Three things we learned from UConn men’s basketball’s 68-46 win over Butler in Big East opener

The UConn men’s basketball team sprinted out to a 22-point advantage in the final 10 minutes of Saturday’s Big East opener inside Butler’s historic Hinkle Fieldhouse, but before that, it wasn’t pretty.

Aside from Adama Sanogo, who put together an All-American type of performance with 27 points and 14 rebounds, the Huskies shot just 15-for-50, 30%, from the field. Sanogo’s rebounds were split evenly, seven offensive, seven defensive, and helped UConn to a 54-30 rebounding advantage that was the difference in the game.

Now 12-0 to start the season, third-ranked UConn is off to its best start since the 1998-99 national championship season with Rip Hamilton leading the way.

Nahiem Alleyne, who struggled for a few games before breaking out of his shooting slump in the nonconference finale, a 114-61 domination against Long Island, played his way to 22 minutes (more than anyone else off the bench) Saturday night. He only made three 3-pointers, but they all came in critical moments.

The first came amidst an early 10-0 scoring run (mostly spurred by substitutes) that flipped the score from a 12-9 deficit to a 19-12 lead. As time wound down in the first half, and as the Bulldogs clawed back within five, Alleyne heaved one that beat the buzzer to give the Huskies a 28-20 lead at the break. His third triple came assisted by Andre Jackson on a second-half fast break to extend the lead to 13 points.

Alleyne had a plus-minus of plus-27 in his 22 minutes, the highest on the team.

UConn is the best team Butler, a middle of the pack Big East team, has faced so far this season. Butler head coach Thad Matta compared Saturday night’s game to when the Bulldogs played then-No. 22 Tennessee earlier in the season, a 71-45 loss.

“This was a little bit like the Tennessee game where we just kind of got run down by their size,” Matta said. “I don’t know if we did a good enough job offensively of moving them around.”

The hardest thing about matching up with the Huskies?

Matta said, “I think just their inside-out attack. I would have taken our initial defensive thrusts all night, we held them to 39% from the floor. Obviously rebounding is something that (UConn is) prolific at.”

Here are three things that were confirmed about the Huskies on Saturday night:

1. The Huskies are built to outlast. UConn was relentless all night, and had a clear energy advantage in the game’s final 10 minutes.

The Huskies closed the game on a 22-7 scoring run that was sparked by a 3-pointer from Sanogo directly after a timeout called by Dan Hurley when the game was within four points and Hinkle Fieldhouse was rocking. Hawkins, who battled foul trouble early, bolstered the run with seven of his 12 points in that closing stretch – he was the only other Husky who finished in double figures.

Saturday wasn’t necessarily a display of depth for UConn, with each of its five starters playing more than 25 minutes, but Hurley was able to manage the rest to where the Huskies could last by bringing in Alleyne, Joey Calcaterra, Donovan Clingan and Hassan Diarra for important minutes off the bench.

Sanogo’s physicality inside gave problems to Manny Bates, one of the better centers in the frontcourt-dominated conference. That, coupled with the defensive tenacity and never-ending energy from Andre Jackson and others around the perimeter, wore the Bulldogs down and highlighted the reason UConn is ranked No. 3 in defensive efficiency by KenPom.

2. Adama Sanogo is one of the best big men in the country. Sanogo’s best game of the season came at just the right time.

There were stretches on Saturday that felt like Sanogo was the only one who could get the ball through the hoop. He had studied Bates and came into the game prepared for his tactics on the defensive end. Sanogo’s finishing moves and footwork, paired with a smooth touch around the rim made him almost unstoppable with the ball.

When Bates was asked about what makes Sanogo so difficult to guard, he noted that part of the challenge is being aware of where the conference’s preseason player of the year is at all times. Sanogo, 6-feet-9 and 245 pounds, had plenty of open opportunities to score and seemed to always have a positional advantage over Bates, 6-feet-11, on the glass.

On Butler’s first possession, Bates attempted to back down Sanogo in the post, but he didn’t budge. And he maintained that strength over his 31 minutes on the court.

3. Hustle. The Huskies play incredibly fast on both ends of the floor, and they do it well.

Whether it’s shutting down passing lanes, switching on screens and then switching back at the perfect time, flying in to crash the boards or moving without the ball on offense, the Huskies haven’t seen an opponent to this point who can keep up.

UConn scored 14 second-chance points and 12 points off turnovers on Saturday.