.J. Williams banked in a straight-on 3-pointer to cut the lead to 23-12. Giffey (9) Kromah (5) came off the bench to account for 14 points before halftime.
The Greyhounds closed the first half on a 7-0 run, helped by a pair of turnovers by UConn’s Phil Nolan. A driving layup by Cormier cut the lead to 34-26 at the break. He hit another layup to open the second half, cutting the deficit to six.
Cormier, who had eight points in the first half, had 13 more in the first six minutes of the second half. He didn’t score again until hitting a pair of foul shots with 1:23 left that cut the UConn lead to nine.
But Daniels had 18 of his points in the second half.
Connecticut was coming off two wins by a total of three points in the 2K Sports Classic. The Huskies beat Boston College 72-70 and won the championship over Indiana 59-58.
The wins pushed the Huskies from No. 18 to No. 13 in this week’s AP poll.
Coach Kevin Ollie had warned the team not to overlook the Greyhounds in what set up to be a trap game, with No. 15 Florida looming as the Huskies’ next opponent.
The Huskies were outrebounded by the Greyhounds 40-39.
Connecticut, which led the nation in blocked shots every year between 2002 and 2009, had 11 against Loyola. Daniels and freshman Amida Brimah each had three. The Huskies’ 7-foot freshman center has 24 this season.
Loyola, under coach G.G. Smith, the sun of Texas Tech’s Tubby Smith, is coming off a 23-12 season. They jumped this season from the MAAC to the Patriot League and opened the season with four straight wins. Those included an 89-83 overtime win against Maryland-Baltimore County a week ago, a game in which they trailed by 17 points with less than 10 minutes to play. Their other three wins came against Binghamton, Cornell (also in overtime) and Fairfield.
This was their first time facing Connecticut.
Connecticut hasn’t lost a nonconference game at home to an unranked opponent since falling to Indiana, 77-73 in Hartford in January, 2007.
Smith was coaching his first game since the birth of his first son. Ross Patrick Smith was born on Nov. 21.
