Fairfield Fairfield/Connecticut UConn Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

The Huskies (No. 12 ESPN/USA Today, No. 11 AP), coming off a 10-day break, ran to a 102-66 victory over Fairfield on Friday night and extended their winning streak to nine games.

Fairfield, also coming off a 10-day layoff, was unable to keep pace with the athletic Huskies and saw its two-game winning streak snapped.

"We played like a team that hadn't played in a long time," Fairfield coach Tim O'Toole said. "We looked sluggish. You've got to make plays against really, really good teams like UConn. You can't have turnovers against a team as good as UConn. We had 28 and that sealed our fate."

Coach Jim Calhoun said the Huskies had no problem remembering how to run the offense. Calhoun was concerned about the defense.

"We got turnovers because of our athleticism, but we forgot how to play the defense we played against Massachusetts and Arizona," Calhoun said. "I am impressed, at times, with how easily we can score."

UConn (9-1) never trailed, taking a 9-2 lead as Albert Mouring, Caron Butler, Edmund Saunders and Taliek Brown all had points.

With the score at 18-11, Johnny Selvie took over, scoring seven of UConn's next 13 UConn points, including a spectacular dunk, as the Huskies built a 31-13 lead and a 48-31 advantage at the half.

Mouring got eight of his game-high 22 points in the opening minutes of the second half as UConn took a 58-33 lead.

Fairfield (3-6) closed within 15 points, 74-59, with 9:20 left on a 3-pointer by Jermaine Clark. But Saunders had a basket and two free throws, and Mouring scored on a three-point play to make it 81-59. Fairfield never got within 20 points the rest of the way.

Butler had 16 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds for UConn.

"He's terrific with the ball in the open court," Calhoun said

"I'm still growing as a player right now," Butler said. "I think I can perform much better. I'm just trying to prove to everybody what I can do out there."

In addition to forcing the 28 turnovers, UConn had a Calhoun-era record 31 assists. The previous mark was 30 against Winthrop in Jan. 1994.

Selvie finished with 21 points and UConn received 38 points from its bench.

"We've got five on the bench who could start for a good Division I team," Selvie said. "We all just share the ball."

Saunders also had 16 points for UConn, which shot 63.6 percent from the field (42-for-66).

Nick Delfico had 16 points to lead Fairfield. Rob Thomson had 10 points and nine rebounds.

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Men's College Basketball Scoreboard

Fairfield Clubhouse

Connecticut Clubhouse

AUDIO/VIDEO
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UConn's Johnnie Selvie throws down the monster jam then ends up on the floor.
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RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1

UConn's Albert Mouring does all the work and gives Edmund Saunders all the credit.
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RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1

Farifield's Chris Rivers takes the full-court pass then slams it home.
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RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1