New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
UConn postpones game vs. DePaul
On Thursday night, UConn associate head coach Chris Dailey explained how the Huskies have learned to deal with the program’s rash of injuries this season.
“Whatever we have and whoever we have, we have enough,” Dailey said after a win over Xavier.Less than 24 hours later, UConn announced that the team no longer had enough to compette. The program announced Friday night that Sunday’s scheduled game against DePaul was postponed since the Huskies are currently under the Big East conference minimum of seven available scholarship studentathletes.
There was not an immediate date provided for the rescheduling of DePaul’s trip to Storrs. The teams are already scheduled to meet in Chicago on Feb. 25.
“The wellbeing of our players is first and foremost,” Dailey said. “We look forward to rescheduling the game with DePaul.”
UConn said both junior Aaliyah Edwards and freshman Ayanna Patterson were injured in UConn’s game at Xavier on Thursday. The program did not release specifics on Patterson’s injuries, but Edwards did not play in the second half after injuring her right foot.
That leaves UConn with six healthy players.
“At UConn, the health and wellbeing of our student-athletes will always be our top priority,” director of athletics David Benedict said in a release. “Our women’s basketball program has unfortunately been affected by an unprecedented number of injuries this season. While it’s unfortunate that we need to postpone Sunday’s game, it’s the right call to protect the safety of our student-athletes. We will work with the Big East and DePaul on options to reschedule the game.”
The Huskies had eight available players this week in their
Saturday. UConn led by 11 inside the first minute of the second half, but Creighton pulled off a 14-2 run, during which UConn missed its final six shots, to take a 43-42 lead — its first since midway through the first half.
Hurley called a timeout, and the Huskies found Sanogo inside to take back a lead they’d never relinquish. Sanogo followed with a spinning baseline move around Kalkbrenner, and with 11:14 left hit a 3-pointer from the wing.
After Creighton’s Arthur Kaluma hit a pair of free throws, Sanogo drew Kalkbrenner’s third foul and hit one of two free throws. Alex Karaban followed with a second-effort hoop, Donovan Clingan converted a conventional 3-point play, then hit one of two free throws to complete a headspinning, 14-2 Husky run.
Jordan Hawkins added 17 points for the Huskies and Tristen Newton added 13. Andre Jackson finished with seven points and nine rebounds. Clingan’s four points were the only scoring by UConn’s bench, though it still bested the three points scored by Creighton’s bench.
At Big East Media Day in October, Kalkbrenner was asked about Sanogo.
“I see he’s on preseason All-American lists,” Kalkbrenner replied. “He’s above me in preseason honors. I see that. That just means I gotta show people they were wrong when we play.”
It was Sanogo who seemed like he had something
to prove on Saturday.
“He did take it personally,” Hurley noted. “For us, we don’t want our players talking negatively about other teams or other programs. That bothered Adama. I think it bothered everyone. We don’t want our guys to build a name for themselves by speaking negatively about others. I’m not gonna lie to you, we looked at the quote, we played the clip (Friday).” Sanogo concurred.
“If you know me, I take stuff personally,” the junior forward said. “So, for him to say stuff like that, coming into this game, I was ready to go.”
Midway through the first half, Creighton led 19-16 after a Ryan Nembhard layup, then Sanogo went to work. He sandwiched a pair of nifty spin moves past Kalkbrenner around a fast-break layup off a steal and assist from Hassan Diarra for a personal 6-0 run.
Shortly thereafter, Kalkbrenner picked up his second
foul on a moving screen and went to the bench for the rest of the half. UConn outscored the Bluejays 11-7 the rest of the way, capped by a Newton 3-pointer with 10 seconds left to give the Huskies a 37-29 halftime advantage.
Of course, Sanogo was going to be in “kill-mode” anyway on Saturday, according to Hurley, coming off a pair of “subpar” efforts in the losses at Xavier and Providence.
“He’s’ been seething the last couple of days. The will of that man. Poke a koala bear or a teddy bear, but poking a grizzly or a Kodiak bear? That’s the wrong guy to poke. He’s a rare person, in terms of his will and his internal toughness.”
Sanogo admitted he’s more grizzly than teddy bear.
“I knew I had to be there tonight for my team, because for us to win, I had to play hard,” he said. “Coming into the game, I wanted to give everything I’ve got.”