Hartford - Howie Dickenman had some parting words for his close friend before leaving the XL Center court on Sunday afternoon.

As always, Dickenman spoke from the heart while addressing UConn coach Kevin Ollie.

"I don't know if you're going to win the crown again but it won't be from lack of effort and lack of coaching," Dickenman, the Central Connecticut State University coach, told Ollie.

"And I meant every word of that. Quite frankly, I believe they have four losses and two were by prayers - same spot, at the buzzer. Their record isn't indicative of how good they are."

UConn looked pretty darn good on Sunday, rolling to an 81-48 victory. The Huskies (6-4) relied on a balanced attack, finishing with five players in double figures for the first time this season, and played tenacious defense, limiting the Blue Devils (2-10) to just 31.5 percent from the field.

A close game quickly turned into a runaway about midway through the first half, as the Huskies started a 37-5 spurt that ended about six minutes into the second half. They led by as many as 36 points - their largest lead in any game this season.

"It was a great game by us," Ollie said. "We played very, very hard. … Our defense was stellar. It started off slow, but the last 10 minutes of the first half they had one field goal and then we came out the second half and the first seven minutes didn't allow them to score either.

" … That got us going."

Dickenman said: "When you go 17 minutes and you get one field goal, you know you're going to be in trouble."

The game served as a tuneup for Wednesday's American Athletic Conference opener against Temple.

Senior Ryan Boatright led the offensive charge with a game-high 18 points and backcourt partner Rodney Purvis had 14 points. Sophomore Kentan Facey, who continues to improve, recorded his first double-double, chipping in 12 points and a career-best 12 rebounds. Sophomore Amida Brimah added 12 points.

"It helps a lot," Boatright said of the offensive balance. "It gets everybody's confidence going. It opens up the game for me to get in the lane and to play my game. Any time anybody else is scoring it just helps the team."

In another encouraging development, junior reserve Omar Calhoun had his best offensive game in exactly a year, contributing 11 points.

It's been a difficult and frustrating stretch for Calhoun, who missed the first seven games with a knee injury, which came on the heels of a dreadful sophomore season.

"It definitely felt good," Calhoun said. "I'm starting to get my rhythm back. I'm starting to get healthier. I'm able to be more explosive at the rim and do more off the dribble. You can definitely see it out there."

Calhoun's steal near mid-court and fast-break basket helped ignite a 15-3 run that closed the first half.

Ollie refers to those types of plays as EGB's - Energy Generating Behaviors.

"It's like picking up full court, clapping and getting deflections," Boatright explained. "It's anything to get the team going."

The Huskies are traveling down the high speed lane right now. They've recovered from a bumpy stretch that saw them lose four out of five games.

They've shot the ball better, converting over 53 percent in each of the last two games, due in part to crisp ball movement leading to open shots. They finished with 17 assists and just 10 turnovers against Central. But they converted just 5-of-19 from 3-point range against a 2-3 zone.

Ollie improved his coaching record against former UConn assistants to 4-0.

"It was great to coach against Howie," Ollie said. "He's a great dear friend of mine. I love him to death. I wanted us to come out and continue to be consistent and be confident in what we're doing, and I thought we did that."

The Huskies did hear some boos on Sunday. Fans get free wings from a local restaurant whenever UConn hits 82 points. With the reserves on the floor, they fell one point short.

"I never got booed like that at the end of the game," Ollie said with a laugh. "I didn't even know about the Buffalo Wild Wings (promotion). … Next time I'll recognize that."

g.keefe@theday.com

Twitter: @GavinKeefe