Fifth-ranked UConn dominates No. 9 North Carolina 87-76 at the Jimmy V Classic behind an inspired 23 point performance from transfer shooting guard Cam Spencer

A long running joke in UConn’s Twitter fandom is a light-hearted 'criticism' of head coach Dan Hurley: He can never win a close game. 

It’s tongue-in-cheek, but it's also meant to be taken literally - Hurley and the Huskies rarely lose these days and when they win, they do so by double digits.

It had been 15 games since the Huskies had won a game in the single digits. Along that road, they won the school's fifth national title. The Tar Heels of North Carolina were hoping to give the Huskies a battle. But tonight at the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden, that streak did not come to an end. 

Once again, Dan Hurley failed to win a close game as his fifth-ranked Huskies dominated late over a tired No. 9 North Carolina squad taking a 87-76 victory.

They were led by Rutgers transfer Cam Spencer, who put up a 26 point game that was his best in a UConn uniform. He was joined by three other players who hit double-digits: Alex Karaban, Tristen Newton, and freshman Solo Ball.

By contrast, North Carolina got 19 second half points from RJ Davis - who totaled 26 on the night - but the Tar Heels shot under 40 percent from the field in the final half to doom them against a Huskies team that wears opponents down. Harrison Ingram was also a strong contributor - putting up a 20/4/5 slash line.

After struggling to find buckets inside in their last game - a loss to Kansas - the Huskies found people cutting more often in this matchup. Sophomore Alex Karaban put home a layup, then Spencer cleaned up a Connecticut defensive rebound to take a 7-6 lead. Bacot took it back quick for the Heels.

A Donovan Clingan block saw the Bristol, Connecticut-born giant scamper up the court, catching an over-the-shoulder pass and putting it away to take a 9-8 lead at the under-16 minute media timeout.

Spencer cut to the hoop out of that timeout to extend the UConn lead to three points. He followed that up in the next possession by sinking two of three foul shots. North Carolina hadn’t let things get away from them - with players like Notre Dame transfer Cormac Ryan and sophomore Seth Trimble hitting key shots.

Tristen Newton, UConn’s severely underrated point guard, hit a triple and a layup in his first two shot attempts of the night.

Stephon Castle, UConn’s star freshman who missed games due to injury, made his return to the court with 12:30 left in the first half - received by thunderous applause from the UConn half of the Garden. 

Bacot’s ensuing shot was off and the Huskies went back up the court. Consecutive misses led to a foul on Diarra and a media timeout. He hit one of them to make it a 19-16 UConn lead.

Freshman Soloman ‘Solo’ Ball grabbed UConn’s first field goal out of the timeout off a turnover from North Carolina. He hit the next Connecticut basket later before Harrison Ingram responded with a triple. 

RJ Davis knocked another shot down for UNC and they drew the game within two points. A lob to junior Samson Johnson rimmed out on his dunk attempt, but the Togo native made up for it with a monster swat to send the game to the under-8 timeout at 23-21 UConn.

Bacot drew a foul and sank both shots to even the game at 23-23. Newton tried to find an open shooter and did in Karaban who put up a floater for the two-point lead. 

He later managed an and-1 layup and converted the charity shot of his own to grow the lead to 28-23. Then again he hit another jumper to own ten points by the five minute mark. Newton played the role of facilitator and finally found Johnson for a lob that he hammered home with authority and sent Huskies fans into hysterics.

All the while, the Tar Heels stayed within close points range. Ryan knocked down a layup to make it 32-29. After a Karaban missed triple, a foul led to the under-4 media timeout. Davis hit both ends of a 1-and-1 to make it 32-31. Spencer’s tre’ brought it back to a four point game. He hit another runner to extend the lead to six.

Then, in a brilliant sequence, Hasan Diarra knocked down a triple, ran back on defense, stole the ball and put back a layup to take the Huskies up ten with a minute and a half to go.

After Ingram missed a layup, Bacot committed a technical foul by getting into the lane too quickly. North Carolina coach Hubert Davis was irate, gesturing and screaming at the officials for the call. Spencer drained both free throws to put the affairs at 44-36 in favor of Connecticut.

As the seconds ticked down on the half, Diarra airballed a 3-point attempt and turned the ball over with a shot clock violation. UNC called a timeout, set up a play, and Ingram knocked down a triple to give the Tar Heels some much needed momentum despite being behind 44-39.

At the half, both teams had been shooting around 50 percent from the field, but the Huskies had been particularly below par from beyond the arc - hitting only a quarter of their 3-point attempts. UNC had hit 37 and a half percent. But UConn’s advantage was on the glass - grabbing 21 rebounds to the Tar Heels’ 14. Included in that 21 boards is seven rebounds off the offensive glass.

Carolina’s momentum from the Ingram triple carried over immediately in the second half. Bacot hit an and-1 layup right out the gate, but missed the free throw to keep it a three point game. Newton responded with a floater to calm the nerves. Karaban, who only shot 2-of-8 in the first half, knocked down a triple to give himself confidence - then grabbed a steal on the other end.

Solo Ball was fed a triple. All of a sudden, UConn was leading 52-41 before you could even blink an eye. Spencer knocked down a triple to put the Huskies up 55-43 and Ball responded to make it 58-45.

At this point, the game got chippy. After hitting that triple, Spencer chirped too much and drew a technical foul. RJ Davis hit both free throws. Then after Ball’s three, Newton picked up his third foul after getting too physical with Cormac Ryan. Davis hit the free throws again. UConn turned the ball over on an overcooked lob to Johnson. UNC missed their ensuing shot, but the ball went out off Ball at the under-16 media timeout. Still, it was 58-47 UConn.

Karaban slowly, but surely improved his shooting line with a layup to make it 60-47. Ingram responded with a layup. Spencer’s triple brought the Huskies up to their largest lead of the night so far at 13 points. Castle’s return to the game led to him stuffing Bacot and drawing a foul on the other end. He missed the first but drained the second for his first point of the night.

An Ingram layup was followed by an RJ Davis three. Then the Tar Heels stole the inbound and Davis put back a layup to cut the lead to 63-58. Hurley called timeout to subdue the crowds decked out in Carolina blue.

Connecticut got back on track when Castle drove baseline and laid it in. A Clingan block and a UNC miss led to a Davis layup. Yet again, UConn tried a lob - this time to Clingan - and it was just too high for him, leading to the under-12 timeout. UConn 65, UNC 60.

Both teams traded misses until Clingan was able to put back a layup and drew the foul before missing the and-1. A few mad scrambles followed before Karaban put away a dunk. Davis sank a 3-pointer just under the nine-minute mark to make it 69-63. Tension rose, with Hurley walking out nearly to the opposite side of the court trying to talk with the officials as the under-8 timeout was taken.

Much like the under-16 timeout this half, Karaban opened proceedings with a made shot from beyond the arc. Ball knocked down a corner triple to make it a 12 point advantage for the Huskies. Back and forth the turnovers went for about a minute until Newton laid it in.

It was becoming clear that North Carolina’s shooting was becoming a problem. They finished the second half shooting 38.9 percent from the field as Davis - the engine of UNC’s second half - began running out of gas.

The result started to look inevitable. UConn just would not stop scoring on a gassed Tar Heels team. By the time Hubert Davis called a timeout at the 4:20 mark, Madison Square Garden had truly turned into ‘Storrs South’. UConn 81, North Carolina 66.

The remainder of the game played out like a formality for the national champions. North Carolina would keep hitting shots, but it was far too late to do anything.

'We got absolutely everything we wanted to get out of [this game] when we put it on the schedule,' Hurley told reporters after the game. 'To put up that type of impressive performance [after the loss to Kansas], it speaks to these two guys [Karaban and Spencer] and it speaks to the group we have this year.'