UConn tops DePaul, finishes third in Big East
STORRS — Dan Hurley arrived at the postgame press conference Saturday night sporting a t-shirt underneath his sports jacket, a bit of a Don Johnson-circa-1985 look. “I’m not trying to make a fashion statement,” the UConn men’s basketball coach insisted, explaining instead that he had spilled coffee and an orange drink on his dress shirt in the first half.
The Huskies nearly spilled an 18-point secondhalf lead at sold-out Gampel Pavilion, allowing DePaul to rally back to within two possessions and have a chance to make it a twopoint game inside the final 30 seconds.
But UConn was able to hold off the upstart Blue Demons, riding doubledoubles from Adama Sanogo and Tyrese Martin to a 75-68 victory on Senior Night.
“It’s a tricky game, Senior Night,” Hurley noted. “You’re worried about guys and their emotion, and just kind of being too sentimental and really laying an egg. I thought (we played well), all things considered — minus that really bad stretch where we probably should’ve gotten out of here with a 15, 16-point win. We got really, really sloppy there and made it much harder on ourselves.”
Still, despite some spills along the way, UConn (22-8, 13-6 Big East) was able to clinch third place in the Big East standings and the No. 3 seed in next week’s Big East tournament.
“Our goal was to win a regular-season championship, but we didn’t get that,” Martin said after playing likely his final game at Gampel. “Now, just another ring to get. Regular season’s over, we’re into ’chip season. There’s two championships ahead of us that we can win, so we’re just gonna go out there and try to win those.”
Hurley noted that the Huskies have battled adversity this season, including a long COVID pause and injuries that sidelined both Sanogo and Martin earlier in the year.
“These guys have been awesome, they deserve a ton of credit,” the coach said.
“Obviously, you go back and look at games you could have won, could have lost. Dealt with injuries to our very best players. To lose two all-conference level players, a Jabbar list finalist (Sanogo) and Tyrese, who’s an all-conference level player, as well, to lose those guys for a stretch and to end up 22-8 and 13-6 in the Big East ... there’s a lot of really good teams that didn’t get to that number in this league.”
Sanogo, fresh off being named as a finalist for the Kareem Abdul Jabbar Center of the Year award, made more like Tim Duncan with deft inside moves en route to 26 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out late in the game. He was nearly unstoppable in the first half, when he netted 20, capping it off with a layup at the buzzer off a pretty no-look feed from Andre Jackson.
Sanogo had had a relatively quiet 10 points in a 57-50 win over DePaul on Jan. 29 in Chicago, and was motivated not to have a repeat performance.
“An angry Adama is hard to deal with,” Hurley noted.
UConn led by 11 at halftime, and when it pushed its lead up to 18 midway through the second half, the only remaining drama appeared to be when the four senior starters would walk off the floor for the final time — and when would senior walk-on Matt Garry make a much-anticipated appearance. The sellout crowd began chanting “We want Garry!” midway through the second half.
“I heard it,” Hurley admitted.
Perhaps DePaul did, too. The Blue Demons (15-15, 6-14 Big East) rallied and closed to within five a couple of times within the final two minutes, with a chance to get within four with 1:09 left. Javon Freeman-Liberty made one of two free throws to get within 73-68, and though DePaul had a chance to get within two on a David Jones 3-point attempt with 23 seconds left, the shot was off the mark, Tyler Polley made a pair of free throws, and UConn survived.
UConn’s five senior players were honored prior to the game, and most came through in ostensibly the final home game of their careers. Martin finished with 19 points and 16 rebounds, Isaiah Whaley added 10 points and six boards and Polley, getting his first start of the season but 61st of his career, added eight points.
Team leading scorer R.J. Cole was held to just three points on 1-for-9 shooting.
“That speaks to the strength of the team,” said Hurley. “Most teams, in a situation ... when maybe your best player goes 1-for-9, usually you’d lose.”
UConn clinched third place thanks to its win, coupled with Creighton’s loss to Seton Hall earlier Saturday afternoon in Omaha, Nebraska. UConn and Creighton entered the day with identical 12-6 records, but if the Bluejays beat Seton Hall, they would have finished third thanks to a pair of wins over the Huskies this season.
Alas, Seton Hall’s win (and UConn’s) made that scenario moot.
UConn will begin Big East tourney play on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. at Madison Square Garden against either Seton Hall, Marquette or last-place Georgetown.
“It’s a relief to win, because it really could be a blemish,” said Hurley, referring not to his coffeesplotted shirt but a potential loss to 10th-place DePaul. “So, I’m happy to get the win and excited to get to New York.”
RIM RATTLINGS
1 Whaley moved into UConn’s all-time top-five for games played with the 135th of his career. He’s now tied for fifth with Denham Brown and Tyler Olander, and still conceivably catch Shabazz Napier (143), Kevin Freeman (140), Niels Giffey (139) and Jake Voskuhl (135).
He was disappointed the Huskies weren’t able to maintain a big enough lead to allow Garry, a Southington product, to make a lategame cameo.
“I hang out with him a lot, so he’s probably gonna give me a lot of heat for that,” Whaley said. “I’m probably gonna hear about the most out of everybody. We definitely owe him for that.”
1 Hurley said he made the decision to start Polley over Jackson, a sophomore, after calling his staff while driving in to the game.
“It was an easy decision,” Hurley revealed, “because Tyler’s played so great, and Andre’s such an unselfish guy.”
1 UConn finishes unbeaten (8-0) at Gampel for the 10th time in its history and first time since 2008-09.
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