Jackson out with broken bone in wrist
Big East resets Huskies’ schedule
The UConn men have lost freshman Andre Jackson for an indefinite period, due to a broken bone in his left wrist.
Jackson was injured in a light, skill-work practice Monday, but UConncoaches aren’t sure howit happened.
“We’re still trying to see when it happened from watching practice video,” coach Dan Hurley said Wednesday, in a ZOOM call with state reporters. “Was it on dunk? ‘Dre’s a tough kid and didn’t really feel the pain until that nextday. We’rekind of trying to figureit outoffthe practice film.”
A highly-touted recruit from Amsterdam, N.J., Jackson, 6 feet 6, averaged 8.3 minutes over the first four games, with four points and six rebounds. There is no timetable for his return; the UConn medical staff will monitor the healing process.
Jackson also missed time when he first arrived on campus last summer with a knee injury that required minor surgery. The injuries have made it difficult for him to settle in to the college game, learn the defensive system, and nowis a time the Hurley would have liked to get him more involved. The Huskieshavestruggledoffensively the last three games, and lost a heart-breaker to Creighton in overtime on Sunday.
“Post-Creighton, you’re feeling anurgencytoget ‘Dre on the court,” Hurley said. “The thought process was, ‘Man, we’ve got to get this guy up to speed defensively so wecangethistalent onthe court.”
Schedule adjustments
The Big East announced makeup dates for the Huskies’ postponed December games. UConn will play at DePaul on Jan. 11, at home against St. John’s on Jan. 10, at Providence on Feb. 10 and at Georgetown Feb. 24.
The Huskies will not try to schedule a nonconference game the week after Christmas, but the players will stay on campus, and after three days off return to practice together on Christmas Day, which Hurley sees as chemistry building, with a socially distanced holiday dinner, and work toward the
resumption of the season Dec 30 against DePaul at Gampel Pavilion. (Had players gone home for Christmas, they would have had to quarantine upon returning, triggering the postponement of the Dec. 30 game.)
“We’ve got to take advantage of all this practice time from Christmas Day really up through our Marquette game [Jan. 5],” Hurley said, “we’ve got to try to make up for all the time we’ve lost. We’ve got a lot to do. The Creighton game was like an early season game for us, to
find out our best course of action in terms of roles and identity. We’ve got to figure that out on the fly and find some people on the offensive end that can support [James Bouknight] and give us a chance to win.”
The updated schedule gives UConn nine games in January, including three road games in a row, at Marquette Jan. 5, at Butler Jan. 9 and at DePaul Jan. 11, in effect a threecity Midwest swing. The Huskies have seven games in February.
Akok Akok getting closer
Akok Akok could add another weapon at both ends for UConn, as he moves closer to returning from the ruptured Achilles he sustained last Feb. 16. The last stages of his rehab have been slowed by a hamstring strain and the program’s two disruptions due to COVID 19. This next break could get Akok, 6-9, back on track to play most of the conference games.
“We got to try to get Akok in a position where we can activate him for game night,” Hurley said. “He’s maybe a couple of games away from being able to make his debut if everything continues to go well.”
Polley back on the court
Tyler Polley missed the Creighton game, because he had not completed the COVID protocol coming out of the team shutdown. Hurleysaidhe’sback.“Tyler’s all set,” Hurley said. “He’ll go live, full practice on [Friday]. He’s obviously a critically important guy, especially with the loss of ‘Dre.”
Cole’s rebound
R.J. Colehadaroughgame Sunday, going 2-for-13 from the floorandmissingtwofree throwswith11.2 seconds left, giving Creighton the chance to tie the game and send it to OT. On Sunday night, Cole impressed teammates, coaches and fans with a Tweet, addressed to UConn Nation, concluding, “I owe y’all one.”
“R.J. doesn’t owe anybody any apologies,” Hurley said. “R.J. answered a critical question we had about him [with his defensive play]. His offenseisgoingtocomewhen he gets more games after sitting out a year. His sharpness offensively will return and he will be the type of guy who will make five or six or seven of those 13 shots going forward. R.J., he’s a confident guy. I thought that was really asmartthing to put out that night, send a message to the fan base about owning it. But he’s the type of guy who will play well enough for us that he won’t feel like he has to do that. We need him. We need more more people on the perimeter who can score double figures for us.”