Hartford - Senior Ryan Boatright sat on the bench with a towel draped around his neck, watching UConn struggle in the second half on Sunday.

The Huskies were clinging to a two-point advantage with 12 minutes remaining in the American Athletic Conference game at the XL Center.

When Boatright finally returned, he changed the game and rescued his team.

Boatright, UConn's inspirational leader, scored 13 straight points to propel his team to a 66-53 victory over South Florida. He had 19 of his career-high 28 points in the second half.

Coach Kevin Ollie pulled Boatright from the game shortly after the senior guard committed an offensive foul in front of the UConn bench.

"I just told him watch the game for a little bit and took him out," Ollie said. "Most players don't like getting taken out of the game. … Ryan is a leader. He stepped up to the plate and came in with a little fire in his stomach because I wanted him to play a little harder. And I think that's what he did."

Without Boatright's offensive outburst, the outcome would have surely been different. Boatright helped the Huskies close out the game by making all nine of his free throws after intermission and 10-for-11 overall.

"I just knew I was going to come into the game and be aggressive," Boatright said. "I wasn't going to force anything. I was going to take the shots that were given to me and I just knocked them down. That's just what I've got to do more when we get into these type of games.

"Going into these last 12 games, it's going to be like that. We've got to win all of them if we want to get to where we're going."

For the second straight game, the Huskies (11-7, 4-2) failed to run away from an opponent that resides in the bottom half of the standings. South Florida (7-13, 1-6), which has lost five straight, also played without its best player, Chris Perry, who suffered chest pains on Saturday.

UConn went in and out of self-destruct mode, especially on the offensive end. The Huskies made too many silly turnovers, finishing with 16 overall. And they had only nine assists.

On the plus side, they converted their free throws (22-for-29) and dominated on the boards, 35-18. They also continued their impressive 3-point shooting, sinking 8 of 17 to bring their total to 29-for-57 (50.9 percent) in the last three games.

It was an ugly and choppy game.

During one dreadful stretch early in the second half, the Huskies made six turnovers in seven possessions. The Bulls took advantage, going on a 13-3 run to cut the deficit to 39-37.

With a four-point lead, Boatright finally re-entered the game with 9:44 remaining. He went on a tear, scoring on a fast-break layup, sinking two free throws, converting a natural three-point play and burying two straight 3-pointers.

His final 3-pointer capped a decisive 15-4 spurt and put UConn ahead 54-43 with 4:46 left. The Huskies held on for another important win.

"At the end of the game, we stepped it up," Ollie said.

Both teams had trouble establishing any rhythm due to the frequent whistles. A combined 41 fouls were called, leading to 45 free throw attempts. Junior Nehemias Morillo had a career-high 18 points to keep the Bulls close.

UConn's backcourt did the bulk of the damage, as Boatright and Purvis (17 points) combined for 45 points. Purvis, who had hit just 4 of his last 17 free throws entering the game, went 8-for-12.

Purvis is thriving in his new role coming off the bench the last three games.

"I'm just coming in and bringing the energy and getting the crowd into it…," Purvis said.

The Huskies will need everybody to bring the energy during their two-game road trip that starts Thursday in Cincinnati and continues to Houston.

g.keefe@theday.com

Twitter: @GavinKeefe