Nevermind the fact they are the reigning Big East Tournament Champions because the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team is playing for their NCAA Tournament life right now. They need to have a good showing in the Big East Tournament to help themselves out.

The Huskies got off to a nice start of that as they got 25 points from Jeremy Lamb and 19 points from Ryan Boatright in an 81-67 win over the DePaul Blue Demons at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday afternoon.

The Huskies (19-12) advance to the second round where they’ll take on the West Virginia Mountaineers on Wednesday. Tip is scheduled for 12 p.m. and the game will be nationally televised on ESPN.

Here are the highlights:

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DePaul Blue Demons vs UConn Huskies 1st round 2012 Big East Tournament box score

Postgame notes

UConn Huskies postgame quotes

DePaul Blue Demons postgame quotes

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