UConn men show their tough side, beat Southern Cal, 61-58
Dan Hurley wanted toughness from his team, and the UConn men delivered to pass a big early season test.
James Bouknight had 18 points and seven rebounds, setting an early tone with perimeter shooting and making a clutch basket down the stretch as UConn defeated Southern Cal, 61-58, in the Mohegan Sun “Bubbleville” on Thursday night.
Senior Josh Carlton, who played only three minutes in the first two games, came off the bench to get nine points and 11 rebounds. Tyrese Martin, in his first start, got 11 points and seven rebounds. Isaiah Whaley had 10 and five as UConn’s big men rose to the challenge.
USC, which had outrebounded its first three opponents 141-92, was outrebounded by UConn, 42-31, a key to the game. The Trojans’ freshman star, Evan Mobley, had 17 points and seven rebounds.
UConn (3-0) plays NC State (3-0) in another big nonconfernce game here Saturday. USC is 3-1.
It was a defensive struggle for most of the night, but the Huskies dominated the middle stretch of the game, erasing an early six-point deficit to build a 13-point lead with 14:23 to go. Then the Huskies went ice cold, missing 14 of 15 shots and USC got it down to a one-possession game.
But Bouknight made a tough shot on a drive to the basket, drew a foul and completed the three-point sequence to put the Huskies ahead 61-55 with just under four minutes to play. With tough defense and tenacious rebounding, the Huskies held on down the stretch, forcing the Trojans to try several desperate shots on their final possession.
Southern Cal jumped out to a 9-3 lead, as the Huskies had trouble getting shots off against their stifling interior defense.
But UConn had the touch on 3-pointers, with Bouknight hitting three in a row and Martin another. The Huskies led 12-11 and opened things up.
With fouls mounting, Hurley turned to senior Carlton, who s. Carlton immediately gave the Huskies the post presence to offset the Trojans, getting eight points and seven rebounds as UConn surged to a 10-point lead, 37-27.
Bouknight finshed the half with 13 points, as the Huskies took a 39-34 lead into the break. UConn was holding its own against one of USC’s main strengths, rebounding. It was 17-17 at the half. Evan Mobley led the Trojans at that point with 10 points.
The Huskies started out quick in the second half, too, and extended their lead to 53-40 on Whaley’s follow-up dunk.
Dom Amore can be reached at damore@courant.com
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