Polley lifts Huskies
Without Bouknight, senior forward leads UConn men past Butler.
Dan Hurley and Tyler Polley had a conversation as the UConn men returned to practice on Christmas Day.
Polley had gone scoreless in back-to-back games, then missed a game due to COVID-19 protocol on Dec. 20.
“That was beautiful self-care, a three-day break before Christmas,” Hurley said, “and we had some conversations. ‘You’ve got the ultimate green light.’ If he can get it off, he probably should shoot it.”
Polley, a senior, has become a weapon off the bench, even as the Huskies’ top player, James Bouknight, had to remain there with his elbow injury Saturday. For the second game in a row, Polley came out launching, scoring 19 points, and with Tyrese Martin good for 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists, the Huskies were able to make a Big East road game without their best player look like a routine win, beating Butler 72-60 at the Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“It was important, with things going on the last couple of days,” Hurley said, “James’ injury and [Javonte Brown’s] departure, that we respond and show as a program we’re able to focus and compartmentalize and play a winning style of basketball.”
The Huskies travel to Chicago for the game against DePaul on Monday night and, with back-to-back road wins, there’s a good chance by game time they will be an AP Top 25 team for the first time since 2016. The Huskies are already in the top 20 in NCAA NetRankings, an important metric for NCAA Tournament selectors.
“We’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing in Year 3 of rebuilding a program,” Hurley said.
To be the caliber of team that measures up against Huskies of the past, it is important to get production from a wide range of players and places and, since Bouknight, who scored 60 points in the first two conference games, went down with his injury at Marquette on Tuesday, the Huskies (6-1, 3-1 in the Big East) are discovering what others can do. Polley scored 23 off the bench in that game, and on Saturday made his first four 3-point attempts to put UConn in control in the first half.
“That conversation [with Hurley] helped me a lot,” said Polley, who missed most of last season after tearing his ACL, “just to know that the coaching staff believed in me. Coming back from the injury, struggling early, not playing to my ability, when he told me that it helped my confidence. They had my back, and when he told me [I had the green light], I was ready.”
Brendan Adams, who started for Bouknight, had nine points and three assists, with solid contributions on defense. “He quietly had a really, really good game,” Hurley said.
Isaiah Whaley had nine points and three blocks. Guard R.J. Cole had seven points and seven rebounds. The Huskies had to overcome 10 first-half turnovers, and Butler’s 50 percent shooting in the second half, but trailed only briefly in the opening minutes. They held Butler scoreless for 6:02 to take an 11-3 lead, and were never really threatened. Butler made only 5 of 15 attempts on threes, and that was the difference in the game. UConn went 10-for-21, with Polley (5 for 8) and Martin (3 for 4) particularly efficient, a late three from Whaley served as a the punctuation mark.
Though he made the trip, Bouknight didn’t dress for the game. So far UConn has called the injury a hyper-extended elbow, but has been consulting with the medical staff. “We’ve obviously got to be very smart with all of our players,” Hurley said. “We’ll just communicate with doctors and do the right thing in terms of when we can get him back.”
Akok Akok, out nearly 11 months since rupturing his Achilles, did dress and made his season debut, scoring a basket on his first possession, playing six minutes.
“It was a great moment in my career,” Akok said, “a special day. I’ve been waiting for this a long time. Once I get a couple of games under my belt, I can get it rolling.”
Bryce Nze had 19 points, Aaron Thompson 14 for Butler (3-6, 2-4).
The Huskies shot 50 percent in the first half, building a 10-point lead on Adams’ 3-pointer, but Butler crept within five at the break. Martin hit a couple of threes early in the second half, the second one giving the Huskies a 16-point lead, and driving buckets by Jalen Gaffney and Cole made it 56-39 with under 10 minutes left.
UConn and Butler were playing for the first time since the Huskies’ victory in the 2011 NCAA Final, a time when wins like this were routine, and being ranked was a given. But the program has not sniffed the rankings since during the careers of seniors Polley, Whaley and Josh Carlton.
“That’s definitely something we’re aware of ” Polley said, “but we try not to be too focused on that.
“We try to focus on a next-game mentality because we’re in the Big East, this is a tough conferece and things can switch up very quickly. If we do become ranked on Monday that would be great, a good accomplishment for us early in the season, but we’ve just got to keep going, keep truckin.’ Keep truckin.’ ”