The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
UConn holds on for key victory over Seton Hall
STORRS — As 14-0 runs go, it wasn’t the most scintillating.
Accomplished over six minutes of game time, the UConn men’s basketball team used five free throws surrounded by an impressive Andre Jackson dunk and a couple of Jordan Hawkins hoops, the latter a 3-pointer with 6:02 left.
When that trey swished through the net, the Huskies, whose 11-point lead had been whittled down to two, led by 16. Seton Hall managed to climb back within six inside the final minute, but UConn held on for a 64-55 win on Saturday before a Gampel Pavilion sellout.
The Huskies (20-7, 9-7 Big East) pulled ahead of the Pirates by a half-game for fifth place in the Big East. The top five teams get a bye into the conference tournament quarterfinals.
Seton Hall, which beat UConn in a heartbreaker on Jan. 18 in Newark, N.J.. fell to 16-12 overall, 9-8 Big East.
Hawkins led the Huskies with 20 points (despite 3-for-11 shooting from 3) and Jackson added a career-high 15 points, his first double-figure scoring game since New Year’s Eve at Xavier.
Behind a veritable dunk competition, scoring five of its first 13 field goals on slams, UConn led by as much as 11 (32-21) after Tristen Newton’s runner with 4:40 left in the first half. However, that was the Huskies’ final basket of the half, missing their final eight and scoring just
one point the rest of the half.
Seton Hall wasn’t much better, but a goaltend, then a Tray Jackson driving layup with 20.3 seconds left allowed the Pirates to enter the break down just six, 33-27.
The Pirates closed to within two early in the latter half and remained there after a Femi Okudale driving layup with 12:28 to play.
But the Huskies countered with that 14-0 run, started by a Hassan Diarra driving layup and capped six minutes later by Hawkins’ 3-pointer.
Scintillating? Maybe not. But effective and, of course, important? Absolutely.
RIM RATTLINGS
Several former Huskies were at the game. James Bouknight, the 2021 NBA lottery pick, was in the building, appearing to go incognito with a hood and shades but signing autographs and posing for pictures with several fans. R.J. Cole and Tyrese Martin, two of the stars of last year’s team, sat courtside. Cole is playing in Greece, while Martin is playing in the Atlanta Hawks organization. Former Huskies Christian Vital and Kentan Facey were also at the game, sitting behind the UConn bench, and Souleymane Wane was also in the house.
Sanogo and Joey Calcaterra were recognized at midcourt prior to the game for having scored the 1,000th points of their respective college careers.