No. 23 UConn downs Wake Forest
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Ryan Boatright had 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists as No. 23 Connecticut took a 77-71 win over Wake Forest in the first round of the Paradise Jam.
Shabazz Napier also had 16 points for the Huskies (3-0), who will take on Quinnipiac in the second round on Saturday. Enosch Wolf posted 12 points and seven rebounds in the win.
Codi Miller-McIntyre had 21 points, C.J. Harris added 17 points and Travis McKie gave 16 points and eight rebounds for the Demon Deacons (1-1), who had opened their season with a win against Radford last Friday.
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"Shabazz finally showed up for us those last (10) minutes," UConn head coach Kevin Ollie said.
Wake Forest had trailed by six about five minutes into the second half, but a 10-0 run capped on 3-pointers from McKie and Arnaud William Adala Moto gave the Deacons a 50-46 lead with 12 minutes to play.
However, the Huskies answered with a 9-0 run a few minutes later to take a lead they never relinquished. Napier capped the burst with a 3-point play and a 58-52 lead with under eight minutes to play.
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A few minutes later, McKie hit one of two from the line and later buried a 3- pointer to cut the Deacons' deficit to 73-69 with under a minute to play.
The Huskies ran the clock down to 28 seconds before Napier was fouled and he hit both of his attempts for a 75-69 lead. McKie followed with a layup, but Napier hit two from the line with six seconds left to put the game away.
It took a little bit for the offense to get started in the game, but an 8-0 run by the Huskies saw the team take a 13-6 lead off a Niels Giffey tip-in with 11 1/2 minutes left.
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An 8-2 run later in the half by the Deacons saw the team take a 25-22 lead when Miller-McIntyre hit a jumper with 5 1/2 minutes to play.
DeAndre Daniels, though, hit a 3-pointer a few minutes later to give Connecticut the lead back and the team took a 36-32 advantage into the halftime break.
Game Notes
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This was the third time these two schools met and the Huskies have won two ... Connecticut shot 47.2 percent from the floor and 24-of-30 from the free throw line ... Wake Forest made 49.1 percent of its floor shots, but just 12-of-22 from the stripe.