Connecticut 81, No. 21 SMU 73: Rodney Purvis scored a career-high 28 points to lead the defending national champion Huskies past the visiting Mustangs in an American Athletic Conference game.

Ryan Boatright added 23 points, including four 3-pointers, and five assists for UConn (17-11, 10-6 AAC), which has won three in a row. Daniel Hamilton had 16 points and seven rebounds for the Huskies, who also won their seventh consecutive home game.

Markus Kennedy registered 18 points and nine rebounds off the bench to lead SMU (23-6, 14-3), which had its five-game winning streak snapped to fall one-half game behind conference-leading Tulsa. Yanick Moreira chipped in 14 points and Sterling Brown added 13 points for the Mustangs, who lost on the road for the first time in eight games.

UConn led the entire first half, twice by as many as 10 points after baskets by Amida Brimah, and took a 32-26 lead into halftime. Purvis paced the Huskies with 12 points and Moreira scored 12 for the Mustangs.

SMU tied it at 51-51 on Brown’s 3-pointer with 9:24 remaining and the Mustangs took their only lead, 53-51, on Kennedy’s jumper. The Huskies answered with a 15-4 run, sparked by Hamilton’s back-to-back 3-pointers, and the Huskies held on to win.

GAME NOTEBOOK: UConn improved to 10-0 when leading at halftime. … The Huskies finished 9-of-20 from 3-point range and shot 53.2 percent from the field. … SMU G Nic Moore, who came into the game averaging a team-leading 14.6 points, was limited to nine points on 3-of-13 shooting.