UConn's Robinson shows off for his girls

UConn's Stanley Robinson put on a show for his two young daughters during their first visit to Connecticut.

The senior forward scored a season-high 29 points and Jerome Dyson added 17 as the Huskies beat Iona, 93-74, yesterday in a final tuneup before they begin Big East play.

"I think I like playing better when my family is here," Robinson said.

Kemba Walker had 14 points and seven assists, and freshman Jamal Coombs-McDaniel chipped in with a career-high 13 points.

No. 11 UConn (9-2) opened up a 14-point lead at intermission after struggling in the first half against its last two nonconference opponents.

"We really got some energy going in the first half," said Dyson, who had 13 points at the break. "We gave up too many threes, but we really kept them out of the paint in the first half."

Scott Machado had 14 for Iona (8-5), which had won four in a row, including an 82-73 victory at Providence. Rashon Dwight and Rashard McGill each added 12, and Jonathan Huffman had 10 for the Gaels.

"They did a good job of containing our penetration early, and then we could never get into the bonus," said Iona coach Kevin Willard. "It's tough when a team shoots 35 free throws and you shoot 10. You have no chance - road, home, neutral, Mars."

With 4-year-old Kamilah and 2-year-old Kelsi in the stands, Robinson scored 19 in the second half, including an alley-oop dunk off a pass from Dyson with 3 minutes left that gave UConn its only 20-point lead of the game at 91-70.

That was perhaps the highlight of the day for Robinson, but probably not for the girls, who are on a holiday visit from their home in Alabama.

"We've spent a lot of time playing in the snow," Robinson said. "They liked that."

Iona opened in a pressing defense, but UConn had no problems breaking it, running out to a 13-6 lead, punctuated when Dyson went end-to-end, finishing with a tomahawk dunk and a free throw.

After Walker used a crossover move to free himself for a driving layup, it was 21-12.

Iona got within four points, but UConn ran back out to a 45-31 lead at halftime. Dyson had 13 points at the break.

Connecticut opens its Big East slate Wednesday at Cincinnati.

"We're putting new parts and pieces together as we go along," UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. "I think we're getting better."

In other games:

* At Washington, Quincy Pondexter scored 22 points and No. 22 Washington (9-2) started slowly, briefly gave away a big lead, then cruised to an 86-71 victory over San Francisco (4-10), as the Huskies become the 16th team in NCAA history to win 1,600 games.

Pondexter and Washington coach Lorenzo Romar spent Wednesday visiting Texas A & M's Derrick Roland in the hospital, where he had surgery to repair multiple fractures sustained in a grotesque, on-court fall in a game with Washington the night before.

* At Maryland, Greivis Vasquez scored 26 points, Landon Milbourne had 19, and Maryland improved to 6-0 at home (8-3 overall) with a 72-59 victory over Florida Atlantic (5-7). It was the third straight game in which Vasquez reached the 20-point mark.

* At Louisville, Samardo Samuels had 18 points and 14 rebounds to lead the surging Cardinals (9-3), who won their fourth straight game, over Radford (5-5), 79-53.

* At Marquette, Lazar Hayward scored 23 points and Jimmy Butler added 16, leading Marquette (9-3) to a 102-62 romp over Presbyterian (2-11). Six Golden Eagles scored in double figures. Zach Faircloth scored 15 points and Khalid Mutakabbir added 14 for Presbyterian, which has lost six consecutive games.

* At UCLA, Reeves Nelson scored a career-high 21 points and the Bruins (5-7) defeated Delaware State, 66-49. Marcus Neal led the Hornets (4-6) with 15 points.

* At Missouri, Kim English scored 23 points and Marcus Denmon tied a career high with 17 points as Missouri (9-3) relied on a barrage of three-pointers to beat Austin Peay (8-6), 94-79.

* At Wisconsin, Jon Leuer scored 13 of his game-high 17 points in the first half as the Badgers (10-2) defeated Illinois-Chicago (3-8), 79-43.