Clingan, Sanogo power UConn men past Delaware State

Nov. 21—HARTFORD — The UConn men's basketball team's big man tandem of Donovan Clingan and Adama Sanogo was on full display Sunday night.

Sanogo, a junior, finished with a game-high 26 points while freshman Clingan had a season-high 16 to lead the 25th-ranked Huskies to a 95-60 win over Delaware State before and announced crowd of 9,442 at the XL Center.

Sanogo added eight rebounds and two steals to his scoring while Clingan contributed five rebounds, two steals and three blocks.

"Offensively, I feel like I did well," Clingan said. "I mean I just need to do better on the defensive end. Ball screen defense, blocking more shots. I guess I can say I'm happy, but I need to do better."

The game was tied at five early before the Huskies (5-0) went on a 35-8 run in an 11:19 span, including 13 consecutive points, to push their lead to 40-13. Joey Calcaterra had eight points on the run, including two three-pointers.

Sanogo also had eight during the run, including a three of his own to make it a 27-point game with 7:32 left in the half. He finished with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the opening 20 minutes.

Delaware State (1-4) used a 7-2 run to cut into the deficit a little bit late in the half, but UConn pushed the lead back up to 30 thanks to a three from Jordan Hawkins with 1:59 left in the half. The Huskies took a 57-24 lead into the break.

UConn shot 58.8 percent (20-of-34) in the first half while holding the Hornets to 8-for-27 shooting (29.6 percent). The Huskies scored 20 points off 11 Delaware State turnovers.

The Huskies continued to pour it on in the second half, extending the lead to as many as 43 points thanks to an alley-oop dunk by Clingan after a pass from Nahiem Alleyne with 4:38 to play. That lead never dipped below 28 in the final 20 minutes.

Alleyne facilitated another alley-oop earlier in the half, finding Sanogo with 16:43 to play. He finished with four assists.

"I'm really happy with the first half," coach Dan Hurley said. "Obviously, a little bit of human nature kicks in in the second half."

Hurley was assessed a technical foul with 3:04 to play by referee Pat Driscoll.

"I mean listen, I had a point I wanted to make," Hurley said following around 15 seconds of silence and a laugh. "I respect Pat. Pat's a great ref. He's been an unbelievable ref for a really long period of time. He reffed me. I have a ton of respect for Pat. But if there's a point I want to make, I'm going to make my point."

Hawkins and Calcaterra each finished with 11 points, with Hawkins adding nine rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Alex Karaban had 10 points.

The Hornets were without its leading scorers Brandon Stone (15.8 points per game) and Khyrie Staten (15.5) Sunday. Freshman Jevin Muniz led the team with 21 points while Kyle Johnson had 15 points and nine rebounds.

"Obviously it would've been a much different type of game, I think it would've been a more competitive game," Hurley said. "For those guys to lose a couple players literally day of game to whatever ailment and injury. With those guys, they were obviously pretty competitive against another team in our league (Villanova). But those two guys not being available turned the game into what it became."

Up next for the Huskies is the Phil Knight Invitational tournament in Portland, Oregon Thursday-Sunday. UConn opens play in the three-game tournament Thursday against Oregon at the Moda Center before playing either Michigan State or Alabama Friday.

For coverage of UConn football and men's basketball as well as area high school and local youth sports, follow Adam Betz on Twitter: @AdBetz1, Facebook: Adam Betz — Sports Writer, and Instagram: @AdBetzJI.