The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Big Bouknight return
Guard scores 18 in first appearance since elbow injury
BIG EAST UCONN 73 PROVIDENCE 61
STORRS — The Blues Brothers couldn’t have said it any better.
Following UConn’s win at Xavier on Saturday, Dan Hurley noted: “When the band is fully back together again, hopefully we’ll be able to prove that (we’re a really good team).”
On Tuesday night at Gampel Pavilion, the band was indeed back together in UConn’s relatively easy 73-61 win over Providence.
The lead singer, of course, was James Bouknight. And though he was coming off the bench in his first return to game action in six weeks, Bouknight was no understudy. In fact, the sophomore guard was even better than before his elbow injury, finishing with 18 points, four rebounds, a pair of steals and an alltime highlight-reel dunk in 24 minutes.
“It’s been my teammates and my staff, really, that’s kept me positive throughout this whole process,” said Bouknight, who underwent surgery to remove a bone spur on Jan. 12. “Going out there and performing the way I performed, that’s on my teammates.”
Indeed, Bouknight had a talented back-up band. Tyrese Martin was everywhere, scoring 16 of his 18 points in the first half. R.J. Cole was back as the starting point guard after coming off the bench the prior two games and contributed 13 points and five assists. Josh Carlton, who played nary a second against Xavier, had seven points and seven rebounds in 10 minutes.
“Bouknight’s return was much-needed, Tyrese played great, R.J.’s second
half was exactly what we needed,” Hurley said. “I’m really proud, in particular, of Josh today. That told the story of the game.”
More importantly, UConn (10-5, 7-5 Big East) is, at long last, just about completely healthy. Andre Jackson, who also missed six weeks earlier this season with a broken wrist, started in place of Bouknight and played sticky defense on Friar star guard David Duke, helping to hold him to 11 harmless points on 3-for-16 shooting. Martin had been battling a balky ankle but responded with his second straight big game.
The only casualty was Akok Akok, who played just a single minute after complaining of not feeling great physically before the game. Ironically, it was the one-year anniversary of Akok’s season-ending torn Achilles tendon injury that he’s battled back from.
“That was something we rallied around as a team today,” Hurley said.
Otherwise, the band was back together.
“This is what we envisioned,” Hurley said. “Obviously, we don’t have a lot of time to get this new group that’s now together the opportunity to blend and develop that chemistry. But today was a positive step.”
Added Bouknight: “The goal is still to make the (NCAA). With the team we have right now, everyone healthy, we feel like we can make a run in that tournament.”
Bouknight entered the game for the first time with 14:41 left in the first half and immediately hit Martin with a lob pass for a transition layup. Less than two minutes later, he followed up a Tyler Polley miss with the kind of one-handed, putback dunk that will live on highlight videos forever.
Bouknight quickly added a steal after that, scored on a transition layup on which he seemed to be playing in a different gear than everyone else, was fouled and converted the 3-point play. He added another conventional 3-point play before heading back to the bench.
In his first five-plus minutes in six weeks, Bouknight had eight points, a steal, an assist, a rebound, a foul and a dunk perhaps topped only by his onehanded alley-oop slam last season at ECU.
In 12 first-half minutes, Bouknight had 12 points. Martin led the way with 16, as the Huskies held a 37-31 lead at the break.
PC (11-11, 7-9) missed its first six shots of the latter half and the Huskies gradually pulled away, never really threatened again.
There was a bit of a scare late in the game, when Bouknight collided with PC big man Ed Croswell and hurt his left leg, unable to take the ensuing two free throws. He was worked on by trainer James Doran on the bench, spent some time on a stationary bike behind the bench. It was just cramps, Hurley reported.
“It feels good to have him back,” Martin said of Bouknight. “We’re a deep team when we’ve got everybody healthy. We’re one of the best teams in this league.”