STORRS, Conn. -- Sterling Gibbs is too good a shooter to keep missing. At least, that's what the Connecticut guard was thinking as he struggled through a little slump.

Apparently he was right.

Gibbs scored 26 points, the most the graduate transfer has scored for his team, as No. 23 UConn held off Memphis 81-78 Saturday night at Gampel Pavilion.

"I felt like it was just a matter of time," Gibbs said. "Not saying that in a cocky way, but you work so hard shooting the ball each and every day that it's bound to happen. And I think this was a decent time for it to come through a little bit."

Gibbs was just 1-for-5 on 3-pointers in the Huskies' last game, a painful 57-55 loss to Temple on Tuesday, and had hit just 11 of 30. He led the Big East while playing for Seton Hall last year by connecting on 43.6 percent of his attempts.

But against Memphis he hit 5 of 7 from behind the arc. What changed?

"They went zone and his eyes lit up," UConn coach Kevin Ollie said.

Memphis (10-5, 1-1 American) played more zone than it has recently in part because its big men were in heavy foul trouble.

Nineteen of Shaq Goodwin's team-high 23 points came in the second half and he made 11 of his 12 free throws. But the senior big man fouled out with 1:10 to play.

UConn's Shonn Miller, who drew Goodwin's fifth and final foul, made two free throws following the infraction to put the Huskies ahead 74-72.

But Avery Woodson hit a 3-pointer on Memphis' ensuing possession to put his team up by a point with 52.5 seconds to go.

Gibbs was fouled on a drive with 43.8 seconds left and made two free throws to make it 76-75.

Four days after suffering a home loss, UConn (11-4, 2-1) was facing a deficit in the final minute at home again knowing it was on the verge of a two-game road trip.

"It was really important to get a win today," Gibbs said. "I think we really tried to focus in the last couple days of practice of making sure that we played with desperation. More in the second half, we did that."

A miss by Memphis' Trahson Burrell with 31 seconds to play seemed to end the Tigers' chances; but, after Gibbs and Daniel Hamilton hit two free throws each, a Burrell 3-pointer made the score only 80-78.

After one Hamilton free throw, Memphis' Dedric Lawson missed a contested 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have sent the game to overtime.

Hamilton had 13 points and Rodney Purvis 12 for UConn (11-4, 2-1).

"Another close game but we gutted it out in the second half," Ollie said.

Memphis, which was playing its first league road game this season, received 17 points from Burrell.

Memphis won both of the meetings last season, including a 54-53 decision here highlighted by Goodwin's shot with 8.1 seconds to play.

Lawson, the 6-foot-9 freshman who is leading Memphis in scoring, scored 10 points in the opening half Saturday but picked up three quick fouls in the second half and went to the bench after earning his fourth with 14:11 to play.

Foul trouble hampered the Tigers slightly all night, and Goodwin was tagged with fouls on consecutive plays with just under eight minutes to play that gave him a total of four as well.

Even after picking up his fourth foul, however, Goodwin returned to the game after only a brief absence and scored nine of the Tigers' next 12 points.

"We had to win the game. No point in having him sit on the bench," Memphis coach Josh Pastner said. "They were stretching it (the lead) a little bit and we needed scoring in there."

UConn got a boost from a surprise source as reserve center Phil Nolan, who had scored 15 points this season, scored five straight and gave his team a 51-44 lead with 11:12 left.

UConn led 39-37 at halftime, with Purvis, Gibbs and Hamilton accounting for 29 points.

Goodwin scored four quick points, the second on a dunk in transition, to give the visitors an early 6-2 lead. But the senior center picked up his second foul less than a minute later, and was forced to head to the bench with 16 minutes still to play in the first half.

"It's awfully hard not having Shaq there for 16 minutes. It just makes it tough," Pastner said.

NOTES: UConn played its sixth straight game without center Amida Brimah, who is sidelined for at least another month with a broken finger. ... UConn is 5-0 at Gampel Pavilion this season. ... Hamilton is 4-for-24 from the field over his last two games. With three minutes to play and his team up by five points, Hamilton had an unforced turnover and an air ball on consecutive possessions, both of which led to fast breaks for Memphis. ... The Huskies are 11-0 this season when leading at the half and 0-4 when trailing.