Hartford - Wearing a white towel around his neck, senior Jerome Dyson looked like a prizefighter ready for the bell to ring for another round Wednesday night.

Just over a minute into the second half, Dyson left the nonconference game for the second time with an injury - one more serious looking than the first. Team trainer James Doran and concerned coach Jim Calhoun stood over a pain-stricken Dyson.

"It was frightening, no question," said Calhoun, who feared that Dyson had re-injured his surgically repaired right knee that prematurely ended his junior season last February.

There was good news on all fronts for the Huskies.

Dyson only suffered a strained groin after slipping and doing a split while making a move near the 3-point line. No. 14 UConn scored the expected rout against shorthanded Boston University, 92-64, at the XL Center.

Three and a half minutes after his scary split, a relieved Dyson re-entered the game, and he finished with a team-high 22 points.

"It hurt a lot but it settled down once I got to the bench.," Dyson said. "I knew when I rolled over nothing was wrong. I knew initially it was my groin. Everybody ran out and thought it was my MCL.

"I guess I'm going to have to call my mom when I get out of here. I know she's worried."

Calhoun feels good about Dyson and the rest of his Huskies (5-1), who shook off a slow start to rebound from Friday's NIT Season Tip-Off Championship loss to Duke. They made their free throws (30-for-35), played solid defense (BU shot 30.3 percent from the field) and rebounded well (54-29 edge).

"The stat sheet starts to look a little more normal for us, at least" Calhoun said. "I'm relatively happy with some individual performances and collectively some defensive performances. … I'm leaving here in a pretty good mood."

At first, the Terriers (2-6), who played without injured starter Chris Lowe and two others, put up a fight. They built leads of 13-9 and 15-13.

UConn's speed and strength began to wear down BU. Dyson sliced across the lane for tough basket to cap a 17-3 run for a 30-18 advantage. He would limp off after twisting his ankle at the 2:29 mark but, of course, return.

Late in the half, UConn's trapping defense created back-to-back turnovers to spark another spurt. Sophomore Kemba Walker (15 points) fed freshman Darius Smith for a fast-break layup and one of his season-high 10 assists. Smith and freshman Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, who had season highs for points (12) and rebounds (seven), helped the bench produce 32 points overall. Senior reserve Gavin Edwards scored 10 of his 12 points before intermission.

Carrying a 52-34 lead into the second half, the Huskies cruised home, leading by as many as 33 points.

"When I looked up with about 12 minutes to go and we were by that time up 25 and heading toward 30, we had done our job," Calhoun said. "We had worn them out."

Dyson provided the only drama. Once Doran cleared Dyson to return, Calhoun never hesitated to put the senior guard back in. Dyson can rest today and probably Friday before preparing for Sunday's game against Harvard.

"I wanted to keep playing just to let everybody know that it wasn't anything too serious," Dyson said.

Calhoun can't imagine moving forward without Dyson, who added another injury to his impressive career list.

"If he pulled a groin, he would have been out two or three weeks," Calhoun said. "Certainly the way we're starting our season we can't afford that. He's so tough to play. … Jerome is clearly our best player right now."

g.keefe@theday.com