“We usually start slow,” Maclin said. “We wanted to come out today and throw the first punch.”

“Just what a different experience it is coming in here to play DePaul, both last year and this year,” Hurley said. “… First of all, I think that’s a team that’s gonna win a lot of games in our league this year. It’s got a chance to win a lot of games here and steal some on the road. I’m just really impressed with just how hard they play and the job that Chris has done with the program in such a short period of time.”

Scoring efforts from multiple players have cut the Huskies’ lead to 10. They are playing without Maclin and Gunn. Gunn also fouled out of the game.

Down 12 with 4:47 left, the Blue Demons are going to need to play well on both ends for the remainder of the game.

Maclin fouls out with 5:04 left in the game.

Maclin has scored the last four points for the Blue Demons.

The leading scorer in the frame for the Blue Demons is Benson with four points.

Smith knocked down a 3-pointer, and Gunn and Blocker have each chipped in two points apiece.

The Huskies are up to 16 second-half paint points.

UConn is outscoring DePaul 21-11 in the second half.

DePaul second half numbers so far:

Six points on 25% shooting

Two turnovers

UConn second half numbers so far:

15 total points – 10 of those 15 in the paint

Three turnovers

Three blocks

UConn 48 – DePaul 36 11:57 remaining

Paint looks are key for the Huskies in this frame. They have scored eight of their 11 second-half points in the paint.

As for the Blue Demons, they have not scored in almost three minutes.

The Huskies have scored seven points so far in the half, with two paint looks and a 3-pointer.

Benson has scored four to counteract that. No one else has scored for the Blue Demons yet in the frame.

DePaul and UConn have each gotten a stop to start the second half.

McClure came up big for the Blue Demons late in the half. He scored six of his nine points from the 4:44 mark until the end of the half. He leads the way for the Blue Demons with nine points. Blocker made a jumper at the end of the half to put the Blue Demons only down three. He is next in scoring with seven points.

But the Blue Demons have turned the ball over nine times, and UConn has three blocks and six steals for the game.

Defensively, DePaul is playing well with five steals, two blocks and nine forced turnovers on UConn.

The Blue Demons went over three minutes without a field goal, and UConn was finding success in the paint. However, freshman Kruz McClure and Smith knocked down back-to-back jumpers. In between the jumpers? A Fabián Flores block on Reed.

During the Huskies 9-0 run, they scored four points in the paint, made one 3-pointer, and knocked down two free throws.

Gunn put an end to the run with a jumper, and DePaul will have the ball out of the timeout thanks to a forced travel on Reed.

The Blue Demons now find their lead cut to one point with 8:42 remaining in the first half.

Reed only has two points in the game so far, and has only taken two shots.

The Blue Demons are playing well on both ends of the floor. They have forced the Huskies into six turnovers. Maclin is leading the way defensively with four steals, and UConn has not scored for 2:28.

Five players have scored for DePaul so far – Maclin also leads the way on offense with four points.

Maclin gets the steal, and Blocker knocks down the 3-pointer to put the Blue Demons up two. Maclin got another steal and took it in for the layup, but UConn responded with the 3-pointer.

The Blue Demons are looking sharp on the defensive end, holding UConn to only four points in about five minutes of play.

However, the Blue Demons need to play cleaner on the offensive end – they are up to four turnovers already. On the last possession, Banks was forced to take a tough jumper due to the shot clock.

One free throw from Smith, and a Blocker lob to Benson, puts the Blue Demons up 3-0. Blocker had the steal that led to the lob.

The Blue Demons have two stops on the Huskies and look to be the first team on the board with Smith at the line for two free throws.

The game starts NOW.

The Blue Demons look for their first Big East win against a tough UConn opponent in their Big East home opener.

G Layden Blocker

G CJ Gunn

G RJ Smith

F Kaleb Banks

F NJ Benson

Smith and Banks: Can they keep the momentum they had against St. John’s? If not, who else will step up?

Defense: Can the Blue Demons get stops when needed to stay in the game if UConn’s offense catches rhythm? 

1. Limit Tarris Reed Jr. 

The Blue Demons must limit his looks in the paint. With Solo Ball out tonight, DePaul can focus the defensive attention on him. Reed is the second-leading scorer behind Ball.

2. Get Layden Blocker going 

The game against St. John’s featured offensive depth, with CJ Gunn, NJ Benson, Kaleb Banks and RJ Smith all scoring in double figures. However, Blocker finished with only four points.

In a game that will need offensive firepower to compete and win, the Blue Demons need Blocker to find a rhythm to go along with similar scoring numbers from those four players.

UConn — Solo Ball, the Huskies’ leading scorer, is OUT tonight. It looks like he is wearing a brace on his left wrist. 

DePaul — Théo Pierre-Justin (shoulder soreness) is OUT. Brandon Maclin (right shoulder) is reported as questionable on the Big East’s availability report. 

In a media availability on Friday, head coach Chris Holtmann said that both Pierre-Justin and Maclin were “dealing with soreness.” He said that Maclin “was pretty tender” after the St. John’s game, and that Pierre-Justin had “not been able to do much of anything right now.”

Maclin was warming up with a decent amount of tape on his shoulder earlier. He is out there with the team as they are doing stretches and team warmups. Per a team official, Maclin should be good to go.