Karaban's 26 points lead No. 4 UConn over Georgetown

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Alex Karaban tied a career high with 26 points and No. 4 UConn made its case to be considered the nation’s top team with an 80-67 win over Georgetown on Sunday.

Cam Spencer added 20 points for the Huskies (15-2, 5-1 Big East) who won their fifth straight game, all without starting center Donovan Clingan, who remained sidelined with a right foot injury. Stephon Castle added 14 points.

Supreme Cook had 18 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Hoyas (8-9, 1-5). Jayden Epps added 16 points and Dontrez Styles added 11.

UConn opened the game on a 6-2 run, with 3-pointers from Spencer and Karaban, a harbinger of things to come.

But without Clingan, UConn had a tough time containing Cook. The Fairfield transfer hit his first four shots and scored Georgetown’s first 10 points keeping the Hoyas in the game early.

Cook had 16 points and 10 rebounds by halftime, but fouled out with more than six minutes left in the game.

Karaban had five of his six 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes. His fourth of the game gave the Huskies their first double-digit lead at 32-22 and the Huskies led 40-31 at halftime.

The Hoyas got within six points in the second half, but could get no closer.

The Huskies shot 51 percent from the floor and made 13 of their 24 shots from behind the arc.

BIG PICTURE

Georgetown: The Hoyas have lost the past seven meetings with UConn and now trail the series with the Huskies 37-36.

UConn: With the three teams above the Huskies losing this week (Purdue, Houston and Kansas), the defending national champions have a chance to be No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll on Monday.

UP NEXT

Georgetown: travels to Cincinnati to take on Xavier on Friday.

UConn: returns to campus to host Creighton on Wednesday.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball