Hartford - Amida Brimah's engine races all the time. He never takes his foot off the accelerator.

No matter the opponent, no matter the score.

"That's what I'm good at - energy," Brimah said. "I always come out with a lot of energy."

Brimah, a 7-foot sophomore center, kept working hard even with UConn well on its way to a 106-85 blowout of Coppin State Sunday at the XL Center.

After blocking a shot to start a fast break midway through the second half, Brimah raced down the court and dunked home a rebound to increase the lead to 27 points.

"He always does that…," coach Kevin Ollie said. "That's just hustle. Those are the multiple effort plays that we need all our guys to make."

Brimah dominated inside against an overmatched Coppin State (1-9). He finished with a career high 40 points - the most points by a Husky since Kemba Walker had 42 against Vermont in 2010 - on 13-for-13 from the field and 14-for-16 from the foul line. He added a career-best 12 rebounds and three blocks.

He broke the dunk-o-meter, finishing with 11 slams.

"We had nobody that could matchup with him," Coppin State coach Michael Grant said. "Every time they threw it at the basket it was dunk after dunk after dunk. He made his own highlight tape."

The Huskies (4-3), who stopped their losing streak at three, put up video game numbers, scoring the most points in a win since notching 111 against Quinnipiac in 2005.

Senior Ryan Boatright had 22 points while sophomore Kentan Facey had a career-high 15 points and freshman Daniel Hamilton added 11 points, a career-best 11 assists, five rebounds and four steals.

"We had to press the reset button and get back in the winning column," Ollie said. "Everybody stepped up tonight that played. I was really happy with that."

The lopsided victory served as a tune up for Thursday's showdown with No. 2 Duke in East Rutherford, N.J. Coming off a nine-day exam break, the Huskies shot a season-best 56.9 percent.

"This is a good game for our confidence," said Hamilton, who threw numerous lob passes to Brimah for dunks.

UConn attacked from the start and never trailed, leading 51-39 at the break. The Huskies scored just 44 points overall in a heart-breaking one point loss to Yale on Dec. 5.

An 11-0 surge to start the second half helped the Huskies pull away. Brimah and Facey, a 6-foot-9 forward, took turns scoring inside. Hamilton set up both players for dunks.

Brimah scored 22 points - two more than his previous career high of 20 - in the second half.

"I was just feeding off the play of my teammates," Brimah said. "They found me and helped me be able to make easy shots."

Yes, the Brimah Show came against an opponent that has allowed 100 points in five games this season.

But he's come so far from a year ago, especially on the offensive end. A native of Ghana, he's a tireless worker. He also has a passion for the game.

Just ask associate head coach Glen Miller who's in charge of developing the big men.

"He's put in so much time to improve his skill level and his game…," Miller said. "His next step is just getting stronger. … He's such a hard worker. As many as years as I've coached, he's right up at the top of the list as far as work ethic. It's good to see a game like this tonight and have him be rewarded for his hard work."

The Huskies can't celebrate Sunday's win for long. Duke is up next.

They'll need to commit fewer turnovers (18) and defend much better - Coppin State scored a season-high against Division I foe - than they did on Sunday. They also gave up too many fast-break baskets (30) and 3-pointers (15).

"We've got to play defense," Boatright said. "That's not UConn basketball letting a team like that scoring 85 points."

On the plus side, Rodney Purvis looked another step closer to recovering from a high left ankle sprain, scoring eight points in 21 minutes. But reserve Omar Calhoun (knee) didn't play.

g.keefe@theday.com

Twitter: @GavinKeefe