CHICAGO (AP) — Solo Ball made seven 3-pointers and finished with 22 points, helping No. 11 UConn beat DePaul 81-68 on Wednesday for its seventh straight win.
Alex Karaban had 18 points for the Huskies (11-3, 3-0 Big East), who have recovered nicely after losing three in a row at the Maui Invitational.
UConn closed out the road win without Liam McNeeley, who departed with 13:48 left after hurting his right ankle. Coach Dan Hurley said the freshman forward will get an MRI on Thursday.
Conor Enright had 18 points and nine assists for DePaul (9-5, 0-3) in its 19th consecutive loss to UConn. Jacob Meyer added 12 points.
The Blue Demons used a 7-0 run to close to 61-52 with 7:58 left. But UConn’s Jayden Ross blocked Troy D'Amico's layup attempt before Karaban made a big 3-pointer for the Huskies.
After CJ Gunn converted a layup for DePaul on the other end, Ball made a 3 to make it 70-54 with 6:14 remaining.
UConn: Hassan Diarra finished with seven points, but the experienced guard affected the game with his speed and athleticism. He had nine assists and one turnover.
DePaul: The Blue Demons are much improved in their first season under coach Chris Holtmann, but there is still a sizeable talent gap when they take on the Big East's elite teams.
UConn closed the first half with a 9-2 run. Ball made a 3-pointer in the final seconds to lift the Huskies to a 43-22 lead at the break.
UConn went 14 for 29 from 3-point range, compared to 3 for 12 for DePaul. The Blue Demons were averaging 11.6 made 3s per game coming into the day.
UConn hosts Providence on Sunday. DePaul visits Villanova on Saturday.
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UConn guard Aidan Mahaney, second from left, drives to the basket against DePaul forward JJ Traynor, left, as guard Jacob Meyer (12) and, right, look on guard Isaiah Rivera during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Chicago, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
UConn guard Solo Ball, left, drives to the basket against DePaul guard Jacob Meyer, right, and forward NJ Benson during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Chicago, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
UConn head coach Dan Hurley calls players during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against DePaul in Chicago, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
A major winter storm forecast to produce heavy snow, significant ice and frigid temperatures was set to begin in the central U.S. on Saturday and move east over the next several days, according to the National Weather Service.
Here is what to know about the storm expected to affect millions in the eastern two-thirds of the country:
A large system made landfall along the West Coast on Friday afternoon, bringing rain to the Pacific Northwest with snow expected in the Cascade Mountains, according to meteorologists.
The system will be responsible for the development of a major winter storm from the Central Plains to the Mid-Atlantic this weekend into early next week.
By Saturday evening, widespread heavy snow is likely in areas between central Kansas and Indiana, especially along and north of Interstate 70, where there is a high chance of at least 8 inches (20.3 centimeters).
For places in the region that typically experience the highest snow totals, it may be the heaviest snowfall in at least a decade, meteorologists said.
The storm will then move into the Ohio Valley, where severe travel disruptions are expected. It will reach the Mid-Atlantic states on Sunday into Monday.
Wind gusts higher than 35 mph (56 kph) and heavy rates of snowfall could lead to blizzard conditions, particularly in Kansas and nearby portions of the Central Plains by Sunday morning.
Whiteout conditions may make driving dangerous to impossible and heighten the risk of becoming stranded.
Dangerous sleet and freezing rain, particularly detrimental to power lines, also is anticipated to start Saturday from eastern Kansas to Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and much of Kentucky and West Virginia.
Treacherous travel conditions are expected with power outages likely in areas with more than a quarter-inch (a half centimeter) of ice accumulation.
“It’s going to be a mess, a potential disaster,” private meteorologist Ryan Maue said.
Starting Monday, hundreds of millions of people in the eastern two-thirds of the country will experience dangerous, bone-chilling air and wind chills, forecasters said.
Temperatures could be 12 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit (7 to 14 degrees Celsius) colder than normal as the polar vortex stretches down from the high Arctic.
“This could lead to the coldest January for the U.S. since 2011,” AccuWeather Director of Forecast Operations Dan DePodwin said Friday, noting there could be up to a week or more of "temperatures that are well below historical average.”
The biggest drop below normal is likely to be centered over the Ohio Valley, but significant and unusual cold will extend south to the Gulf Coast, said Danny Barandiaran, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center.
A hard freeze is even expected in Florida, he added.
“The wind chills are going to be brutal,” Woodwell Climate Research Institute climate scientist Jennifer Francis said. "Just because the globe is warming doesn’t mean these cold snaps are going away.”
The brutal weather may be triggered in part by a fast-warming Arctic, a reminder that climate change gooses weather extremes, said Judah Cohen, seasonal forecast director at the private firm Atmospheric and Environmental Research.
The polar vortex — ultra-cold air spinning like a top — usually stays above the North Pole, but sometimes stretches down to the U.S., Europe or Asia, causing intense doses of cold.
Cohen and colleagues have published several studies showing an increase in the polar vortex stretching or wandering. Cohen and others published a study last month attributing the cold outbreaks partly to changes from an Arctic that is warming four times faster than the rest of the globe.
FILE - A leaf is frozen in the ice of a garden pond during cold weather in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
FILE - Steve Beckett with the street department in Owensboro, Ky., sprays a salt brine solution along Hickman Avenue in preparation for predicted snow and ice over the weekend, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025, in Owensboro, Ky. (Greg Eans/The Messenger-Inquirer via AP, File)
FILE - Resident Todd Brainard cleans snow off of the roof of his home in North Perry, Ohio on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos, File)
