UConn men notebook: Hawkins' strong shooting gives fans something to cheer for

Dec. 29—HARTFORD — Seemingly each time Jordan Hawkins made a basket for the UConn men's basketball team Wednesday night, he looked to the XL Center crowd and began talking.

Was the sophomore guard talking back to someone that had been chirping at him?

Not exactly.

"I was talking to my mom the whole time," Hawkins said with a smile. "My mom was at the game, so I was just talking to her the whole time and was looking at her."

Hawkins gave his mom and the rest of the fans in the building plenty to cheer about, scoring a team-high 22 points in No. 2 UConn's 74-66 Big East win over Villanova.

"He's got the look," Huskies coach Dan Hurley said of Hawkins. "He's got the pedigree, the upbringing with the great parents and the work ethic. He's got like the ultimate gunslinger confidence. He thinks and he knows he's one of the best shooters in the country. That's his mindset. I thought he proved himself today as a two-way player for a majority of the game."

While the Huskies (14-0, 3-0) struggled to score early on, Hawkins carried the load. He scored 16 of his points in the first half alone, shooting 5-for-12 from the floor, including 3-for-9 from deep.

"I'm always looking to shoot open shots," Hawkins said. "My teammates did a great job of getting me open tonight. So all credit to my teammates. It was hard to get the ball inside for Adama (Sanogo). They just had a great game plan for him. So we just killed them from the outside."

Hawkins finished the game 6-for-14 from the floor and 4-for-11 from beyond the arc. He also went 6-for-7 at the foul line.

"I don't really care if I miss. That's all I think about," Hawkins said of his confidence shooting the ball. "I don't really care if I miss, I know the next one is going in. That's been my motto my whole life."

Hawkins added seven rebounds, two steals and a block against the Wildcats (7-6, 1-1).

"I've always been confident in my game," Hawkins said. "It's just been hard work. Just getting in the gym, that brings confidence. So just working hard, that's all you need to build your confidence."

Hawkins is now averaging 14.9 points per game this season — second on the team behind Adama Sanogo (17.8) — while shooting 40.9 percent from deep in 25.5 minutes per game.

"That's what Jordan is capable of," Hurley said. "I think as the season continues to go on and he gets more comfortable being that type of perimeter weapon, I think he's going to have more games where he's not even 4-for-11 but 7-for-11 for 30. That's coming."

Home cooking

After the Huskies took care of business on the court, Hurley was quick to mention that the announced sellout crowd of 15,564 in the XL Center held up their end of the bargain.

"Unbelievable crowd. This place was electric," Hurley said. "This venue played a huge factor in us being able to get a tough Big East win. Obviously, Villanova is much improved from earlier in the season."

Wednesday's game marked the first sellout at the XL Center in four games played in the building this season.

"It's always fun to play in front of UConn fans and the UConn crowd," redshirt freshman forward Alex Karaban said. "For XL to be sold out tonight really gave us more energy and just really lifted us when we needed to go on a run and extend the lead. The crowd was great and it's always awesome."

Hurley said he felt a different atmosphere in the air even before the game tipped off.

"It was cool to see on the walk over from the hotel in the pregame, I walked over at 5:15 or so, just to see all the UConn fans in the restaurants in the windows, probably having a couple cocktails," he said. "Just the city being buzzing hours before the game was pretty neat."

When asked if this was the type of atmosphere he envisioned when he took the UConn job ahead of the 2018-19 season, Hurley was quick to answer.

"I loved coaching where I coached at the last place and I only would've left that place to go to a place where you can get to this level of college basketball," Hurley said. "To have games where it's a hot ticket and you're playing some of the biggest games of the day in college basketball and you have a team that could go real far."

Betsey in the house

Of the 15,564, people in attendance at Wednesday's game, Windsor native and Class of 2024 recruit Tyler Betsey was one of them.

Betsey, who transferred from Windsor High to St. Thomas More in Montville prior to the season, holds an offer from the Huskies.

The 6-foot-8, 185-pound small forward is the top-ranked player from Connecticut in the Class of 2024 according to 247Sports.com as well as the website's 68th-ranked recruit nationally.

Betsey also holds offers from schools including Duke, Michigan State, Indiana, Alabama and Xavier.

Per Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog.com, fellow Class of 2024 recruit Kayvaun Mulready (ranked 77th nationally by 24/7 Sports) as well as Class of 2025 recruits Badara Diakite of Northwest Catholic in West Hartford (ranked 26th nationally by 24/7 Sports) and Joson Sanon (ranked 39th nationally by 24/7 Sports) were also at Wednesday's game.

Worth quoting

"How can I stop that? I mean look at me. Its like I say it to him and I can see he's looking at me like 'you shouldn't be lecturing me on these things.' But it's hard because when you're a player and the other team is yelling when you have the ball 'under, non-shooter' when you have his make up, it's tough because he's the most competitive person you'll ever meet. Obviously, the things he does far outweigh (the technical)." — Hurley on junior guard Andre Jackson picking up a technical foul for the second consecutive game Wednesday.

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.