Adama Sanogo’s dominant night leads UConn men to 86-57 victory over Boston University

Fans slowly trickled into Gampel Pavilion to watch the UConn men’s basketball team take on Boston University on Friday. At a much faster pace, the Huskies jumped out to a 15-point lead over the Terriers in the game’s first eight minutes and didn’t turn back, improving to 2-0 on the season with the final score 86-57.

By halftime, most of the 10,167 seats were filled and the Huskies had a 40-23 lead.

UConn put together a smothering defensive effort from the start, forcing five turnovers before the Terriers scored their first basket nearly 10 minutes into the first half.

Nearly everything was falling for Sanogo on Friday, including his first career 3-pointer that dropped through – nothing but net – and a second as time wound down in the first half. He finished the game with a dominant 27 points and 15 rebounds.

The Huskies were bolstered by a 20-2 scoring run to start things, and were later reinforced by a 15-2 run in the middle four minutes of the second half.

UConn upped its field goal percentage from 46% against Stonehill to 56.4% Friday, and shot 47.6% from beyond the arc, a drastic improvement from the 20.8% the Huskies shot in the opener.

Sanogo, Tristen Newton and Nahiem Alleyne were the trio of Huskies to make multiple three-pointers. Alleyne and Newton each finished with 11 points. Alex Karaban added 10 points on 3-5 shooting and four assists. Donovan Clingan added 10 more along with seven rebounds and a pair of blocks.

Before the game, as the healthy Huskies went through their typical team warm up, a trio of eventual starters sat on the bench. Jordan Hawkins in a sweatsuit, painfully watching after entering concussion protocol following Monday’s season opener. Andre Jackson sat, then stood and put a shot up, then sat again – he is out with a broken pinky finger sustained in a preseason practice. Samson Johnson wore a navy polo, khakis and a walking boot on his right foot – he was injured in the season opener and will be reevaluated next week, according to a team release.

UConn will return to the XL Center in Hartford for its next game on Tuesday against the University at Buffalo at 7 p.m.