Getting Sanogo going will be a big key for Huskies

SPHILADELPHIA — Has Adama Sanogo been one of the top big men in the country this season? Without question.

A 30-point performance in a win over current-No. 1 Auburn, or three straight doubledoubles last month — including a 26-point, 18-rebound piece against St. John’s — would seem to prove that. And being named to the 2022 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year 10-man watch list on Friday certainly confirmed it.

Has Sanogo been one of the top big men in the country over the past few games? Not really. In fact, he wasn’t even the UConn men’s basketball team’s best big in Tuesday night’s loss to Creighton. That was Isaiah Whaley, though the 6-foot-9 grad spent most of the night beyond the 3-point line, hitting a career-high four of them for a career-best 20 points.

As he had in the Huskies’ ugly, 57-50 win at lowly DePaul a few nights earlier, Sanogo struggled against the Bluejays. He scored just eight points — his lowest output since being limited to 12 minutes by injury on Dec. 21 at Marquette — hitting just 3 of his 10 shots.

As the 17th-ranked Huskies (16-5, 6-3 Big East) face their biggest league test to date on Saturday — No. 12 Villanova at the Wells Fargo Center (noon, FOX) — they need their nationally-recognized star to step up. Big.

Sanogo certainly isn’t lacking confidence.

“It’s a big, important game,” he said. “(Saturday) is a big chance for us, a big opportunity for us. I think we’re gonna win. I don’t think we’re gonna win, we’re going to win (Saturday).”

Joe Namath, eat your heart out.

Villanova’s relatively small lineup, with little help off the bench, would seem to behoove Sanogo, a 6-9, 240-pound physical specimen. Not so fast, according to coach Dan Hurley. Eric Dixon, Villanova’s 6-8 sophomore center, is no slouch.

“Adama’s got a heck of a matchup (Saturday),” Hurley

said. “(Dixon) is strong and physical and skilled. And they do a great job when they switch screens of fronting the post and getting in gaps. So, Adama’s got to be very, very fundamental and very technical (Saturday).”

Both teams are coming off losses. UConn’s loss to unranked Creighton at Gampel Pavilion on Tuesday night was a cruel lidlifter to a February in which the Huskies will play nine games in 26 days, five of them against currently ranked teams.

Meanwhile, Villanova lost at Marquette on Wednesday night. That completed Marquette’s season sweep of the Wildcats — the first team to do that since Butler in 2017-18.

“It’s two even more desperate teams,” Hurley said. “It’s an even bigger game, since we both lost. We can do some of the things that Marquette did, to take advantage of some things they did, but we’re not built quite the same as Marquette. We know what we’re gonna have to do (Saturday).”

Making matters worse, Villanova’s flight home that night was canceled due to fog, and the Wildcats spent an extra night in Milwaukee and flew home on Thursday.

“Next game up, life in the Big East,” Villanova Hall of Fame head coach Jay Wright said on Friday. “We have a great team coming in here that’s really talented, really long and plays really hard. Very similar to the Marquette team we just played.”

UConn had some travel issues of its own on Friday afternoon. The Huskies’ flight out of Bradley International Airport was canceled due to icy conditions, and they wound up busing it to Philadelphia.

“Everybody liked it, it was good,” Hurley insisted. “You get a lot of work done on the bus.”

Now, Hurley & Co. hope that work turns into some good results on Saturday.

“It should be exciting for our guys,” the coach said. “Noon tip-off, big FOX, sold-out ... that’s the atmosphere you want to play in. You don’t want to play in front of a half-empty building. You want to go into a place that’s hostile and electric, and that’s what we’re gonna get.”

RIM RATTLINGS

Sanogo, who is second on the Huskies in scoring (15.0 ppg) and leads the team in rebounding (8.4), was excited to be named to the Jabbar list.

“It means a lot,” he said. “I’m happy to be part of that. I want to be on that list. I’m very happy about it.”

Sanogo has plenty of competition to win the Jabbar Award. Joining him on the list are Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn, Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe, and Gonzaga’s Drew Timme (the AP Preseason Player of the Year) — all national Player of the Year candidates.

Also on the list are Duke’s Mark Williams, Purdue’s Zach Edey, Auburn’s Walker Kessler, Providence’s Nate Watson, Michigan’s Hunter Dickinson and North Carolina’s Armando Bacot.

Junior forward Akok Akok suffered a foot sprain in practice on Thursday, has been in an out of a walking boot and is questionable for Saturday’s game. It could be a chance for little-used freshman Samson Johnson to get more minutes, though Villanova might not be the team to throw him in against.

“A lot of us want to see what Samson can do in a game,” Hurley said. “It’ll be interesting to see if that’s (Saturday) or Tuesday against Marquette.”

Wright said that Justin Moore, a junior guard averaging 15.1 points per game, is questionable for Saturday after suffering an ankle injury against Marquette. Fellow junior gaurd Bryan Antoine, who’s missed the last two games with an ankle issue, practiced on Friday and appears ready to go for Saturday.

Sanogo