Cam Spencer leads UConn men to 87-53 win over Mississippi Valley State

HARTFORD – Cam Spencer waited patiently for his turn to fill up the basket in a UConn uniform.

The fifth-year guard did just that on Tuesday, leading the way with 25 points in an 87-53 win over Mississippi Valley State at the XL Center, UConn’s 20th straight win over a nonconference opponent – all by double-digits.

“I couldn’t throw it in the ocean the other night so to see a few go in tonight was great,” Spencer said.

Spencer’s 19 first-half points made up for a sloppy start for the Huskies, who were without freshman guard Stephon Castle due to a knee injury he suffered when he slipped on the court in the second half of the Stonehill game on Saturday. Head coach Dan Hurley said there will be an update on Castle’s status toward the end of the week, and knocked on a table when saying, “I don’t think we’re nervous about this being a long-term thing, we think it’s pretty minor. If he’s gonna miss time, it won’t be much.”

UConn allowed six offensive rebounds in the first nine minutes of the game as Alex Karaban and Tristen Newton were sent to the bench, each carrying a pair of early fouls. Newton’s first came as a double technical on him and Mississippi Valley State’s Danny Washington as words were exchanged following a held ball.

“Not particularly pleased with tonight’s performance, I thought the rebounding, just what went on on the backboard especially early and at different times in the second half was not something that we’ve seen for a couple of years here,” a frustrated Hurley said. “I thought we looked soft. We just had terrible discipline in terms of fouls, and just couldn’t guard the ball. Overall, that was just a frustrating night of basketball.”

All the while, Spencer kept firing.

The Rutgers transfer had five made 3-pointers and had eight of his 19 first half points during a 22-6 scoring run that put the Huskies up, 42-20, with less than three minutes left in the opening period. Spencer’s hot start continued in the second half as he finished with a career-high seven made 3-pointers on 11 attempts and made 9 of 14 from the field.

Spencer had been picking his spots to start the season – he drew praise from Hurley for his unselfishness to only take three shots in the season opener, but was disappointed by his 2 for 10 night from beyond the arc in Game Two against Stonehill.

“That’s something we see on a daily basis with Cam, the shooting, that’s something he’s been able to do his…