Sanogo’s future is bright
Adama Sanogo won over UConn fans long before he ever set foot on the Gampel Pavilion floor ... or even the Storrs campus.
When Sanogo committed to the Huskies last May, his high school coach noted that the big man from Mali had been planning on committing to Seton Hall until Dan Hurley & Co. swept him away.
It was enough to further annoy Hall coach Kevin Willard, a vocal opponent of UConn’s return to the Big East. And with that, enough to win a place in Husky fans’ hearts.
And once the season finally began, Sanogo’s play further endeared him to both his coaching staff and fans.
“I always believed Adama would be an impact player as a freshman,” said Andy Borman, executive director of Sanogo’s AAU team, the New York Rens, “just because he’s such a great kid, such a great teammate, and he’s extremely talented.”
Sanogo averaged 7.3 points and 4.8 rebounds in 23 games and earned a spot on the Big East All-Freshman Team. The 6-foot-9 forward earned a spot in the starting lineup on Dec. 30 against DePaul and never relinquished it. He scored in double figures in four of the Huskies’ final games, averaging 11.4 ppg in that span.
“For me, what was pleasantly surprising was his improvement during the year,” Borman said. “A lot of freshmen physically make their improvement in between their freshman and sophomore years. But their freshman year, they’re learning how to be college players. They’re spending a lot of time trying to keep up. It’s a testament to Adama, but also to the coaching staff at UConn. He got better during the season. I feel like that’s uncommon for freshmen.”
Sanogo’s biggest issue this season was foul trouble. He fouled out of two games and found himself in foul trouble in several more, never more so than in a Big East tournament semifinal loss to Creighton. Sanogo was the best player on the floor in the first 51⁄2 minutes, scoring eight points and powering UConn to a 13-2 start.
But he picked up his second foul with 8:47 left in the half and sat until the break. Creighton led by
four at halftime, and Sanogo scored just five points in the latter half while continuing to play in foul trouble.
Other than that, the only thing that held Sanogo back this season was, in one famous instance, his coach. Sanogo was the best player on the floor for the first 27 minutes against St. John’s on Jan. 18, scoring 12 points on a variety of inside baskets. But with just under 13 minutes left and UConn up eight, Dan Hurley took Sanogo out of the game, and he never returned.
St. John’s won by four. Hurley explained the Red Storm went with a smaller, four-guard lineup, and Sanogo had no one to guard. To his credit, Hurley didn’t make the same mistake again against smaller lineups, and Sanogo had success against the likes of Creighton and Villanova.
With that in mind, Hurley wants Sanogo to work on moving his game away from the basket this offseason and becoming more of a perimeter threat. Not necessarily a 3-point shooter, but a guy who can knock down a 12-15-footer and make plays facing the basket.
“Our court got really crowded this year, at times,” Hurley said. “When you have multiple players that aren’t a threat to make a shot from the perimeter, driving lanes become an issue.
“He played so much around the basket, blockto-block and in the paint, being able to play in dribble hand-offs, being able to put four perimeter (players) our there with him, play him at the top of the key a little more ... just getting him comfortable playing away from the basket more is mutually beneficial. It’s gonna help him enhance his career, it’s gonna make us harder to guard, it’s gonna open the court.” Indeed, it will benefit Sanogo, as well. His coach at The Patrick School, Chris Chavannes, said at the time of Sanogo’s commitment that Sanogo saw UConn as the best place to put him on a faster pace to the NBA. Back-to-thebasket bigs are almost an anachronism in the modern NBA, with most forwards and even centers playing on the perimeter and hoisting up 3s.
Hurley has never really run his offense through a big man as a college coach, though his best teams have aways had balance, with an alpha guard leading the way. At Rhode Island, Hassan Martin, a 6-7 forward, certainly had his moments, as well as 6-9 Kuran Iverson, though he was more of a wing. But it was guards and wings like Jared Terrell, E.C. Matthews, Jarvis Garrett and Xavier Munford who were the main scoring options. At UConn, it’s been Jalen Adams, Christian Vital and James Bouknight, for the most part.
But with Bouknight likely heading to the NBA, Sanogo could emerge as one of the Huskies’ top scoring options, along with point guard R.J. Cole and wing Tyrese Martin. Hurley believes the team could run its offense through Sanogo frequently next season.
“I think Adama’s a special kind of player,” Hurley said. “I think he’s got a chance next year to be one of the best forwards in the country. I don’t want to put numbers next to what he can do, but the hands, the feet, the touch, his commitment level is top-notch. He’s a tough guy, a winner. He’ll add skills quickly, as well. If we have a regular player development season, I think he’s a first or second-team all-conference players next year, one of the best big guys out there, potentially. I think he’s that good.”