STORRS, Conn. (AP) -- Five days ago, in an impressive win over No. 2 Arizona at the Great Eight, Connecticut needed Khalid El-Amin to score and he did, finishing with 23 points.

On Sunday, the sixth-ranked Huskies needed the junior point guard to make sure the ball got inside early against Fordham to avoid a possible letdown and he did with eight assists in a 94-75 victory, their seventh straight.

	Connecticut's Tony Robertson flys to the basket over Fordham's Scott Harmatuk.

Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said El-Amin was equally impressive in both wins.

"He led us with his shooting and scoring against Arizona and today he led us in a different way and that's great for us," Calhoun said.

The defending national champions didn't need much from their starters as they pulled away from a 46-26 halftime lead to improve their record to 7-1 after a season-opening loss to Iowa.

Connecticut dominated the game inside from the start and that also gave the Huskies a chance to show off their speed as the fast breaks came frequently.

To make an improbable upset virtually impossible, Fordham (4-4) played without second leading scorer and rebounder Bevon Robin. The junior guard was suspended for the game by coach Bob Hill for violating team rules.

"It happened last night, almost today," Hill said without giving details of the apparent curfew violation. "The most disappointing thing about this game was that we didn't have everybody. We put this together by the seat of our pants."

The Rams outscored Connecticut 15-4 over the final four minutes of the game to make the game seem more competitive than it actually was. A 6-0 run gave the Huskies a 58-37 lead with 15:37 left and they led by as many as 31 points until the final Fordham run.

"Our job is not margin of victory but to dominate any game we play," Calhoun said. "I don't like getting sloppy and the younger kids did. We gave up points at an astounding rate at the end there."

Kevin Freeman and Jake Voskuhl each had 16 points for the Huskies, while Albert Mouring had 12.

Connecticut shot 57 percent from the field (36-for-62), including 6-for-8 by Freeman and 5-for-6 by Voskuhl, while holding Fordham to 37 percent (26-for-70), including 6-for-25 from 3-point range.

"We wanted to go inside. That's always been one of our strengths," Freeman said. "We were able to start strong because Khalid got the ball to the right people and Jake did a great job of setting the tone inside.'

Jason Harris led the Rams with 15 points, while Teremun Johnson added 13 and senior center John Pugh had a career-high 11.

"Defensively we did a great job today and we looked powerful inside and Khalid did a great job," Calhoun said. "I still say we're going to get better inside and we were today."

The Huskies scored the first eight points of the game and had their first double-digit lead at 12-2. It reached 20 points for the first time at 31-11 on an alley-oop dunk by Edmund Saunders with 8:50 left in the first half. He was charged with a technical foul on the play for taunting. The ensuing free throw by Harris and a short jumper by Johnson got the Rams within 17, the closest they would get the rest of the half.

Hill said he was glad his team got the chance to play in a place like Gampel Pavilion, even if it did lose its third straight game.

"I wanted them to feel this, the pressure, the presence a team like Connecticut has," the former NBA coach said. "We played much better in the second half. Their size was a big factor. They rebound above the rim and there was nothing we could do about that."

The victory gave Connecticut an 11-10 lead in the series and five straight wins over Fordham. The last meeting before Sunday was in the 1978-79 season, before the Huskies were even a member of the Big East.