STORRS, Conn. — Joey Calcaterra sparked a 23-5 second-half run, scoring 14 points, and No. 2 UConn defeated a game Georgetown squad, 84-73, at Gampel Pavilion on Tuesday night.
UConn stayed perfect at 13-0 on the season with the win and earned its second straight victory to open Big East play.
Georgetown fell to 5-8, 0-2 in the Big East with the loss.
Calcaterra caught fire midway through the second half, scoring 14 points during the Huskies’ game-changing run and coming up with several highlight-reel plays.
First it was his ridiculous behind-the-back pass to Donovan Clingan for a slam, which gave the Huskies a 62-60 lead with 9:38 to go.
Then it was a 3-pointer from what seemed like East Windsor, all part of an unblinking 12-0 Huskies run that saw them go from 60-53 down to 70-65 up in a matter of minutes.
A packed Gampel crowd erupted in deafening screams of “Yeah!” “Yeah!” and “Yeah!” after each one, almost like it was a Daniel Bryan WWE match.
Georgetown was led by Primo Spears, who scored 19 points on 8-of-17 shooting.
Spears silenced the crowd on several occasions with big-time buckets in the first half and early in the second. He drained a mid-range jumper with 3:50 left in the first half, cutting UConn’s lead to 35-33 and glaring over at the Huskies’ bench.
In the second half, Spears danced around the perimeter, picking his spot and draining a jumper from the elbow and telling the UConn crowd to quiet down.
Akok Akok, in his first season at Georgetown after transferring from UConn, scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds.
UConn showed off its offensive balance once again, with four players scoring in double figures.
Tristen Newton led the way for the Huskies with 17 points.
Jordan Hawkins had 15 points on 5-for-15 shooting, while Calcaterra and Adama Sanogo each had 14.
The Huskies led 47-40 at the break.
UConn shot a blistering 55% from the field (16-29) and 56.7% from 3-point range in the first half (9 for 16).
Georgetown was just 2 of 5 from deep in the opening 20 minutes.
UConn has a short break for the holidays and next faces Villanova at the XL Center on Wednesday, Dec. 28 at 6:30 p.m.
