Hawkins' hard luck continues
Jan. 27—Jordan Hawkins has had a string of bad luck lately for the UConn men's basketball team.
The sophomore guard recently set a career-high with 31 points against St. John's and had a second half for the ages against Xavier Wednesday night.
Each time though, the Huskies suffered a loss at home, negating any positive feelings he may have felt.
After Wednesday's 82-79 loss to the 13th-ranked Muskateers at Gampel Pavilion, a sullen Hawkins was asked why he was taking this loss in particular so personally.
"It's a tough loss man," Hawkins said. "I hate losing. I'm always very competitive. So yeah, tough loss."
Hawkins spearheaded a remarkable second-half comeback for the 19th-ranked Huskies Wednesday, scoring 26 of his team-leading 28 points over the final 20 minutes as UConn came from 17 down.
Twenty-six points was the most Hawkins had scored in a game this season other than his career-high entering Wednesday.
"When we got into the game and you'd have asked me if Hawk went for 28 and Tristen (Newton) went for 23, I would've thought we'd be in really, really good shape in this one," UConn coach Dan Hurley said. "As good as those guys were on offense, we were, I think the entire perimeter was that bad defensively."
UConn (16-6, 5-6 Big East) missed its first nine shots en route to shooting 32.3 percent from the floor and 7.7 percent from three-point range. It trailed by 15 at the break.
"That's just unexplainable," Hawkins said. "We can't start any game like that, especially with a team like that. You just can never start like that and dig yourself that big of a hole."
Hawkins played all but two minutes in the first half. He finished with two points on two made free throws while going 0-for-4 from the floor, including 0-for-2 from deep.
The Gaithersburg, Maryland native made his first field goal 3:19 into the second half, a three-pointer that made it 50-37 Xavier and started a 22-7 UConn run that trimmed the score to 57-56.
It was the first of four times the Huskies cut the score to one.
"As a team, we really had to pick it up," Hawkins said. "They're a really good team, credit to them. They're a great offensive team. But second half, we just discussed as a team we needed to pick it up."
Hawkins scored 11 points on the 5:58 run, including the final five for UConn, and hit three 3s.
"I always have confidence in my shot," Hawkins said. "My teammates did a great job driving and kicking. It gave me open looks."
Hawkins ran into some bad luck late in the game though.
After converting an and-one to make it 78-77 with 2:40 to play, Hawkins had the ball with the chance to give the Huskies their first lead, but he was called for an offensive foul.
Later in the game and his team down by three, Hawkins was getting ready to shoot the ball with the shot clock winding down when Hurley called a timeout with 20.2 seconds left.
Hawkins made the shot, but the timeout was granted beforehand so the bucket was waved off.
"The possession was going not great," Hurley said. "What we wanted to run, a couple of players didn't get to the right spots. It didn't look like it was going to end the way that it ended. I literally, I even called it sooner than (referee) Tony (Chiazza) probably gave it to me."
Hawkins finished the half 8-for-12 from the floor, including 5-for-8 from deep, and 5-for-5 from the foul line.
He contributed four rebounds, an assist and a block in Wednesday's game before fouling out in the closing seconds.
"I thought we screened better for him," Hurley said. "I thought he was just sharper with his cutting. We just executed things so much better. We just got so rattled by the first five minutes of that game offensively that I think everyone just started pressing. ... But Jordan just looked decisive. His second half was impressive."
When asked if it was frustrating that the team made such a run before ultimately falling short, Hawkins was quick to bring up how poorly UConn played in the first half.
"We dug ourselves too big of a hole," he said. "You just can't do that with a team like that. So, we're going to learn from it. Watch the film, practice and just get back and get ready for our next game."
That next game is Tuesday when the Huskies visit DePaul (8 p.m., FS1).
"We just have to regroup," Hawkins said. "Take what we did in the second half, watch the film. We can't do what we did in the first half. Take it on the break, have it in our mind. Practice and just get ready for the next nine games. Soon we'll be in Madison Square Garden."
Jackson on watch list
Huskies junior co-captain Andre Jackson was one of 15 players named to the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award watch list, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced Thursday.
The award, which has been given out by the Atlanta Tipoff Club since 2018, recognizes the best defensive player in the country.
Jackson, a 6-foot-6 guard, has been the pulse of the Huskies defense — and the team as a whole — all season.
He's averaging a team-leading 1.3 steals per game this season, which is tied for 15th among Big East players. Jackson is also second on the team with 4.3 defensive rebounds per game.
In 19 games this year, Jackson has a total of 82 defensive rebounds, 24 steals and 12 bocks.
The Amsterdam, New York native was one of two Big East players on the watch list, joining Ryan Kalkbrenner of Creighton.
The watch list will be trimmed to 10 national semifinalists Feb. 28 and four finalists March 14. The winner, along with the winners of the Naismith College Player of the Year and College Coach of the Year awards, will be announced April 2.
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.
