Complete team effort by UConn men’s basketball leads to dominating win over Grambling State, 88-59

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The UConn men’s basketball team took care of business defeating Grambling State 88-59 on Saturday afternoon at Gampel Pavilion.

The Huskies came into the game missing two of their most efficient scorers in sophomore forward Adama Sanogo and senior guard Tyrese Martin. Sanogo is out a minimum of three weeks with an abdominal strain, and Martin is out two to four weeks with slight sprain and an avulsion fracture in his left wrist.

Their absence was felt on both sides of the court early. The Huskies allowed the (3-6) Tigers to make three straight 3-pointers from the right corner within the first 10 minutes of the game. In the first half, the Huskies shot just 13-for-34 (38.2%) from the field.

But slowly the Huskies were able to find their footing with the two stars missing.

“[It hurts] to lose the two guys we lost in the caliber of Adama and Tyrese for the foreseeable future, but I thought we just were more to our identity,” said UConn head coach Dan Hurley.

Hurley wasn’t worried about the Tigers hot shooting in the first half, even though they shot shot 11-for-22 (50%) from the field.

“Even though we gave up a high shooting percentage in the first half, it wasn’t because we were lethargic, it’s because we had guys in spots defending off the ball and in ball-screen situations that haven’t been in those positions a lot,” he said.

As the game progressed, the Huskies’ defense improved. The rest of the team slowly chipped in to with four players finishing in double figures, led by R.J. Cole with 18. Cole wasn’t particularly efficient from the field, but made up for it at the free throw line. He shot just 4-for-14 from the field, but shot 10-for-11 from the line.

Despite the Huskies’ initial offensive and defensive struggles early, their pressure and aggression kept them in the game.

“In a game like this, against this opponent, we need to speed them up and pressure them,” Hurley said. “We need to play this way moving forward, our strength is our athleticism and mobility, we are going to have to extend our defense and really push the ball down the court a lot more and try to speed up the pace of these games.”

Nothing about this game was particularly pretty, but UConn created extra shot opportunities for itself by forcing turnovers. In the first half, the Huskies had 12 more shots than Grambling after forcing 13 turnovers. The Huskies dominated in the steals category with an 8-2 advantage.

Cole, Jordan Hawkins and Isaiah Whaley each had 10 points at the half. Whaley was the most efficient, shooting 3-for-6 from the field.

The two players who stepped up the most in the absence of Sanogo and Martin were freshman Hawkins and graduate Whaley.

Whaley’s presence was felt all over the court, finishing with 12 points, eight rebounds, two blocks, and one steal and shooting 4-for-8 from the field.

“Isaiah (Whaley) is one of the most invaluable players in our league,” said Hurley.

Hawkins finished with 15 points on 5-for-11 shooting. He was aggressive throughout the game and started off early hitting back to back 3s early then a couple possessions later he drove to hoop and got sent to the line.

“I got to step up with guys out,” Hawkins said. “I got to be ready for that, shoot more and knock them down.”

The Huskies went into the second half with a 47-30 lead, but blew the game open in the second half.

In the first 9:41 of the second half, the Huskies went on a 22-10 run to put the game away. Their second-half defense was greatly improved, holding the Tigers to just 10-for-31 shooting (32.3%).

This game was the last mid-major the Huskies play. Next for UConn is a game at 6-1 West Virginia in the Big East-Big 12 Challenge Tuesday.

Shreyas Laddha can be reached at sladdha@courant.com.