Jeremy Lamb scored 16 of his 23 points in the second half and No. 9 Connecticut posted a 60-57 victory over host South Florida on Wednesday in the first game of coach Jim Calhoun’s suspension.

Freshman Ryan Boatright added nine points for Connecticut (11-1), which has won six straight. The defending national champions overcame the absence of Calhoun to win their Big East opener. Longtime assistant George Blaney filled in for the Hall of Fame coach, who served the first of a three-game suspension stemming from NCAA recruiting violations.

The Huskies improved to 10-9 without Calhoun, but it was a struggle from the beginning – literally – as UConn was assessed a technical foul for submitting the wrong lineup. That was indicative of the kind of night it was for the Huskies, who were held well below their season average of 75.2 points.

Toarlyn Fitzpatrick had 14 points and 12 rebounds for South Florida (7-7). The Bulls have lost nine of the 10 meetings with Connecticut as well as 16 straight to ranked opponents, but they seem to always give the Huskies fits. Each of the last five meetings have been decided by eight points or less and two needed overtime to decide a winner.

To no one's surprise, the pesky Bulls were in it until the end once again. South Florida pulled to within 46-45 on alley-oop from Anthony Collins to Jawanza Poland with 6:32 left before UConn responded with an 8-1 run that gave the Huskies their biggest lead of the game.

Shabazz Napier found freshman Andre Drummond for an alley-oop. Lamb then split a double team and hit an off-balance layup to make it 50-45 with just over four minutes remaining. Tyler Olander added an offensive putback and Lamb capped the spurt with a jumper that made it 54-47 with 1:28 left.

The game then turned into a free-throw shooting contest and Victor Rudd’s meaningless 3-pointer at the buzzer provided the final margin.