It’s Sanogo’s Time
The Story: The men’s basketball team has to move on from James Bouknight for now. The Huskies would be wise to go to their freshman big man, Adama Sanogo, more often when they play Xavier tomorrow (noon, Fox).
SANOGO’S RISE: The Huskies have a 6-foot-9, 240-plus-pound player with tremendous footwork, a soft touch and an ability to defend the rim. What more do you want? That my friends, is Sanogo, and he has only scratched the surface of what he can do over the last month. Big men have a difficult time adjusting to college basketball. Sanogo, out of New Jersey, is physical and has advanced skills. After going without a point or rebound against DePaul on Jan. 11, Sanogo is playing 21.4 minutes a night, averaging 10.8 points and five rebounds and is 24-for-44. That includes nine points, eight rebounds and five blocks against Providence in a loss on Wednesday.
WHAT SANOGO MEANS FOR THE FUTURE: Sanogo is probably as sure and consistent a scorer as the Huskies have. He knows how to free up his shooting hand on jump hooks, he has excellent footwork on step-throughs and he has shown an ability to create space with his body. He’s a very skilled big man who even can hit a jumper from 15 feet. For a team that struggles to score, the Huskies probably have their best chance to secure a good shot when Sanogo is in the post and we think if he increases his attempts and post-ups, he could start demanding double teams. That should help open up an offense that is struggling to create looks and scoring opportunities. Defensively, Sanogo has a big body, can protect the rim and has proven to be a good rebounder. Back-to-the-basket big men aren’t cool in basketball anymore, but the Huskies have one who they can use to their advantage. He’s been the most reliable option over the last month.
HURLEY ON SANOGO: “The level [the Big East] is at compared to the last league we were in, this is a big jump up [for Sanogo], and obviously, with what he’s displayed, when he does, what he shows us every day, there’s a guy right there that we know is Big East-caliber and can help us get back to playing at the top of the food chain here. His rim protection was really, really good [Wednesday].”
HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED: We love Bouknight. We love that he was pushing to play on Saturday. But enough is enough with fawning over whether he will play. It is deflating, and as we know, it’s a bit of a mystery about what’s going on. The original timetable was two to four weeks. It is four weeks now and could be another two. How about the Huskies play with who they have and stop looking to a teammate in a tracksuit on the bench to bail them out? Injuries happen, and if the Huskies want to get off the NCAA Tournament bubble and back in the win column, they are going to do it with available players. There’s not enough focus on the available players trying to be the next man up. It’s time to play like there is no Bouknight and someone needs to take the opportunity and run with it.
XAVIER BACK ON THE FLOOR: Xavier is 11-2, but has been in COVID-19 hell for a month and has played only one game since Jan. 10. That was on Jan. 30 and we are uncertain who is going to be available. The Musketeers were supposed to play Thursday but got in a contact-tracing tiff with DePaul. Yes, COVID-19 has resulted in teams squabbling over protocols. Also, we won’t believe the game is going on until the teams are on the floor.
WHAT’S AT STAKE: UConn and Xavier are on the bubble. UConn has lost four of five and is down to a 54.3 percent chance of making the NCAA Tournament per Team Rankings. The beauty of the Big East is that it has good teams and the Huskies are going to have chances, such as tomorrow, to burnish their resume. UConn will play Providence again next week and may finally have Villanova coming up. There’s a chance for the Huskies to return to the NCAA Tournament but with COVID-19 cancellations always possible, they can’t let these opportunities go by the wayside.
The Curious Case of Christyn Williams
The Story: By failing to score a point in the 70-49 win over Seton Hall on Wednesday, junior forward Christyn Williams is raising serious concerns about her role going forward. She’ll have a chance to snap out of her funk tonight when the soon-to-be top-ranked Huskies begin a stretch of five road games at Georgetown (6 p.m., CBS Sports).
WHAT HAPPENED? Williams, the Big East Preseason Player of the Year, failed to score for the second time this season (and only the third time in her career) when she missed all six of her shots against the Pirates. That performance followed a six-point effort in the win over No. 1 South Carolina on Monday in which she failed to score in the first half, finished with only six points and was on the bench at the start of overtime. Williams is averaging 15 points per game this season, which is still a career high, but it’s not just the scoring: She also had just one rebound against Seton Hall and has only grabbed five or more rebounds once in the nine games since New Year’s Day. In addition, she’s shooting just 27 percent from 3-point range after making more than a third of her attempts in each of her first two seasons.
A QUICK BREAKDOWN:
- Before Jan. 1: Six games, 17 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 3.8 apg; 47 pct. shooting; 14.2 shots/game
- Since Jan. 1: Nine games, 13.7 ppg, 3 rpg, 2.2 apg; 46.3 pct. shooting; 12.2 shots/game
WHAT DID GENO SAY? “I wish I could give you something. She’s just going through a really bad stretch right now. She’s not a very confident shooter right now or a very confident offensive player. Hopefully, it’s a phase and she’ll snap out of it. People play bad, and sometimes they go through stuff like that. What’s concerning is that … it’s one thing that the ball isn’t going into the basket, but not a lot of other stuff is happening, either. I don’t know if the shooting part is affecting the rest of her game. I don’t know what you do about that.”
BAILED OUT: Williams’ absence has been less noticeable with the emergence of Paige Bueckers and the Huskies’ all-world freshman class. Buckers hasn’t scored fewer than 20 points in her last six games and Aaliyah Edwards has also played well since the turn of the year, surpassing 10 points in four of her last five games and five rebounds in five of her last seven games. But Williams is Williams, and though the Huskies clearly don’t need anything from her in order to win big games, even a modest contribution will help.
ABOUT GEORGETOWN: The Huskies (15-1, 12-0 Big East) should have another relatively easy matchup with Georgetown, which is 1-9 and has only played Big East games this season. UConn won 72-41 in the first matchup on Jan. 23, when the Huskies’ lead peaked at 41 points, and so if we know if Geno doesn’t get his bench players involved to save some of the starters in this one, there’s little chance he’ll do it at any point the rest of the season.
Hockey East Gantlet Continues
The Story: The No. 20 men’s hockey team will play a home-and-home series with No. 16 Providence today and tomorrow.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Huskies will play Providence today before returning home. They beat PC 2-0 earlier in the season, marking goaltender Tomas Vomacka‘s second career shutout. Vomacka has had an outstanding season in goal and earlier this week was named the Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season. He’s also an iron man who has played every minute at goal for the Huskies this season.
BACK ON TRACK? A win (or two) would help the Huskies get back on track after a bitter loss to UMass-Lowell in overtime on Tuesday. The timing of the defeat was especially unfortunate given UConn was ranked for the first time earlier this week and played a team that had lost its last four games. Beating Providence once, if not twice, should give the Huskies a chance of remaining in the polls, and it’ll also be crucial for Hockey East tournament seeding.
Morning Reads
TIME TO SHINE: After snapping a four-game losing streak a week ago against Maine, the women’s hockey team will play Holy Cross today and tomorrow in a home-and-home series. (UConnHuskies.com)
UNFINISHED BUSINESS: The softball team had a heck of a turnaround last year, going 16-5 before the pandemic shut down the season, and it will look to carry that momentum forward when it opens the season this morning in a tournament at Coastal Carolina. (UConnHuskies.com)
BASEBALL PREVIEW: Here’s a look at the infield for the baseball team, which has its annual southern trip coming beginning next week. (The UConn Blog)
