By PAT EATON-ROBB
Rodney Purvis scored a career-high 28 points and UConn upset No. 21 SMU 81-73 on Sunday, knocking the Mustangs out of first place in the American Athletic Conference.
Daniel Hamilton scored 14 of his 16 points in the final 7:41 and Ryan Boatright added 23 points for the defending national champion Huskies (17-11, 10-6 American), who won for the first time this season against a ranked opponent.
Markus Kennedy had 18 points to lead SMU (23-6, 14-3), which had won five straight, 13 of its past 14 and 21 of its past 23 games.
The Mustangs led only once at 53-51 on a jumper in the lane by Kennedy with 8:10 left.
But Hamilton responded with back-to-back 3-pointers and UConn pushed the lead back to double figures and hung on for the win.