Dyson leads No. 12 Connecticut past William & Mary, 75-66 in season opener

No. 12 Connecticut holds off Tribe, 75-66

STORRS, Conn. — Jerome Dyson scored 27 points and No. 12 Connecticut opened its season with a 75-66 win over William & Mary on Friday night.

The senior guard was playing his first regular-season game since tearing the meniscus in his right knee against Syracuse on Feb. 11, causing him to miss UConn’s run to the Final Four. Dyson also had eight assists and four steals.

Stanley Robinson added 17 points and freshman Alex Oriakhi had eight points and 10 rebounds for UConn (1-0).

William & Mary kept the game close by hitting 13 shots from 3-point range, and got within four in the second half. Quinn McDowell led the Tribe (0-1) with 20 points and David Schneider and Danny Sumner each added 14.

UConn led just 65-58 with 4 minutes left when Robinson was fouled going to the basket. After hitting his first free throw, he followed a miss with a rebound and dunk that put the Huskies back up by 10 points , and the Huskies hung on from there.

UConn had hoped simply to outrun William & Mary.

The Huskies went into a press off its first basket and got several easy points inside from the 6-foot-9 Oriakhi. The Huskies had highlight-reel dunks from Dyson and Robinson and went on a 10-0 run early, turning a 9-7 lead into a 19-7 advantage.

But Sumner and McDowell kept the Tribe in the game, scoring 21 of the team’s 31 points in the first half. William & Mary closed the half on a 14-6 run, they made six 3-point shots in the half and trailed just 37-31.

UConn made just two jump shots in the first half and missed all five of its 3-pointers.

Freshman Darius Smith made the Huskies’ first 3-pointer more than 3 minutes into the second half, after the Tribe had cut the lead to 42-38,

Dyson, who accidentally ripped the toenail off his right foot last week, then led the Huskies on a 13-3 run. He hit consecutive 3s to stretch the UConn lead to 55-41 — the largest lead of the game.

UConn finished just 5 of 16 from 3-point range.

The Tribe hit 7 of 16 3-pointers in the second half alone and stayed with the Huskies on the boards, pulling down 13 offensive rebounds and 34 total.

Schneider needs just seven points to reach 1,000 for his career.