(PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS – JESSICA HILL)
What a thing of beauty Tuesday, February 8th was for UConn basketball fans. Three games ago, the UConn Huskies won an ugly game against shorthanded DePaul, barely squeaking by, the win hiding their offensive woes. This trend continued when they dropped a home game against Creighton with another dud performance at home and then was capped off by a demoralizing loss at Villanova on Saturday afternoon.
Tuesday night held just what the doctor ordered for UConn fans. An 80-72 victory over the #18 team in the country, the Marquette Golden Eagles, at the XL Center. After the lackluster crowd at the Creighton game, the UConn faithful showed up, creating one of the best environments of the season in a game where the arena was nowhere near full capacity.
The UConn players and staff were feeding off of the energy all night, interacting with the crowd and bringing the energy on the offensive end, where they turned in one of their best performances of the year.
Adama Sanogo led the charge, putting on a masterclass in the paint, scoring 24 points on 9-18 shooting, while Tyrese Martin had one of his best all-around games of the year with 18 points and a season-high 15 boards. Adama got whatever he wanted in the first half, leading the team with 14 points at the break. The Huskies were making an apparent effort to run the offense through him on the low block, and that game plan worked. Tyrese Martin picked up the slack on the guard play for RJ Cole, who had a little bit of an off night, but Martin’s physicality was on a different level. Martin talked about how he and the team needed to get their swagger back after the loss at Villanova, and he did not disappoint. He got to the basket at will all night and was the most dependable body in the gym to grab a rebound.
The game was dictated by 6-8 point runs throughout, as UConn jumped to a 14-point lead with less than 5 minutes to play in the first half but had the lead whittled down to 10 at the half.
UConn started the half with a bang with a two-handed tomahawk dunk from Andre Jackson, something that has become relatively routine to see for Husky fans. The XL Center exploded, seeing Jackson grab the loose ball in space, knowing the inevitable was coming.
TAKE FLIGHT ANDRE!!!✈️✈️✈️#ThisIsUConn | #BleedBlue pic.twitter.com/OtgkwMbRtl
— UConn Men's Basketball (@UConnMBB) February 9, 2022
UConn held a nine-point lead early in the second half, but Marquette chipped away with a three-pointer followed by an Adama Sanogo missed a dunk on the other end. This reeked of disaster as a 5-point swing ensued, with Greg Elliot knocking down a three on the other end to cut the lead to three. Marquette got the lead back down to one, but the rest of the game belonged to UConn.
They immediately went on a 10-0 run to push the lead back to 11. The Golden Eagles continued to threaten for the rest of the game, but Sanogo and Martin refused to lose, taking over down the stretch. UConn fans could taste it after a Tyrese Martin three-pointer right before the under 4 TV timeout, which seemingly was a demoralizing nail in the coffin to Marquette’s comeback chance. UConn converted from the stripe down the stretch and closed out a much-needed victory.
Another notable side plot to the game was the re-emergence of Jordan Hawkins. After his strong outing last game where Dan Hurley said he got him back on track, Hawkins showed little sign of slowing down, shooting 2-4 for three and adding in a last-second pull-up fifteen-foot contested jumper to end the first half and push the lead back to double digits.
Something about a foul line jumper to beat the buzzer👀👀#ThisIsUConn | #BleedBlue pic.twitter.com/93Bo5iUwcF
— UConn Men's Basketball (@UConnMBB) February 9, 2022
Tyler Polley added on 8 points of his own and the two combined for 16 points off the bench. Valuable minutes and points off the bench have been few and far between, so getting production this game was crucial and necessary.
The Huskies improve to 16-6 with the win, while Marquette falls to 16-8.
UConn will look to carry momentum into their third straight Top 25 matchup, this one at Xavier on Friday at 7:00. The game will air on FS1.
Go Huskies!
