The Martin Show
MILWAUKEE — R.J. Cole and Tyrese Martin have now combined for over 3,000 points in their respective college careers.
It only seemed like about half of them came when UConn really needed them on Tuesday night at Fiserv Forum.
Martin poured in a career-high 25 points, including the 1,000th of his career and a couple of huge buckets inside the final 21⁄2minutes, while Cole scored 14 of his 20 points (including the 2,000th of his career) in the latter half to lead UConn to a 78-70 win over Marquette.
“Coach emphasized before the game that road conference games count as 1 1⁄2,” Martin said. “We went with that mindset. We’re coming off a loss, we couldn’t go back home 0-2 in conference play. So, we did what we had to do to come out with this win.”
UConn (10-3 overall) dropped its Big East season-opener to Providence on Saturday in Hartford.
“I think that was a huge win for us,” added Cole, “because we know what we lacked in the first game against Providence. We figured things out and did it today against Marquette.”
The Golden Eagles fell to 8-5 with their third straight loss.
Martin and Cole, the 3,000-point duo, weren’t the only standouts for UConn. Andre Jackson scored all 10 of his points in the first half and grabbed a game-high seven rebounds to go with three steals. And Adama Sanogo returned after missing the prior four games with an abdominal injury, popping off the bench about five minutes into the game, immediately missed a couple of jump hooks but ultimately scored all six of his points the first half.
“It felt good to be able to come back tonight and get a win,” Sanogo said. “I’m happy to be back.”
But it was Martin and Cole who stepped up the biggest. During one stretch early in the second half, Cole scored eight of UConn’s 10 points as it opened up an 11-point (5847) lead.
Marquette clawed back gradually, getting to within a point (64-63) after an Olivier-Maxence Prosper 3-pointer with 6:30 left. The Golden Eagles had a golden opportunity to tie the game at 67-67 with 3:22 left, when Tyler Kolek hit 6-foot-10 forward Kua Kuath for a wide-open dunk attempt.
But Kuath somehow missed the dunk. About a minute later, Martin drove to the hole for a layup, was fouled and hit the free throw. After Kolek missed a reverse layup, Martin knocked down a jumper with 1:44 remaining to put the Huskies up seven.
Cole pretty much sealed the deal with a tough running jumper inside the final minute.
“We executed down the stretch, guys stepped up and made shots, made plays down the stretch,” said coach Dan Hurley. “With everything we’ve been through with injuries — Isaiah (Whaley) missing Michigan State, Adama and Tyrese missing multiple other games — we’ve got a really good team that’s a couple of possessions away from a one-loss team that’s right in the top 10 right now. Just gotta execute better when you don’t play in a fast-paced game.”
Indeed, Hurley expected a more uptempo game against Marquette and its first-year coach Shaka Smart. The pace and openfloor nature of the game certainly benefited athletic players like Martin, who had 15 points at halftime, and Jackson, who had 10.
“It helps,” Hurley said. “We’ve been playing some really slow-tempo teams. West Virginia and Providence kind of drag you through the mud every game. We felt this was a better game for us, because of the way Shaka’s teams play.”
Jackson only attempted one shot in the latter half, but the two veterans led the way.
“I started feeding off Tyrese,” Cole said. “He kept telling me, ‘Keep playing basketball.’ I was like, ‘I got you.’ He kept making me feel more comfortable in the game. He was big-time today.”
Martin, who returned on Saturday after missing four games with a wrist injury, is wearing a soft cast on his left hand that he may have to sport for the rest of the season. He’s playing through pain, though insisted he was “alright” on Tuesday.
“I just knew the ball found me,” Martin said of his two big, late-game basksets. “As an older guy, I have to go make that play, or R.J. has to go make that play. The ball just happened to be in my hands. So, I made that play for us. But I know if the ball was in his hands, he’d do the same thing.”
Added Hurley: “That’s what the end of the game is all about. You try to put your best players in situations where they’ve got a little bit of space. They’ve got to bring you home. Defenses tighten up. Officials tend to let a lot of things go — except our one game (against Michigan State) in Atlantis. You’ve got to have guards who can win a big one-on-one matchup in space and hit the shot or draw the foul and get to the line, and make the 3.”
Martin and Cole have done that a lot over their respective careers of 3,000 combined points. And they certainly did that on Tuesday night.
RIM RATTLINGS
⏩ Sanogo didn’t start and was on a limit of about 15 minutes. He wound up playing 12 before fatigue hit him in the latter half. Sanogo had practiced fully for the first time in three weeks on Monday.
“The fact that he gave us what he gave us today was amazing,” Hurley said. “I just think he was gassed in the second half. Probably could’ve played him another three minutes, but he started stumbling and bumbling around a little bit, because of the lack of conditioning. He hasn’t played basketball in three weeks.”
⏩ UConn could get a new addition to the roster in as soon as a week. Alex Karaban, the 6-7 Class of 2022 forward who committed to the Huskies this summer, could possibly enroll at the school early and join the team. If he did, Karaban could be with UConn shortly after Christmas — though he almost certainly won’t play this season, much like Akok Akok did a few years ago and guard Cory Floyd Jr. is doing this season.
⏩ Whaley felt a bit under the weather on Tuesday but it wasn’t COVID-related. He started and finished with four points and six rebounds in 31 minutes.
⏩ Darryl Morsell, Marquette’s second-leading scorer (13.8 ppg) and the Big 10 Defensive Player of the Year last season at Maryland, did not play due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols. Prosper started in his place.