Hartford – UConn showed its maturity and superiority while applying a beat-down on Wednesday night.

From the start, the 14th-ranked Huskies played like a team determined to avoid a letdown against DePaul, a 10th-place Big East team that had lost 10 straight and 15 in a row in the series.

Nine minutes into the regular season home finale, they stormed out to a 29-2 lead and cruised to an 88-59 victory at a sold-out XL Center.

Yes, the game was as lopsided as the final score indicated.

“Everybody came out and knew what they had to do and they did it,” junior Andre Jackson said. “And they got the job done. … It’s the best time of the year. It’s when it’s time to really pull together as a team and most teams are peaking right now.”

UConn carried a whopping 32-point advantage into halftime on the way to winning for the seventh time in eight games. The Huskies (23-7, 12-7) equaled the most overall victories under Dan Hurley, who’s in his fifth season. They also won 23 games last season. The Blue Demons fell to 9-21, 3-16.

“We talked about honoring the season that we’ve had to this point and honor our great fans by giving them a great performance,” Hurley said of his message to his team. “Our fans deserve better than for us to sleep-walk through an eight-point win today.”

Entering the game, Huskies already had clinched one of five first round byes in the Big East tournament. They reside in fifth place and finish the regular season by visiting surging Villanova Saturday night in Philadelphia.

They passed around the scoring baton, as Sanogo led the way with 26 points while senior Tristen Newton had 12 points, six assists and five rebounds and Jackson added 11 points, a career-high nine assists and eight rebounds. Redshirt freshman Alex Karaban had 11 points and freshman Donovan Clingan had 10.

Sophomore Jordan Hawkins, the scoring leader in Big East games at 17.7 points prior to Wednesday’s action, scored just three points on 1 for 9 from the field to end a streak of reaching double figures at 11 straight. Still in the game with UConn up 27, he limped off the court with four minutes, 46 seconds left.

“He’s fine,” Hurley said. “He’ll be in practice tomorrow.”

The Huskies are clearly having fun during this hot streak. They play with joy and enjoy each other’s company.

Newton, Hawkins, Andre Johnson and Hassan Diarra, who sat out the game due to an abdominal strain, sat in the back of the room while Jackson and Sanogo spoke at the press conference.

At the end, Diarra asked Jackson: “What’s your favorite car insurance?”

A smiling Jackson responded: “I would say Geico.”

Their team chemistry was evident on the court Wednesday, especially on the offensive end. They shared the basketball, finishing with 24 assists on 35 field goals, and converted 54.7 percent from the field.

And they also get along great off the court.

“Everybody is really cool with each other,” Jackson said.

Offensively, they’ve cranked up production in their last three games, getting contributions from the starters and reserves. They’ve averaged 90 points the last three games.

The Huskies heated up after missing their first three shots, making 10 of their next 15 field goal attempts and finished at 54.7 percent overall.

Jackson set up Sanogo inside for a basket and then hit a 3-pointer. Newton buried back to back threes for an 11-2 edge and UConn was off and running.

Apparently, DePaul forgot to pack its offensive game for the road trip. The Blue Demons had only two field goals in the first 14:37, going scoreless for just over seven minutes during one ugly stretch, and started 2 for 22 from the field.

Credit UConn’s active defense, but DePaul’s poor shooting also played a big part. The Blue Demons shot 35 percent overall.

When Hawkins buried a 3-pointer, his only basket of the game, the Huskies extended their lead to 38-8 with 7:22 left.

About the only question during the remainder of the first half was whether Jackson would finish off a breakaway with a crowd-pleasing dunk or lay-up. He chose the latter.

The Huskies jogged to the locker room with a 51-19 lead at halftime. Sanogo already had 15 points and Jackson was heading toward a triple double with eight points, seven assists and five rebounds.

“The first half performance was as good as you can hope for, at both ends of the court,” Hurley said. “We were disruptive defensively and offensively, we had 17 assists at the half. We just continue to build the momentum.”

The comfortable lead allowed Hurley to go deep into his bench. Sophomore Samson Johnson made a rare first half appearance and other reserves eventually saw action late in the game.

It was not a perfect performance. Hurley was bothered by his team’s 13 turnovers.

“There’s always got to be something,” Hurley said. “We’ve got to stop doing that.”

The Huskies improved to 15-2 at home and sent the fans home with a warm and fuzzy feeling and with happy thoughts about what their team could accomplish next week at the Big East tournament and beyond.

“We won a game that we’re supposed to win,” Sanogo said. “I’m happy where we are right now going into March.”

g.keefe@theday.com