Whaley and the Jersey Boys
Trio powers Huskies to huge win at Seton Hall
NEWARK, N.J. — In 2001, Dan Hurley took over the head coaching reins at St. Benedict’s Prep, a struggling program in a dilapidated neighborhood. He transformed it into one of the better programs in the nation.
Sound familiar?
Twenty years later, and just a few blocks down the road, Hurley added to his legend as a program-builder on Wednesday night at the Prudential Center. Behind Isaiah Whaley’s double-double and defensive dominance and strong efforts by a pair of Jersey Boys, UConn rolled to a 69-58 win over Seton Hall that clinched a thirdplace finish in the Huskies’ first year back in the Big East and Hurley’s third year at the helm.
“Looking where we were that March/April (2018) when we came in, being a 180 KenPom, the different programs we were sandwiched between, and now, in Year 3, going up in weight and having a chance to go 11-6 if we win on Saturday, and having us back in the NCAA tournament,” Hurley marveled, “we recruited the right guys, we’ve developed them, we’ve built a culture, the players we’ve inherited helped us build a culture. This is what Dave (Benedict, UConn’s athletic director) hired me to do.”
UConn (13-6, 10-6 Big East) also all but clinched its first NCAA tournament berth since 2016 with Wednesday’s Quad 1 win. Hurley wasn’t as talkative on that subject.
“The bubble doesn’t bother me,” he said. “I don’t think we’re still on the bubble. I don’t even want to talk about that.”
The Huskies close out their regular season at home on Saturday against an improved Georgetown team. They’ll begin Big East tour
nament action on March 11 at 9 p.m. at Madison Square Garden against the winner of the No. 6 vs. No. 11 seed (which, as of today, would be St. John’s or DePaul).
“We’re not satisfied, we’re still hungry,” Whaley said. “We want more. We’re gonna celebrate this, but we’re gonna get right back tow work (Thursday).”
Whaley, the 6-foot-9 senior forward, finished with 17 points (one shy of his career high) and 10 rebounds. More impressively, he swatted away and disrupted Seton Hall leading scorer Sandro “Mamu” Mamukelashvili all night. Mamu, a 6-11 senior, finished with 20 points, but shot just 7-for-20 from the floor. After shooting 12 free throws in Seton Hall’s win at UConn last month, Mamu got to the line just three times on Wednesday.
“That was probably one our main focuses, to make sure we didn’t foul him,” Whaley said. “He shot too many free throws the last time we played them, we gave him a lot of easy shots. We know he’s gonna make shots, but it was all about making things as difficult as we possibly could.”
Added Hurley: “Isaiah’s obviously MVP of the game, just making things so hard for Mamu, making him earn those numbers.”
Adama Sanogo, the Mali native who attended nearby Patrick School and had all but committed to Seton Hall in April before being swiped away by Hurley & Co., notched career highs with 16 points and nine rebounds. R.J. Cole, who grew up in nearby Linden, added 14 points — nine in the second half.
The law office of Whaley, Sanogo & Cole did enough to overcome a fairly pedestrian 16 points (on 4-for-13 shooting) by leading scorer James Bouknight. In fact, after Bouknight went to the bench with his third foul just over three minutes into the second half, the Huskies extended their lead from five points to nine before he returned about seven minutes later.
Seton Hall, meanwhile, fell to 13-11 overall, 10-8 in the Big East and, in all likelihood, off the NCAA tournament bubble for now.
Whaley’s putback bank with four seconds left in the half gave UConn a 27-26 lead at the break — its first lead of the game — despite shooting just 38-percent from the floor. The Hall had jumped out to a 7-0 start and led 15-6 a little over six minutes into the game, during which the Huskies made just one shot and turned the ball over four times.
“They jumped us,” Hurley said. “We knew they were gonna come out fast in a game that was critical for them.”
But UConn clamped down defensively, swatting away Mamu on several drives to the hole. Playing his final game on his home floor, Mamu had eight points at the break but was just 3-for-10 from the floor. Hall shot a mere 36 percent for the half.
Sanogo and Whaley combined for 15 points, nine rebounds and four blocks in the opening half. Bouknight added seven points and four boards.
And now, UConn can all but book a ticket to Indiana, where this year’s NCAA tournament will be held. Hurley might not want to talk about that too much, but even he knows it’s true.
“As we head to tournament time,” he noted, “obviously the stakes are raised. People are playing for their careers.”
RIM RATTLINGS
It wasn’t exactly a sea of Seton Hall blue at the Prudential Center. More like puddles of blue — with a dash of Husky navy blue here and there.
A crowd of about 1,700 fans were allowed in the building for the first time this season, hoping to cheer on the Pirates’ four seniors in their vitally important final home game. UConn played homewrecker instead.
Seton Hall had about 3,000 requests for tickets, according to the Asbury Park Press, and priority for allotting them out went to donors, season-ticket holders and students (who got more than 70 percent of the tickets, all free, via lottery). The remainder went to players’ families and frontline health care workers. And, perhaps not on purpose, some UConn fans.
Seton Hall had an application online last week, and anybody could apply. Applicants had to pay for the tickets up front, and if they weren’t picked, would get a refund. The maximum amount a person could procure was four tickets.
Longtime UConn fan Stephen Sanzari of Madison put in for two tickets for he and his father, Adolfo, and got both. He wasn’t the only UConn fan that made it into “The Rock.” R.J. Cole’s parents, Javicia and Robert, were in the house. Javicia was able to procure two tickets since she works for a Seton Hall sponsor.
There was no floor seating; fans were grouped in twos and fours throughout the lower and upper bowls.