New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
UConn edges USC
Bouknight, Carlton lead the way for Huskies
UNCASVILLE — Maybe UConn doesn’t win this game a year ago.
Maybe the Huskies are unable to overcome the offensive drought it fell into for much of the final 15 minutes of play. Maybe USC’s overall size and talent ends up winning out in the end.
Maybe. But in case you haven’t noticed, it’s 2020. And while that hasn’t been good news on a lot of counts, it certainly has offered a different, and better, version of the UConn men’s basketball team.
“We were playing great toward the end of last year, and we brought back a lot of key players from last year,” sophomore guard James Bouknight said. “The recipe we had at the end of last year, we just brought it over. And implementing the new guys, we’re able to take their toughness and add it on to what we have. That’s a recipe for winning.”
Bouknight scored 18 points, Josh Carlton made the most of his major minutes after languishing on the bench for UConn’s first two games, and the
Huskies topped USC 61-58 in a Roman Legends Classic game inside Bubbleville Thursday night.
“It helps that we’ve won eight straight,” coach Dan Hurley said afterwards.
What’s that, you say? UConn is only 3-0 on the young season. But the Huskies won their final five games of last season, and have taken with them that ability to win games — even when they don’t play particularly well.
“Success for us, at this time of year — until we’re comfortable offensively, you’ve got to win with your defense, toughness, grit and togetherness,” Hurley said. “Plus, to win the backboard against a team with that type of size, just showed how tough we were (Thursday).”
Despite USC’s starting skyline of the Mobley brothers — 7-foot Evan, a likely NBA lottery pick, and 6-10 Isaiah — UConn won the rebounding battle by a 42-31 margin. Carlton led the way with 11 boards (to go with nine points), and Bouknight and fellow wing Tyrese Martin added seven apiece.
Six of Carlton’s rebounds were off the offensive glass.
“Coach pushed us in practice,” the 6-11 senior said. “Coming into the game, we brought the same intensity and did what the team needs to do.”
Carlton can hide a lot easier after losing some 25 pounds in the offseason, and he was certainly hidden deep on UConn’s bench in its first two games. He logged a mere three minutes in the Huskies’ season-opening win over Central Connecticut State last week and, apparently due to the lack of intensity he showed in that game and in practice, didn’t play a single second in the Huskies’ win over Hartford two nights later.
But Hurley hinted on Wednesday that Carlton would see some time against the Trojans. After freshman Adama Sanogo picked up his second foul about 51⁄ minutes into the
2 game, Carlton was Hurley’s first substitute off the bench. He quickly scored on a pair of putbacks, and later added a sweet spin move and an inside bucket for eight first-half points and a team-high seven rebounds.
“I talked to Josh after the (Hartford) game, and he wasn’t happy that he wasn’t playing, I’ll say it just like that,” Bouknight noted. “He got his chance today, and he turned up. He was a dog out there. He fought for his minutes. He played a great game.”
“Instead of caving in and turtling up, he’s fighting back,” Hurley said. “I’m just so proud of him. It speaks a lot to his character. We don’t win that game without Josh.”
UConn extended a fivepoint halftime lead to 13 on an impressive, onehanded, putback jam by Isaiah Whaley a little over 51⁄ minutes into the
2 second half. The Huskies, however, went cold after that, missing 14 of their next 15 shots from the floor as USC (which wasn’t exactly scorching the nets, either) pulled to within three following an Evan Mobley free throw with 5:15 left.
Bouknight ended an 0-for-9 UConn drought by converting a conventional 3-point play. USC was back to within three for the final possession, but Drew Peterson and Noah Baumann missed jumpers, the latter blocked by Whaley. After Isaiah Mobley grabbed a loose ball, Evan Mobley missed on another 3-pointer, and UConn’s R. J. Cole secured the rebound to seal the victory.
Martin followed Bouknight in the scoring column with 11 points and Whaley added 10.
“I’m not sure that I’ve coached many guys with as much of a will and competitiveness,” Hurley said of Whaley, the 6-9 senior. “The guy just has incredibly strong will. What he does defensively, the energy he plays with, was the difference for our team.”