Philadelphia's Xfinity Mobile Arena played host as the UConn Huskies punched their ticket to the Round of 32 by defeating a very frisky Furman University in the final game of the first round on the back of Tarris Reed Jr's epic performance. Alex Wilkins did what he could to keep the Paladins close in the first half against the far superior Huskies, but when he went missing in the second half, UConn's talent advantage proved to be too much to handle, even with Silas Demary Jr inactive for the game.
The Paladins did just about as good a job defensively as you could ask for against the Huskies, with the exception of one man: Tarris Reed Jr. The biggest and strongest man on the court consistently bullied his way into offensive advantages, and Furman had no individual or combination of bodies capable of stopping him.
The only players with the relative size to match up to Reed were Charles Johnston and Cooper Bowser, but neither came close to having the requisite strength necessary to deal with UConn's center. Reed was a proverbial man amongst boys, tallying 19 points on a perfect 8-8 shooting from the field, and bringing down 16 rebounds in just the first half alone. He would end the game setting his career-highs in points with 31 and rebounds with 27.
Furman was able to keep it close thanks to some hot shooting from Alex Wilkins and Tom House, who combined for five made three-pointers and 25 points in the first half. But the best player on the court was Tarris Reed Jr, and he was the biggest reason for UConn's 40-36 halftime lead.
Not many predict, and even fewer expect a team like the Furman Paladins to pull off a Cinderella-style upset against a team like UConn. For the first half, Furman looked up to the challenge and matched the output of the Huskies, even with Tarris Reed Jr's dominance. After the teams returned from the locker room to begin the second half, the Huskies finally began to pull away.
Furman rightfully allocated more attention to Reed Jr down low, sending more bodies to pack the paint so he could not feast inside as easily as he did in the first half. With extra guys coming in, Reed had his choice of open shooters at his disposal. Alex Karaban and Solo Ball finally got a couple of long-range shots to drop as they were able to create real separation for the first time.
Braylon Mullins' shot was not falling, but he made up for that with timely cuts to the rim and kept the Furman defense off balance. Along with Reed Jr and Karaban, the trio combined for 65 points, and each played an important role in holding off and eventually defeating the Furman Paladins.
UConn will battle the UCLA Bruins on Sunday in Philadelphia with a ticket to the Sweet Sixteen on the line. Tipoff is scheduled for approximately 8:45 p.m.
