THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN

HARTFORD - With 8:30 left in the first half, the rebound came to Kemba Walker and he was gone; up the court in four, maybe five dribbles. Stanley Robinson sprinted up the left sideline, trying to keep pace with his teammate.

In a simple, fluid motion, Walker lobbed the ball into the air waiting for Robinson to soar up and do the rest. With a simple, fluid motion of his own, Robinson slammed down the alley-oop. It was one of his five dunks in UConn's 106-67 win over American International College at the XL Center Wednesday night.

"Having Stanley is great," Walker said. "It makes things much easier for me."

"It's too hard [keeping up with Walker]," Robinson said. "Kemba's too fast! But he's on my team so I can't complain too much. But at the same time, he was doing what he had to do as a point guard and I like that a lot."

UConn started freshmen Alex Oriakhi and Jamaal Trice alongside Walker, Robinson and Gavin Edwards.

The first two points for UConn came off a jump shot by Trice, assisted by Oriakhi.

But in the ensuing possessions, there seemed to be confusion on the offensive sets, as a few Huskies were clogging up the lanes and bumping into teammates. But under the vocal leadership of Walker, Robinson and Edwards, UConn settled down and found their rhythm.

The Huskies used a quick-strike offense - something that coach Jim Calhoun has put an emphasis on this season - to get out to a 16-6 lead with 13 minutes left to play in the half. From there on out, the Huskies never looked back.

"I thought we ran it pretty well," Calhoun said. "I thought we got it up and down the court. First game, a little fatigue and playing only seven guys - even though that didn't really play a factor at all."

AIC never got close and the Huskies went into the half with a 57-29 lead shooting 75 percent from the field while holding the Yellow Jackets to 37 percent shooting.

At the half, Oriakhi had already grabbed 10 rebounds to go along with seven points and a block.

"Last year, we had a tough time against AIC and we just really shot the ball well," Calhoun said. "We really rebounded the heck out of the ball. We ran well and when you make shots, the game comes easier. Overall, I'll take that effort for the first time out."

In the second half, the Huskies didn't let up. Walker and Robinson continued the UConn charge combining for 22 second half points.

With 4:34 left to play in the game, Walker and Robinson had combined to score 53 points - the exact amount AIC had scored up until that point.

Walker made use of his quick moves to the basket, but also showed signs of improvement on his jump shot - something he's been working on since last season. Walker hit 3-of-4 three-pointers and ended the game with 28 points, 12 assists, six rebounds and two steals.

Robinson, despite scoring 25 points, grabbing seven rebounds, blocking two shots and getting two steals, felt he didn't have a great game.

"I didn't think I played very well," Robinson said. "I wanted to score more points and get more rebounds. But I didn't know I had 25 points until I looked at the scoreboard."

The Huskies scored their 100th point off a put-back layup by Oriakhi with 2:38 left to play. Oriakhi finished the game with 16 points to go along with 16 rebounds.

Freshman Darius Smith saw 22 minutes of action, scoring nine points to go along with six rebounds and five assists.

"Darius still makes some high school plays, but he also makes some really, really good plays because he's so quick," Calhoun said.

Edwards finished the game with 17 points, five rebounds and two blocks.