‘I don’t think I’m done’
URI transfer Martin driven to reach his potential at UConn
This is why Tyrese Martin left Rhode Island for Connecticut. This is why he left the A-10 for the Big East.
To push himself to be all he can be at a place with four national championships. To meet the challenges of Villanova and Creighton and the rest.
After the overtime loss last week to Creighton, a Big East opener that UConn should have won in regulation, the coach who had recruited Martin to URI laid down one of those challenges.
The rest of his team, Dan Hurley insisted, cannot strand James Bouknight on an island. Bouknight Island.
The place where UConn’s next great one scores 40 points, the place where he is asked to do just about everything while the rest of the team waves from a cruise ship.
It is the map to stardom for Bouknight, yet it also is an anchor that burdens him with the weight of every expectation, of every opponent’s defensive attention. It is not the map to great Big East success.
Somebody had to grab a lifeboat immediately Wednesday night and start rowing for Bouknight Island in UConn’s second game in 27 days.
So Tyrese Martin did. The brawny 6-foot-6, 215-pound junior transfer from Rhode Island started rowing like crazy. And so did others like Josh Carlton, who came off the bench for 11 points and 10 rebounds. And so did an active defense that held DePaul to 38 percent shooting at Gampel Pavilion in UConn’s 82-61 victory — their first in the Big East since March 2013.
“After (Bouknight) scoring 40 points, you would think the next team would come in here and just load up on him and leave us open and things like that,” Martin said. “Try to crowd James. That’s kind of what happened. We just stepped up and made plays.”
That Martin did.
After a 1-for-6 shooting disappointment against Creighton, hitting a jumper in the first two minutes certainly helped. Yet it was
when Brendan Adams found him for a 3-pointer with 3:18 left in the first half and he found Adams for a 3 only 47 seconds later that the Huskies were off to a 13-point lead and there was no turning back.
In the second half, there he was with another 3, a Johnny-on-the-spot layup after Carlton had his shot blocked and a hellacious two-handed dunk off a Jalen Gaffney feed. In case you wondered whether Bouknight enjoyed having a running mate, there was Bouknight 19 seconds later stealing the ball from Kobe Elvis for a showtime windmill dunk of his own.
“I feel like after the dunk that I had, he fed off the energy that I had, came down and did his little ‘SportsCenter’ dunk,” Martin said. “It was nice he did that.”
Sitting with Martin on the postgame Zoom call, Bouknight broke into a laugh.
“I just felt like I had to top what he did,” Bouknight said.
When Martin was finished, he had 22 points and 10 rebounds. Bouknight got his 20 points, without the benefit of any 3s or a particularly great shooting night. He was James Bouknight and that was enough. Marcus Zegarowski comes to town. Charlie Moore comes to town. Heralded Big East preseason players. It’s early but we haven’t seen anyone better in the conference than Bouknight yet.
“My fear was that James is a problem because of his offensive prowess,” DePaul coach Dave Leitao said. “But if you spend too much time on it, then the other guys open up. Martin was a guy that really capitalized on some freedom, freedom of movement. He made shots. He made plays. He rebounded. Give credit to him.”
Martin at the 3, as Leitao pointed out, is an exterior and interior factor. In focusing on Bouknight, he said his team didn’t do nearly a good enough job on base defense on Martin and denying post opportunities.
“Tyrese is so athletic,” Hurley said. “He’s so active. He’s a guy we can post some. He is an excellent rebounder. He’s on the offensive glass. Change of possession he really gets on in transition. When he gets downhill on the drive, particularly with that left hand, he has the ability to finish at the rim.
“All he can do defensively and rebounding, it’s really encouraging.”
The day Hurley was hired in 2018, I remember his dad, Bob, the legendary high school coach and Naismith Hall of Famer, pointing up at the wall in the Werth Family Center and saying, “Look at those banners. This is an elite program.” The other thing I remember him doing was looking down the gym at the UConn players and saying, “I think they need to get bigger. They’re not as physically strong. I thought I’d see some kids thicker.”
R.J. Cole, the transfer from Howard, is thicker. And good grief, Martin looks like a bodybuilder. They’ve seen the banners, too. After missing the first game for playing in an unsanctioned summer league game, Martin had seven rebounds in his debut followed by three games of 10 rebounds each. He’s listed as a guard. He’s a wing. He’s a swingman. To me his position is Raging Bull.
“Rebounding keeps me involved in the game,” Martin said. “It keeps me going and locked in. I take it very seriously.”
He also gives Hurley versatility with his lineup.
“He’s obviously very physical, got great physical stature,” Hurley said. “He’s super athletic. He’s got a toughness about him. He’s more a streaky shooter. More of a 1-for-3 3-point guy (he was 2-for-3 against DePaul).
“Because of everything we missed in the summer, the preseason, the secret scrimmages and the exhibitions and all the nonconference games, we’re learning on the fly how to use him and where he can be effective. Another downside of this COVID thing is you’re learning about your team in Game 2 of conference play. There’s going to be a lot of evolving and adapting as we learn more about R.J. and Tyrese in game situations.”
Martin made it clear in a preseason Zoom call in October that he was happy at Rhode Island. He called it a great experience. He said coach David Cox is family. He averaged 12.8 points and 7.1 rebounds on a good team last season. He also talked about going home to Allentown, Pennsylvania, when COVID hit in March and making a difficult decision to transfer. Rhode Island and the A-10 certainly aren’t chopped liver. Still, he wanted more. He looked at Oregon and a couple of SEC schools.
He chose to join the coach who had successfully recruited him in the fall of 2017 and left for UConn in the spring of 2018 before his own arrival in Kingston. He called UConn a higher level.
“I just feel like it was the fastest way for me to be the player I need to be and help my family out as soon as possible, get to that next level,” Martin said in October. “And that the playing at a bigger school in the right system for me would help that.”
On Wednesday night, after he had led the lifeboats out to Bouknight Island, he said some more.
“Coming to this school, I knew what the expectations were and I have to fulfill them,” Martin said. “I don’t think I’m done. I still have more I can do. I feel like playing in the Big East and what I’m doing right now is going to help me and this team be successful.”