Karaban comes up big in UConn win over Providence

STORRS — There is perhaps no team that finds extra motivation than the UConn men’s basketball team.

Ryan Kalkbrenner says something on a podcast in the fall that seems to demean Adama Sanogo? Sanogo responds by dominating the 7-foot center. Prognosticators don’t vote the Huskies into the preseason AP Top 25? Dan Hurley will let his team know.

On Wednesday night, it was Alex Karaban who had a little extra inspiration in what ended up a convincing, 87-69 rout of Providence. As if the rowdy sellout crowd, a bit extra-amped up by $2 beer night, wasn’t enough, Karaban was out to avenge his prior effort against the Friars and prove his doubters wrong.

Karaban, a freshman, had been burned for 27 points by PC star Bryce Hopkins back on Jan. 4, a 73-61 Friar win in Providence.

“I felt like he embarrassed me,” Karaban said. “I took full responsibility for that loss, because I wasn’t able to contain him as well as I should have.”

An avid college basketball TV viewer, Karaban had just finished watching Villanova’s win over Xavier on Tuesday night when he heard “someone” (apparently a commentator) give him some extra inspirational fodder, harking back to Karaban’s first matchup against Hopkins.

“It just gave me extra motivation in this matchup,” Karaban said.

Hopkins finished with a relatively harmless, teambest 16 points on 4-for-10 shooting. He was just 1for-4 in the second half. And the 6-foot-7, 220pound Hopkins, who entered the game averaging 9.3 rebounds a game, finished without a single rebound.

Zero. Zip. Nada.

“To play him even in the game is a huge plus,” Hurley said. “Alex took personal, I think, some things that were commented on after the first game, in terms of that matchup and how much a disadvantage it was for us. Playing against an NBA player .... but Alex, too, is an NBA player.”

“I understood him better as a player,” Karaban said. “But it was more of a team effort. Those guys were in the gaps, helping me out. Tristen got a steal on one of them, Adama came in with blocks. It wasn’t just me. I wasn’t left on an island like at Providence.”

“I mean, he’s one of the best players in the Big East,” Karaban continued of Hopkins, who entered the game second in the league in scoring at 16.9 points per game. “I respect the hell out of his game. He’s a superstar in this league, and he’s going to have a bright future. But, I was excited to come back and hold my own a little.”

Just a little. Karaban finished with 16 points and eight rebounds. Of course, he was one of numerous standouts for 18th-ranked UConn (21-7, 10-7 Big East). The Huskies doubled up the 20th-ranked Friars on the boards, 40-20, and held PC to 41.5-percent shooting.

“Embarrassed” by his team’s lack of toughness in that Jan. 4 loss, Hurley couldn’t have been prouder of “the boys” on Wednesday night.

“I mean, I was hoping for plus-5 vs. those guys on the glass,” Hurley said. “They’re men. Ed (Cooley’s) teams, in terms of identity, are hard to beat plus on the backboard.”

According to Cooley, the lubed-up crowd helped the Huskies’ cause, as well.

“I thought we were soft, not connected,” the Providence coach said. “I think the crowd had something to do with that. So, the $2 beers worked.”

Hurley later countered: “A lot of people $2-beer us. I think in Omaha, it was $1 for a Schaeffer.”

Jordan Hawkins scored 20 points and overcame a second-half leg injury that briefly caused a hush among the crowd. Adama Sanogo added 16 points and Tristen Newton had 12 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

UConn owned a 37-32 lead after a wildly entertaining first half that featured seven lead changes, two ties, and 11 made 3pointers.