Course correction
Sanogo, UConn snap two-game skid, power past Creighton
STORRS — Adama Sanogo was named Big East preseason player of the year. Ryan Kalkbrenner was a little bit miffed about that.
In the first head-to-head battle of the season between the big men, Sanogo emerged as the undisputed winner.
The 6-foot-9 Sanogo dominated on Saturday with 26 points, many of them on inside spin moves around and even over the 7-1 Kalkbrenner, to lead the UConn men’s basketball team to a 69-60 win over Creighton at sold-out Gampel Pavilion.
Sanogo added eight rebounds for No. 4 UConn (15-2, 4-2 Big East), which had lost two games in a row, at Xavier and at Providence, as well as five in a row to Creighton, dating back to the Huskies’ first season back in the Big East in 2020-21.
“It was definitely good to beat a team I haven’t beat since I’ve been here,” said junior wing Andre Jackson, “but this year’s a different team, a different group of guys. I’m looking forward to playing them again.”
That will happen on Feb. 11 in Omaha, Neb.
Of course, UConn has now won 17 straight games inside of Gampel, also dating back to that 2020-21 season.
“Thank you Gampel!,” coach Dan Hurley shouted from the postgame press conference podium. “Coming off of playing in two of the tougher environments in the league, it was great to get back in here.”
Kalkbrenner finished with a relatively harmless nine points in 32 foulplagued minutes for Creighton, which fell to 9-7, 3-2.
Sanogo came alive when the Huskies needed him the most on 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.”
RIM RATTLINGS
⏩ The Huskies were outrebounded by a resounding 49-34 margin. UConn has been outrebounded in four of its last five contests.
⏩ A host of former UConn basketball (and baseball) players were at the game, including 2014 national champion Terrence Samuel and 1991 graduate Lyman DePriest, as well as former UConn closer Matt Barnes, now a bullpen arm for the Red Sox.