A Star Is Born in James Bouknight
The Story: The men’s basketball team went 2-1 in the Charleston Classic and discovered its next top player as freshman guard James Bouknight starred during a four-day stretch. The Huskies finished the tournament with a stellar 80-55 win over Miami yesterday in the third-place game.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: UConn beat Buffalo on Thursday before losing in double overtime on Friday night to No. 18 Xavier in a game it should have won. The Huskies, with a day off on Saturday, obliterated Miami in shocking fashion, unleashing Bouknight and sophomore guard Brendan Adams. The Huskies, 3-1 over the last eight days, are 4-2 this season and trending upward.
WHAT DID HURLEY SAY? “Just think about the week we had here. I don’t think anyone has had a week in college basketball like we’ve just had in terms of quality opponents. Florida last Sunday, Buffalo, the Xavier war and then Miami. That’s a heck of a week. I wish we went 4-0, but 3-1 against that level of competition, I’m thrilled with the win but just as much with how laser-focused we were, and I attribute that to the leadership of Alterique Gilbert.”
BOUKNIGHT’S STAR DEBUT: Bouknight is billed as the future of the men’s basketball team. That isn’t entirely accurate after watching Bouknight’s first three games beacuse it’s clear Bouknight is the present. He scored 13 points on Sunday and scored 40 points in three games. He’s 6-foot-4, athletic and explosive, yet smooth on the drive. He gives the Huskies a dimension they don’t have — scoring. Bouknight is shooting 16 of 22 to start his career, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range.
Bouknight is a classic wing scorer and reminds us of some of the great UConn twos and threes of the past. To us, he has the game of Jeremy Lamb, who, like Bouknight was also way underrecruited in high school. Bouknight was a consensus top-100 recruit when he committed to the Huskies. Three games in, we are going to say other programs missed on him. Bouknight belongs on the floor right now for major minutes. Don’t believe us? Ask Hurley. He said yesterday afternoon that he was worried that Duke or Kentucky would make a late run at the prized off-guard.
DON’T FORGET ADAMS: No, Jalen Adams isn’t back at UConn. His not-brother Brendan remains in Storrs. Adams was a bit player last year but has taken a monumental leap his sophomore season. Adams has turned into a potent bench option with Bouknight. He’s averaging 9.7 points per game on 53 percent shooting including 46.7 percent from 3-point range.
LEAVE GILBERT ALONE: Gilbert has struggled to begin the year and was an unfortunate 2-for-13 in the double OT loss on Friday night to Xavier, twice failing to score with the win on the line. That elicited plenty of criticism of his play via social media. Hurley rallied to his point guard’s defense on Sunday, calling fans out of line and despicable. … But were they?
OLD RELIABLES: Old Yellers in Christian Vital and Josh Carlton also had moments over the weekend. Carlton led the Huskies yesterday with 16 points and Vital continues to lead the Huskies inc scoring at 16.3 points per game. Vital’s shooting needs to improve — he’s currently under 37 percent — but he remains decent from 3-point range.
UP NEXT: With Thanksgiving on the horizon, the Huskies won’t be back in action until Sunday, when they host Maine at the XL Center.
Closer Than It Needed To Be
The Story: The women’s basketball team survived its first real test of the season, holding off Ohio State and winning 73-62 on the road yesterday afternoon.
PUSHED TO THE LIMIT: Ohio State is historically a strong program that had a down year last season, and it’s clear the Buckeyes are out to show that year was a fluke. They led midway through the third quarter and it wasn’t until a three-minute scoring drought in the fourth truly allowed UConn to breathe. Crystal Dangerfield finished with a phenomenal 23 points, six rebounds and six assists while playing all 40 minutes, and Christyn Williams and Megan Walker also played the whole game and finished with nearly identical stat lines, with Williams scoring 20 points, Walker finishing with 19 and both grabbing eight rebounds.
FIRST-HALF ADVENTURE: The Huskies were lucky to hold a 33-31 lead at halftime. UConn was prevented from getting shots off until late in the shot clock on several occasions, and it’s unclear how much of that was a lack of offensive cohesion or strong defense by Ohio State. The Huskies missed a few easy layups early on and had to settle for midrange jump shots because there was no movement on offense, which changed for the better in the second half.
DANGEROUS DANGERFIELD: Geno Auriemma said Dangerfield’s lackluster play in the Huskies’ recent games stemmed from the offseason surgery on her left hip in May, and he decided to give her a day off from practice during the week to rest. It clearly worked as she put together her best game of the season, though Geno was careful to insist that he doesn’t want to have to play her all 40 minutes as she gets back to game shape.
… LUCKY BREAK? Olivia Nelson-Ododa finished with six points, 12 rebounds and four blocks in 38 minutes despite playing with a broken right pinky toe. Geno said the injury can’t get any worse and she’ll play through it, but yeah, that’s not pleasant. Trust us.
MAKURAT SITS: Though Anna Makurat started, she played just 14 minutes, none in the second half, after going 0-for-4. Her minutes instead went to Kyla Irwin, who couldn’t repeat her performance from last week against Virginia with just three points and two rebounds in 19 minutes.
WHAT DID GENO SAY? “I think the whole day offensively was really a slog. It was tough to get any kind of a flow, any kind of a rhythm. We just needed somebody to make plays. Sometimes you play and you can look really nice running your plays, and sometimes you’ve just got to make a play. And that’s kind of what those guys did.”
UP NEXT: The Huskies (5-0) finish their tour of Ohio tomorrow night with a game against Dayton.
A Few Yards Shy of Good Riddance
The Story: The football team lost 31-24 to East Carolina on Saturday with quarterback Jack Zergiotis throwing an interception on fourth-and-goal from the tight red zone as time expired.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Huskies had their chances and game ended with a Zergiotis forcing a pass over the middle, presumably to a teammate, with running back Kevin Mensah wide open in the end zone in the flat. Zergiotis threw for an unbelievable 418 yards and Cam Ross had 169 yards receiving and two touchdowns. The Huskies are 2-9 and 0-8 in the conference and wrap up the season next week at Temple. It was senior day for the Huskies, but it was the freshmen, Zergiotis and Ross, who continue to leave us with our fingers crossed for the future.
KRAJEWSKI PLAYS: Maybe it was having QB Steven Krajewski available that caused Zergiotis’ play to improve. The Huskies’ redshirt freshman QB played two series in the second quarter in his first action in eight weeks. Krajewski completed one of his two passes for 15 yards.
BOTTOM LINE: UConn piled up 527 yards of offense and averaged 11.1 yards per completion, but still lost. The reason? There was a key Zergiotis interception at the end of the first half in the red zone and the defense remains swiss cheese, giving up over 500 yards and over 30 points. UConn’s defense allowed 32 first downs. As the Huskies transition into independent status, they seem to have pieces on offense, especially with a wide receiver like Ross and a running back like Mensah, who had another 1,000-yard season. While the defense is better than last season’s worst ever, it still isn’t good enough.
Morning Reads
SPLIT DECISION: The women’s hockey team split its weekend series with No. 6 Boston College, winning Friday on the road but losing Saturday at home. (UConnHuskies.com)
FALLING SHORT: It was a less-than-optimal weekend for the men’s hockey team, which tied No. 12 Providence on Friday before losing on Saturday. (UConnHuskies.com)
PACK IT IN: Former UConn quarterback Tim Boyle made his second NFL appearance last night, entering the Packers’ loss to the 49ers in the fourth quarter. (Wes Hodkiewicz on Twitter)
WHAT A LAUGHER: Former Rutgers coach Greg Schiano apparently won’t be the Rutgers coach again after he turned down an eight-year, $32 million deal with $25.2 million guaranteed because he asked for more. What a world. (Stadium)
