Hartford — Not every UConn win is going to be a masterpiece from start to finish.

It just seemed that way for the Huskies during last season’s dominant stretch which ended with a historic second straight national championship.

That’s not the case this season.

The Huskies are adjusting to a new rotation and new roles.

Eventually, they’re going to kick into high gear. They’re too talented and deep not to, especially against inferior competition like New Hampshire on Saturday at the XL Center.

When they finally hit their stride in the second half, they ran away for a 92-53 blowout victory.

“The standard is high here,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “That was clearly a below-standard performance for us in a number of ways, particularly our on-ball defense. Offensively, we were just scatterbrained, especially in the first half. It was typical of an early-season performance.”

“It’s going to take some time for this team to jell. I thought there were some good things, but for the most part it was a frustrating game.”

The third-ranked Huskies (2-0) will deal with some growing pains this season but better to experience that discomfort in a win than a loss.

They face two more relatively easy opponents in Le Moyne on Wednesday and Texas A&M Commerce (Nov. 19) at home before heading to play against a challenging field in the Maui Invitational.

“We have a lot of new guys and a lot of young players, too, who just need the experience,” redshirt junior Alex Karaban said. “We’re still learning. We’re going to grow every single day and we’re going to get better every single day.

“But as long as we’re just establishing the habits that coach Hurley wants us to and playing to that standard that we didn’t play to in the first half or really for most of that game, it’s what we’re going to learn from and we need to learn from, especially heading into our big nonconference games and Big East season.”

On Saturday, UConn passed around the scoring baton as five players scored in double figures. Karaban led the way for the second straight game, finishing with 17 points, five rebounds, four assists and four blocks.

Sophomore Jayden Ross made his season debut a memorable one. After missing Wednesday’s game with an ankle injury, the much-improved Ross scored a career-high 14 points, one shy of tying his total for all of last season.

Sophomore Solo Ball (14 points) and junior Tarris Reed Jr. (11 points, eight rebounds) also helped spark the attack. Freshman Liam McNeeley (10 points, 11 rebounds) became the first Husky since Jeff Adrien in 2006 to open the season with two straight double-doubles and the first UConn freshman to accomplish that feat since Corny Thompson in 1978.

“My mom tells me to crash the glass a lot, so I think she’s happy about that one,” McNeeley said. “I’ve just gotta keep it up and keep contributing to our team.”

No one was happy in the UConn locker room at halftime.

UConn played ugly basketball early on, starting out 5-for-18 from the field, including missing all nine 3-point attempts, leaving the XL Center crowd little to cheer about.

The Huskies had defensive breakdowns and committed too many fouls, especially center Samson Johnson, who quickly picked up two fouls and went to the bench.

They gradually tightened up on defense, limiting New Hampshire (1-2) to just 30.8% (8-for-26) from the field in the first 20 minutes, and took a 35-24 lead at the break.

“We got out and guarded the way we’re supposed to and are expected to,” Karaban said. “Offensively, we didn’t click as well as we wanted to. We didn’t execute at the level that we needed to.”

The Huskies came to life offensively in the second half during which they shot a sizzling 63.6% (21-for-33). They finished at 50.8% and held the Wildcats to 35.4%.

Karaban, UConn’s reliable veteran, fired in back-to-back 3-pointers to jump-start the Huskies, who eventually began to pull away with a 14-4 spurt. McNeeley’s two free throws handed UConn its first 20-point edge (57-37).

Ross, a player whom Hurley has gushed about in recent weeks, showed off his improved all-around game while scoring 12 points after intermission. He drove to the basket with confidence and buried two 3-pointers in a breakout performance.

“It was amazing,” Ross said about his career game. “One thing about this program is, development is a key piece. So last year, it’s not like I was just rotting on the bench behind a bunch of great players. I played against these guys every day and learned from them every single day.”

All 12 UConn scholarship players scored.

g.keefe@theday.com