No. 17 UConn blasts Grambling State 88-59

Dec. 4—STORRS — The UConn men's basketball team still has plenty of good players.

The 17th-ranked Huskies, playing without two of their regular starters, blasted Grambling State 88-59 early Saturday evening at Gampel Pavilion.

In their first game since center Adama Sanogo's abdominal injury — and their second without guard Tyrese Martin and his broken left wrist — six players scored at least eight points for the Huskies (8-1).

Martin will miss perhaps two more games as the cast comes off his left and he recovers from an injury he originally suffered in the Bahamas Nov. 24. The length of Sanogo's absence is still in doubt, though it certainly appears to be potentially significant.

R.J. Cole had 18 points, seven assists, and five rebounds for UConn. He's scored 103 points in the team's last five games.

Isaiah Whaley had 12 points and eight rebounds for UConn, while Jordan Hawkins, in what was the second start of his young career, had 15 points.

Akok Akok, starting in place of Sanogo, had 10 points, six rebounds, and four blocked shots.

"We're a very deep team. Yeah, we're missing two key parts of our team but that's the point of being a pack. Everybody steps up at any given moment no matter what the situation is," Cole said.

Cameron Christon led Grambling State (3-6) with 18 points but the junior guard didn't play in the second half after suffering an injury late in the first half.

Fresh off a rather unimpressive 72-63 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore, UConn coach Dan Hurley said on Friday he was expecting more from his team against the Tigers.

"There better be a response," Hurley said before the game.

Indeed there was.

"I think we responded well. The guys that coach said needed to respond with passion, they did today. Everybody stepped up," Cole said. "They held their own out there and we came out with a good win."

UConn got off to a hot start, something it hasn't done often even in its easy victories. Hawkins hit 3-pointers in consecutive possessions and Akok keying an early 9-0 run that gave the Huskies a 17-6 lead.

"I thought we played a lot more to our identity," Hurley said.

But the visiting Tigers didn't wilt, and some hot shooting kept them in the game for much longer than the boisterous fans in attendance had hoped.

Grambling connected on 10 of its first 15 shots, including four of its first five 3-pointers. All four of those made three's were by Christon, who scored 16 points in the game's first 13 minutes.

The UConn defense may have struggled slightly to stop the Tigers when they were shooting, but it fared extremely well at turning them over. Using plenty of full-court pressure, the Huskies forced Grambling into 13 turnovers in the opening half and thanks to many of them went on a 15-2 run late in the period.

"We've gotten away from getting after people and picking up and using our athleticism. Obviously now with Adama out in particular, we've got to be able to play faster and get into people more in the full court," Hurley said.

UConn led 47-30 at the break despite 18 points by Christon, though the Boise State transfer appeared to take an elbow to the head late in the half and did not return.

Without Christon, the Huskies largely strolled through the second half, leading by a much as 32 points.

Neill covers UConn men's basketball and UConn football teams, and he keeps a finger on the pulse of Connecticut sports. For live game updates, and more insight into UConn athletics, player transfers, and team changes, follow Neill on Twitter: @NeillOstrout, Facebook: JINeillO, and Instagram: @NeillOstrout.