No. 10 UConn 82, Notre Dame 70: Stanley Robinson Trumps Luke Harangody

Read more at our Fighting Irish blog, Rakes of Mallow.

January 2, 2010 - Hartford, CT (Sports Network) - Stanley Robinson scored a team-high 22 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, as 10th-ranked Connecticut earned an 82-70 win over Notre Dame in a Big East showdown at XL Center.

Jerome Dyson turned in a solid performance with 20 points and 10 assists, while Gavin Edwards finished with 13 points for Connecticut (10-3, 1-1 Big East), which opened Big East play with a 71-69 loss at Cincinnati on Wednesday. The Huskies have won four of their last five overall. Kemba Walker had 11 points and 10 assists, but committed six turnovers.

Luke Harangody led all scorers with 31 points to go along with nine boards for Notre Dame (12-3, 1-1), which had a three-game winning streak snapped. Ben Hansbrough and Tyrone Nash ended with 14 and 11 points, respectively.

UConn took a 34-32 lead into the second half and the game stayed tight until the Huskies started to pull away with nearly 7 1/2 minutes left.

Robinson’s layup put UConn ahead by five, 61-56, and ignited a 7-0 run. The Huskies’ lead was 72-62 with just over 2 1/2 minutes to play after another Robinson layup, and the Irish were unable to threaten the outcome in the remaining time.

Notre Dame maintained a slim lead in the early going, but UConn fought back to grab a 16-15 edge on Robinson’s fastbreak layup near the midway point.

Both teams took turns exchanging the lead throughout the rest of the first half, and Robinson’s layup in the final minute helped the Huskies take a two- point edge at the break.

UConn improved to 16-6 in the all-time series with Notre Dame thanks to wins in each of the last four matchups. The Huskies have now won seven of eight meetings in Hartford, including the last five...UConn improved to 9-0 at home this season.