3rd Place UConn Men Remain Perfect With Big East Road Victory At Butler

Historic Hinkle Fieldhouse was rocking and Dan Hurley called timeout.

Adama Sanogo appeared, 3 point threat.

Sanogo knocked down Trey coming out of a timeout and the 6-foot-9 junior made eight straight mistakes from distance in his previous five games, but the Huskies were running for goal.

Sanogo scored 13 of a game-high 27 points in the final nine minutes to lead a 13-0 run on one point and lead the rank 3 Huskies to a 68-46 victory on Saturday night. .

Sanogo hit a double early in the second half and finished with 14 rebounds (7 offensive rebounds). And he did most of it against his 6-11 center Manny Bates. Bates blocked just one on Saturday.

Jordan Hawkins was the only other Husky to reach double figures with 12 points, and Nahiem Alleyn added nine.

UConn has improved to 12-0 and has lost six straight in the conference opener. In fact, UConn had dropped his 13 of his 16 conference openers nine out of 10 before Saturday.

The Huskies had an all-time record 6-0 against Butler, falling to 8-4. And of course, his UConn this season is still undefeated late in the game.

Butler got off to an 8-2 start with two 3-pointers from Simás Lucosius. Surprisingly, this represents the team’s biggest lead over the Huskies this season.

Andre Jackson Jr. quickly countered with a corner tray and soon UConn was back in front. The Huskies had a dominant performance on the board and defense, and after Nahiem Allen’s his 3-pointer at the buzzer, at the break he took a 28-20 lead.

Sanogo dominated the inside with 12 points and 8 rebounds in the first 20 minutes. The Huskies shot just 30% from the floor, 3 to 17-4, but the Bulldogs on the board he doubled to 31-15. The Huskies recorded his 14 offense rebounds and 10-second chances to score his points. Donovan Klingan had five rebounds in just four minutes.

Jordan Hawkins temporarily left the game after smashing his leg on a bench chair and was accompanied to the locker room by trainer James Dolan.

Rim Ratlings

• Bob Joyce, normally UConn’s women’s basketball play-by-play, took over duties for Saturday’s men’s game, along with the usual Wayne Norman and Mike Crispino team who returned home with COVID-19. In fact the engineer/producer Chris Jiantonio was out with COVID as well. Joyce said on Saturday that he took on all three roles. Norman originally planned to join Joyce via Zoom, but it didn’t work out for her. Norman and Crispino are expected to fly out to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Sunday to handle her UConn football team’s bowling game with Marshall on Monday.

• Samson Johnson (Stress Reaction, Right Foot) was not wearing his walking boots before the game, but he hasn’t completely dropped them. Johnson has been in and out of the boot for about half a day and is going great. Hurley said he could be back in the next few weeks.

• UConn arrived at the team’s hotel around 11pm on Friday after a delayed flight from Bradley Airport. Mr. and Mrs. Husky were still on campus when they were informed that the plane had defective parts and needed a new plane.