Huskies hoping to halt two-game losing streak
It was Game 1, A.B. — After Bouknight.
Playing its first game without star guard James Bouknight back on Jan. 9, UConn got a secondstraight sizzling performance off the bench from Tyler Polley and topped Butler 72-60 at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Polley was named Big East Player of the Week two days later, Bouknight appeared as though he’d be back fairly soon, and the Huskies completed a threegame road trip sweep with a win at DePaul and were ranked in the AP Top 25 for the first time in five years.
Two weeks later, Bouknight is still at least a couple of weeks from returning — maybe more. Polley is coming off a scoreless, 0-for-4 clunker at Creighton, and UConn has lost two straight and is out of the Top 25.
UConn (7-3, 4-3 Big East) hopes to get back on track against Butler, which makes its first-ever visit to Gampel Pavilion on Tuesday (8:30 p.m., FoxSports1).
Hurley said the absence of Bouknight, who had elbow surgery on Jan. 12, has had a “psychological affect on the team, just from a confidence standpoint.” But as he pointed out to his players, the program’s best stretch on the road it’s had in years a few weeks ago was accomplished mostly without Bouknight.
“So, we’ve got to find a way to rally around that,” Hurley said. “Obviously, when you lose one of the best players in the country, you’re in Year 3 of rebuilding a program and you’ve gone up in level significantly in conference, this is not an easy situation. But, we did win three in a row, basically without (Bouknight).”
Now, it’s Butler (5-7, 4-5) that has won two straight, including a win over 17thranked Creighton, which completed a two-game series sweep of UConn on Saturday, and a 14-point win a week ago at DePaul.
Butler (5-7, 4-5) has won two straight, including a win over 17th-ranked