HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun opened the game with a technical foul and West Virginia’s Bob Huggins ended it with two.
Kemba Walker scored 21 points, including three free throws after Huggins’ last-minute technicals, to lead UConn over the eighth-ranked Mountaineers 73-62 on Monday night, the Huskies’ third win this season over a top 10 team.
Jerome Dyson added 17 points and Stanley Robinson had 15 points and 13 rebounds for UConn (17-11, 7-8 Big East), which has won three straight to keep its NCAA tournament hopes alive.
“That was an incredibly physical game, as most Big East games are,” Calhoun said. “But we stuck in the fight and made some big plays and were able to win the game.”
The Huskies are 3-1 since Calhoun returned from a medical leave of absence. Connecticut was 3-4 during the 23 days he was gone.
Devin Ebanks had 17 points and nine rebounds to lead West Virginia (21-6, 10-5), which had to finish the game without Huggins, who was ejected in the final minute.
Calhoun called the game, in which 46 personal fouls were called, a “street fight.”
UConn was 30 of 42 from the free throw line, including a 14 of 17 effort by Walker.
West Virginia was 12 of 23 from the free throw line and hit just four of 18 shots from 3-point range.
“We shot four free throws in the first half and two of those were technicals,” Huggins said, referring to the technical called against Calhoun 47 seconds into the game. “We weren’t trying to foul. They shoot 42, we shoot 23. You can’t win.”
UConn led by as many as 15 points in the first half, and by nine at halftime after outrebounding the Mountaineers 21-11.
No. 1 Kansas 81, Oklahoma 68
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Xavier Henry scored 18 of his 23 points in the first half and No. 1 Kansas clinched at least a share of its sixth straight Big 12 regular season title with an 81-68 victory over Oklahoma on Monday night.
The Jayhawks (27-1, 13-0) overwhelmed Oklahoma (13-14, 4-9) from the start, building a 17-point lead in the first half and shooting 51 percent overall to extend the Sooners’ losing streak in Lawrence to 10 games.
Sherron Collins added 17 points and joined fellow senior Brady Morningstar for their 124th win together, most all-time in Kansas history. The Jayhawks have won 13 straight games for their best start since opening 34-1 in 1996-97 and have the nation’s longest home winning streak at 58 games.
Tommy Mason-Griffin led the Sooners with 17 points and Andrew Fitzgerald had 16.
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