Hurley: It Was an ‘Embarrassing’ Loss
The Story: Bryce Hopkins scored 27 points and Providence throttled UConn, winning 73-61 in Providence last night.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: It was another frustrating, ugly game from the No. 4-ranked Huskies (14-2, 3-2 Big East). Their shooting disappeared for a second consecutive defeat as they went 5-for-22 from 3-point range and shot 36.5 percent overall.
• The foul game continues to haunt Dan Hurley as the Huskies committed 27 fouls, leading the Friars to go 29-for-35 from the line. UConn was 10-of-19 from the free throw line and has been outscored 52-14 at the foul line in its last two losses. What’s up with the disparity? We aren’t sure. Nothing jumps out as egregious, but being outscored by 19 points on the free throw line is almost an impossible margin to overcome.
• UConn’s perimeter players struggled. Jordan Hawkins led the Huskies with 15 points on 5-for-14 shooting. After him? Tristen Newton continues to underperform with six points on 3-for-11 shooting and Andre Jackson was 1-for-7 with three points in 21 minutes.
• Adama Sanogo was bottled up inside and had 11 points while Donovan Clingan had 12 points and 11 rebounds in 21 minutes. Hurley experimented with both on the floor at the same time and it didn’t look terrible.
WHAT DID HURLEY SAY? “It was an embarrassing loss. We pride ourselves on culture. We generally lose one-possession games when we lose. This is back-to-back games where we caved.”
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GUARD PLAY? It remains a big concern for the Huskies the past two games. The starting backcourt of Jackson, Hawkins and Newton combined to shoot 9-for-32. The bench was even worse as Hassan Diarra, Joey Calcaterra and Nahiem Alleyne went a combined 1-for-12 for three points.
• Taking away Hawkins’ scoring, the guards scored 12 points on 5-for-30 shooting. That isn’t going to get it done.
HOPKINS DOMINATES: A transfer from Kentucky, Hopkins scored 27 points on 12 shots and was 13-for-15 from the foul line for Providence (13-3, 5-0 Big East). Noah Locke scored 17 points.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:: The box score is bizarre and shows how lopsided games can be once there is a foul disparity.
• Providence shot 36.7 percent but was 8-for-18 from 3-point range. It shot 10-for-31 (32.2 percent) on 2-pointers and managed a measly 18 points in the paint.
• UConn had only five fast-break points but took 14 more shots and had 19 offensive rebounds.
• Providence had only eight assists on its 18 baskets. It scored its 73 points on 49 attempts, 41 percent of its points came from the free throw line and 75 percent of all points were scored from outside the paint.
UP NEXT: The Huskies get their first crack at Creighton (9-6, 3-1 Big East) at noon on Saturday at Gampel Pavilion.
Edwards Leads Huskies Into Xavier
The Story: Despite all of the turmoil that has rocked the No. 5-ranked women’s basketball team (12-2, 5-0 Big East), junior forward Aaliyah Edwards has remained calm and productive — and she’ll try to do so again tonight when the Huskies visit Xavier (7 p.m., SNY).
MODEL OF CONSISTENCY: Edwards has scored at least 20 points in seven of UConn’s 14 games and averaged 20.2 points, 10 rebounds and three assists during the five-game winning streak.
• She impressed Chris Dailey on Tuesday night against Butler with how relentless she was on the backboard, including one first-quarter sequence in which she got the rebound of Ayanna Patterson‘s missed free throw and fought off a triple team to score.
• Edwards set a career high on Dec. 11 with 25 points in a loss at Maryland, the first game the Huskies played without Azzi Fudd, and topped it with 26 points seven days later against Florida State. She also had a career-high 20 rebounds on Dec. 28 in a win at Creighton.
• “I’m proud of myself,” Edwards said after Tuesday’s game. “Going into the new year, I’m trying to have that same mentality and same approach to every game and to help my team whatever they need me to do.”
WHAT DID CD SAY? “I think her approach and the consistency that she’s practicing with and playing with, that’s a sign of maturity. That’s a sign of putting a lot of work in. She just doesn’t stop. Sometimes, when you’re a younger player, if you’re not scoring, you think that you’re not playing well. And I think a sign of maturity is that you figure out the other things you have to do to help your team win. And I think that’s a big part of what Aaliyah has done this year. She has figured out what we need her to do, what she can do, and then does that.”
WILL GENO COACH? That’s unknown at this point. Geno Auriemma attended the Huskies’ shootaround Tuesday morning at Butler but bowed out of the game after feeling ill. An update will likely come this afternoon. If he can’t, Dailey will step in again and try to improve her record to 17-0.
ABOUT XAVIER: The Musketeers (7-7, 0-5 Big East) have never beaten UConn in five meetings, and it would be a heck of a surprise if they were to do so tonight.
• Junior guard Mackayla Scarlett leads Xavier with 12.9 points and three assists per game. Taylor Smith, a redshirt senior guard who transferred from Ole Miss, is second with 11.2 points per game, and Fernanda Ovalle, a freshman forward from Chile, has 10.3 points and 5.5 rebounds.
• Xavier will move the ball well — it has assists on two-thirds of its baskets — but at 63.3%, it’s an atrocious free throw shooting team. It also commits 19.2 fouls per game, and with the Huskies’ marked height advantage (the Musketeers have only one rotation player taller than 6-foot-1), it could be a long game.
Morning Reads
• The women’s hockey team’s Megan Warrener was named the Hockey East Goaltender of the Month after she had 42 saves and two shutouts in the Huskies’ three games. (Hockey East on Twitter)
• Defensive lineman Kayode Oladele, who played in 12 games for the Huskies this season after transferring from Memphis, will transfer again. (Mike Farrell on Twitter)
Top photo: Dan Hurley coaches during the Huskies’ game against Georgetown. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)
