HARTFORD, Conn. – Kemba Walker's 20 points and a suffocating defense led No. 4 Connecticut to an overwhelming 81-52 victory over Harvard on Wednesday night, hiking the Huskies' record to 10-0.
It was the ninth straight game in which Walker, the nation's second-leading scorer, has scored 20 or more points for UConn, which also had Jeremy Lamb (11) and Alex Oriakhi (10) in double figures.
The Huskies (10-0) held the Crimson without a field goalfor the opening 8:07, taking a 13-2 lead and they never looked back as their man-to-man defense took Harvard out of sync, especially from 3-point range.
The Crimson (7-3) shot 23.3 percent in the first half, including 1 of 15 from behind the arc, as UConn stretched its commanding lead to 48-21 at halftime. The Crimson, who never got closer than 19 points, shot 30 percent overall and finished 4 of 31 on 3s.
Keith Wright topped Harvard with 18 points, while Laurent Rivard had 12 and Brandyn Curry 10 . Bottled up by UConn's double-teams in the first half, Wright finally managed to find some open shots in the second half.
The Crimson cut the lead to 19 points with 10:28 remaining, but, led by Walker, UConn responded with an 11-2 run to make it 74-46 and remove all doubt about the outcome.
Harvard was shooting 39 percent from 3-point range coming into the game.
,he game was the final tuneup for Connecticut before it begins its Big East Conference schedule on Monday at No. 6 Pittsburgh. The Huskies, picked to finish 10th in the league by a preseason vote of the Big East coaches, are trying to bounce back from an 18-16 season which ended in the second round of the NIT.
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