Joey Calcaterra scored all 14 of his points off the bench in the second half as No. 2 UConn survived a scare from Georgetown and pulled away for an 84-73 home win on Tuesday night in Storrs, Conn.
Tristen Newton scored 17 points while Adama Sanogo poured in 14 and seven rebounds for the Huskies (13-0, 2-0 Big East), who shot 2 for 11 from the field to open the second half before recovering to keep their undefeated season alive.
Primo Spears scored 19 points and Qudus Wahab added 16 points and nine rebounds for the Hoyas (5-8, 0-2 Big East), who have lost their last 22 regular-season Big East matchups.
Despite being a 22-point underdog, the Hoyas remained step-for-step with the nation’s No. 2 team and led by as many as seven in the second half before the Huskies used their depth to pull away down the stretch.
Trailing 47-40 at the half, the Hoyas stormed out of the locker room on a 14-2 run that featured an alley-oop dunk by Akok Akok and a technical foul on UConn coach Dan Hurley for arguing an offensive three-second call on Sanogo.
It was the second technical foul issued to the Huskies after Andre Jackson Jr. was whistled for taunting the Georgetown bench after his 3-pointer in the first half.
The Hoyas’ lead ballooned to 60-53 with 11:50 left before UConn’s bench stepped up in relief of the Huskies’ laboring starters.
Calcaterra and Hassan Diarra combined for 13 points throughout a 15-2 burst that put UConn ahead 68-62, capped by Calcaterra’s transition 3 from the left wing. That drew a roar from a rejuvenated UConn crowd as Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing called timeout with 8:16 left in the game.
Georgetown went cold following a 9-for-13 start from the field in the second half and went more than six minutes without a field goal as UConn outscored the Hoyas 31-13 in the game’s final 11 minutes.
The Huskies scored 21 of their 23 bench points in the second half and held a 24-6 advantage in assists. Georgetown outrebounded UConn 40-28 but committed seven more turnovers than the Huskies and missed seven free throws in the second half.
UConn finished the first period with nine 3-pointers, including four in the half’s final five minutes, from five different players. The Hoyas canned just two 3-pointers but shot 53.3 percent (16 for 30) from the field and outrebounded the Huskies 18-10 in the first half.
–Field Level Media