Storrs — Practices leading up to Saturday's important nonconference game bordered on brutal.

To bring out some much-needed aggressiveness and toughness, UConn coach Kevin Ollie ran some punishing workouts.

"The last couple of days have been rough," senior Omar Calhoun said. "We've been killing each other. ... We were all banging and hitting each other the whole time. We wanted to come out here and start hitting Ohio State."

UConn hit early and often, staggering and then knocking out Ohio State 75-55 before a raucous sold-out crowd at Gampel Pavilion.

The Huskies (6-3) won in impressive fashion, building 21-point halftime lead. They were in full attack mode and rode a balanced effort, with five players scoring in double figures. They shot a sizzling 60.4 percent. It was their highest shooting percentage since sinking 66 percent in a rout of Maryland-Eastern Shore on Dec. 17, 2012.

"We came out and played very aggressive from that start," Ollie said. "We didn't have too many keys, just hit first. We did that. ... We were in attack mode and the defense started stepping up. We had a great game on the offensive end and defensive end.

"It was very enjoyable. Everybody played free. We wanted to play fast, but we also wanted to play physical, and that's what we were promoting the last two days in practice. ... Our guys really responded very, very well and everybody was punching."

No one in the locker room was happy with UConn's uneven play in recent games, especially in Tuesday's loss to No. 6 Maryland.

The Huskies flipped the script, playing with energy and determination from the start. Daniel Hamilton's lob set up Amida Brimah for a dunk and Shonn Miller finished off a low post move with a dunk for the game's opening baskets.

They never trailed from there, eventually using an 18-4 spurt to pull away from a young Ohio State team and open a 45-24 lead at the break.

"They got rolling," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. "That was one of the best first halves of basketball I've seen in a long time."

The energetic Huskies kept the pressure on, receiving an unexpected boost from Calhoun, who came off the bench to contribute a season-high 14 points. It was his highest output since scoring 16 against Maine in December, 2013.

Calhoun made all five field goal attempts, 4-for-4 from 3-point range. He came in shooting 28 percent (7-for-25) from the field.

"When I hit the first shot, I knew it was probably going to be a big day," Calhoun said. "I told Sterling (Gibbs) after he found me the first time, if he keeps finding me, he might have 10 assists, because I was feeling good."

But Calhoun stayed on the court because of his defense and toughness. Ollie also wanted to reward him for his hard work in recent practices.

"I was very proud of him," Ollie said. "It just wasn't his scoring, it was him punching. And it's not literally punching, it's really just punching and going in and doing all the tough things that we ask our guys to do."

UConn also saw an improved effort from Miller, who took Ollie's advice and played aggressively. He finished with 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Freshman Jalen Adams (11 points, four assists) provided a spark off the bench.

Purvis put his stamp on the game in several areas, chipping in 13 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals — just one less steal than he had in the previous eight games combined.

His steal and fast-break dunk fired up the crowd and re-ignited the UConn attack near the midway point of the second half. The Huskies' lead dwindled to 12 (47-35) when they went 6 minutes, 45 seconds without a basket and had five of their 16 turnovers.

That lull didn't really bother Ollie because UConn missed high percentage shots during that stretch. And after going 1-for-9 to open the half, they converted 12 straight shots.

It was hard for Ollie to find much to complain about. UConn showed up defensively, too, limiting Ohio State (4-5) to 35.7 percent.

The Huskies enter an eight-day exam break feeling much better than earlier in the week. They return to action Dec. 20 against UMass Lowell.

"We're still working and growing as a team," Adams said. "I think we're getting there. Once everybody gets in attack mode the whole 40 minutes, I think we'll be a really good team."

g.keefe@theday.com

Twitter: @GavinKeefe