Hawkins must take the chance to grow

With depleted Huskies, freshman can show what he’s got against St. Bonaventure

Jordan Hawkins really cares. Sometimes that means the Uconn men’s basketball freshmen guard gets in his own head. It’s like he wants to be perfect on the court, so he starts pressing. As any classic overthinker can tell you, that’s when you make mistakes.

For No. 15 Uconn (8-2) , this is an opportunity to showcase who they are when the chips are down. Uconn finds itself without two of its team leaders as Tyrese Martin (wrist) and Adama Sanogo (abdominal strain), out with injuries. On Saturday against St. Bonaventure (8-1) in the Never Forget Classic in Newark, N.J., Uconn must take the opportunity to figure out its identity.

On Wednesday night against West Virginia, Hawkins struggled. He found himself as offensive option No. 2, and the result was not pretty. The crowd was hostile and it was Hawkins first true road game. The sharpshooter failed to find the bottom of the net going 0-for-7 with zero points and three turnovers.

Hawkins looked flustered and the crowd seemed to affect his shot causing an air ball or two. His overall body language wasn’t great, he looked frustrated and took the loss and his play extra hard.

“We are trying to keep Jordan’s head up, he’s really disappointed in himself,” said Andre Jackson following the loss. “He’s a freshman still. He’s still learning and he’s really down himself.” Hawkins wants to win badly. “He wants to be good for us like, now,” Jackson said. “He wants to perfect, and nobody is really perfect. Whenever he does something or messes something up, he shows it. We are trying to keep him positive and keep his head up.”

Hawkins has shown flashes of greatness, from 16 points against Auburn to 15 points against Grambling State. He has the chance to be

the missing link for the offense when everybody gets healthy. He could be a sharpshooter for a team that lacks a lot of consistent shooters, and ball handler on a team that doesn’t have more than a few. If Uconn wants to survive the next few weeks and make a deep tournament run, it will need Hawkins to mature quickly.

“We’re relying on him right now with all the injures more than probably fair to him as a young guy,” said Uconn coach Dan Hurley.

Hawkins has the talent and the passion to be a major factor. Now’s the time to showcase who he truly is and why fans, teammates and coaches rave about him.

“He’s going to be a great player,” Hurley said. “He’s going to be next in the small line of wings that have played here that have done major things . ... In every successful person’s story there is the struggles, you learn, you grow and achieve greatness. Will it be tomorrow? I hope so, if not tomorrow, it’s coming.”

Martin and Sanogo updates

Both players are making progress, with Martin ahead of schedule. According to Hurley, Martin practiced on Friday. He’s a gametime decision for the game against St. Bonaventure.

“(Martin) did a little bit of everything, we will see how the injury is overnight,” Hurley said.

Sanogo is making progress, but isn’t quite ready yet.

“He’s ramping up some things in terms of movement,” Hurley said. “It’s one of those things we are being really careful and we want to get him back and keep him in the lineup.”

According to Hurley, there is a chance Sanogo will play in the Providence game on Dec.18.

Here’s everything you need to know about Saturday’s matchup.

The basics

No. 15 Uconn vs. St. Bonaventure

Time: 3:30 p.m., Saturday

Place: Prudential Center, Newark, N.J.

Series: 2-1 Uconn leads

Last meeting: Uconn won, 95-78, on Jan. 3, 2003, in the Hartford Civic Center

TV: ESPN2

Live Stream: ESPN+ app

Radio: Uconn Sports Network (Mike Crispino, Wayne Norman). Sirius-85. Sxm-app-85. 97.9-ESPN Hartford. WILI-1400AM (Willimantic). WATR-1320-AM (Waterbury). WAVZ-1300-AM (New Haven). WGCH-1490-AM (Greenwich).