Sanogo powers No. 4 UConn to 69-60 victory over Creighton
Jan. 8—STORRS — UConn junior Adama Sanogo's competitive fire burns scorching hot on a normal game day.
Give him some extra motivation, and look out. He erupts like a volcano.
Upset over comments made last fall by Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner, Sanogo took it out on the Bluejays, torching the visitors for 26 points and nine rebounds in a much-needed 69-60 Big East victory on Saturday at Gampel Pavilion.
"Adama looked like the player of the year in the league," coach Dan Hurley said. "He obviously had the extra motivation coming into the game with things that were said about him at some point and that was played and discussed. He made his statement on the court.
"... He's been seething the last couple of days. The will of that man, it's like poking a grizzly or Kodiak bear. That's the wrong guy to poke. He's a rare person in terms of his will and his internal toughness."
The fourth-ranked Huskies (15-2, 4-2), who rebounded from back-to-back double digit road losses, beat Creighton for the first time in program history after losing the first five meetings. Arthur Kaluma had 14 points and 16 rebounds for the Bluejays (9-7, 3-2).
Sanogo, the preseason Big East Player of the Year, helped limit Kalkbrenner, a preseason All-Big East first team pick, to just nine points, well under his 15.3 points per game average.
Hurley showed his team a clip of Kalkbrenner talking about Sanogo on a Field of 68 podcast in November. Kalkbrenner said the Big East team that he looked forward to playing the most was UConn.
"The teams have had a good rivalry and then obviously they've got Sanogo who they picked as player of the year," Kalkbrenner said. "I've got to bite my tongue a little bit about my thoughts about that selection. Definitely looking forward to that game and seeing what people think about player of the year after that."
Sanogo delivered a statement-making performance against last season's Big East defensive player of the year. He had averaged 10.4 points and 7.8 rebounds in his previous five games versus Creighton.
"He was saying some stuff," Sanogo said. "If you know me, I take stuff personally. ... Coming into this game, I was ready to go. ... For us to win today, I had to play hard. That's why I came into the game wanting to give everything that I've got."
The Huskies went to Sanogo whenever they needed a big basket.
After watching Creighton overcome an 11-point deficit to take a 43-42 lead with just under 14 minutes left, UConn responded in a way that it hadn't in its two previous games.
A possessed Sanogo muscled inside for a basket to put the Huskies in front for good and went on to score eight straight points to spark a game-changing 14-2 spurt.
"Adama was in kill mode today," Hurley said.
The 6-foot-9 Sanogo used a variety of low post moves to shake the 7-1 Kalkbrenner.
Regularly playing against 7-2 freshman teammate Donovan Clingan in practice helped prepare Sanogo for the challenge.
"Donovan is good," Sanogo said. "You have to find a way to score against him. That's the same thing against Kalkbrenner."
It also helped that Sanogo was coming off to sub-par games and wanted to put those performances in the past.
"Adama is the ultimate competitor," Hawkins said. "He wants his team to win. We all want to win."
Sanogo had some help. Sophomore Jordan Hawkins had 11 of his 14 points in the first half after which UConn led 37-29.
Senior Tristen Newton scored 13 points, his best offensive game in recent weeks.
UConn fed off the energy of a supportive sold-out crowd while extending its Gampel Pavilion winning streak to 17.
The Huskies had to hold off the Bluejays down the stretch.
After UConn's lead grew to 12 on Hawkins' 3-pointer, Creighton chipped away at the deficit and climbed to within six with just over four minutes left on Kalkbrenner's dunk.
The Huskies didn't buckle like they did late in the previous two games.
Coming out of a timeout, Sanogo scored in the lane over Kalkbrenner and the Huskies closed it out from there.
UConn's pressure defense forced mistakes and rushed shots. Creighton made just two of its last 16.
"We wore them out," junior Andre Jackson said. "I feel like at the end of the game we had more guys that could come in and had fresh legs. That's definitely something that helped us win the game."
The Huskies were badly out-rebounded (49-34) and shot just 35 percent from the field but turned up the defensive heat, as the Bluejays shot an icy 33 percent from the field. They also took care of the ball, finishing with a season-low five turnovers, and got to the foul line (19 for 23).
"Our guys were able to get past two disappointing performances, turn off the outside negative noise and as a program move forward and get an important win," Hurley said.
The two teams have a history of playing tight games, with all five prior meetings decided by single digits and a combined 19 points.
UConn returns to the road Wednesday finishing a brutal stretch by visiting Marquette.
"It doesn't get easier from there," Hawkins said." We've just got to stay locked in."
