After two grueling road losses, UConn men’s basketball bounced back with a convincing 69-60 victory over Clayton in the school’s first victory over the Blue Jays. Thanks to a sold-out home crowd and Adama Sanogo’s revived game, the Huskies looked more like a team starting the year with a 14-game streak than his two-game losing streak. Here are some of the key takeaways from his UConn return to victory over Clayton.
team leader stepped up
Man: Adama Sanogo, Jordan Hawkins, and Andre Jackson ensured UConn won’t lose the game. The game was closer than the final score would suggest. If Hawkins’ shot didn’t fall off and Sanogo didn’t strike at a crucial moment, it could have gone otherwise. It’s good to know that these guys stepped up together in moments of need to prevent them from doing it.
Sean: Sanogo heard what Ryan Kalkbrenner was saying and apparently used it as motivation. The big man scored his 26 points to lead and made several of his 3-pointers. Meanwhile, he and Donovan Cringan held Kalkbrenner to just 9 points and 6 field goal attempts. He disappeared for a long game on solid defense, but the ambitious Sanogo was too much for him on defense. If Sanogo can take over such games on a regular basis, that’s an encouraging sign for Husky.
University of Tokyo is good
Man: It may be a bad year for Villanova, but the league is now scheduled to be sent Five times to the NCAA Tournament. As we’ve seen, Xavier, Providence, and Creighton are all somewhere between very good and pretty solid. Xavier’s home game with PC has gotten so big that a trip to Clayton won’t be easy.
Dan Madigan: I still think this Clayton team is better than people give it credit for, and I fully expect them to be legitimate contenders for the title at the Big East Tournament in March. Bluejays, UConn, Xavier and Marquette are all in the KenPom Top 20. Providence he’s not far out in 31st. With Villanova struggling, he may no longer be the usual suspect, but Marquee still has plenty of chances to win. The Huskies in particular are just days away from his Golden Eagles game in Milwaukee.
Ryan Goodman: In all honesty, it feels like many of the major non-Big 12 conferences have fallen off this year. The ACC is only sending three or so teams to the tournament, and the Big Ten may send a few more, but they’re in a weaker position nationally. , Also, I don’t think the Big East is particularly bad. In fact it may be the other way around. With the exception of perhaps DePaul and Georgetown, anyone can win on any given night (which has been the case for the past few years), but this league is relatively strong. It’s going to be a really fun league to follow for the rest of the season.
A very large rebound difference?
Man: Clayton took the board 49-34, just one more shot than UConn. It’s very strange for the Huskies to win a game completely dominated on the grass, but a good shot from the 3 where Clayton wasn’t (2-8) and Adamasanogo’s aggressive dominance gave the Huskies the lead. It was enough to win.
Madigan: Outside of UConn, Clayton definitely has three good rebounders in the meeting between Ryan Kalkbrenner, Baylor Shireman and Arthur Karma. With points and 16 rebounds, Scheierman chipped in on a nine-board and Kalkbrenner only had four, but UConn’s focus on big men gave other players rebounding opportunities. It’s a tough matchup against his team with a strong rebound, and being out with 15 rebounds is something he literally never happened for UConn’s Dan Harley until Saturday. I’m chalking this up as an anomaly for now – I’m not concerned.
Under Dan Hurley’s 137 games at UConn, this is the first game they out-rebounded on at least 15 boards. Creighton won the rebounding battle he won 49-34.
Yet UConn comfortably won the game. What a special team.
— Evan Miyagawa (@EvanMiya) January 7, 2023
a good man: This was definitely a shocking development in the game, and at times felt like a loss for Providence, with all lost balls and carroms falling into the hands of the Monks. The difference in this match was that Clayton had no shots. They were also in the best position to devour the board in every game, so credit is given to them, but this seems like some kind of an anomaly. to prevent it from happening again.
bench problem
Man: Joey California hasn’t set people on fire lately. Donovan Clingan’s four points represent all of UConn’s bench scores in this game. Hassan Diarra (16′), Nahiem Alleyne (11′) and Calcaterra (9′) were scoreless in the game. On the bench he’s not a player, but certainly his second scorer, Alex Caravan, was also quiet and scored two. It’s rare to see any of these players step up in the game.
Sean: Samson Johnson’s ability to run 10 deep when healthy is UConn’s calling card, so the lack of aggressive output off the bench is not encouraging. However, these players are influencing the game in other ways. Diarra is a very defensive player and every time he steps onto the court it’s clear the Huskies are much better at their ends. He played just eight minutes in foul trouble, but still had three rebounds and denied two shots. Nonetheless, players like Calcaterra and Caravan need to put up more attacking numbers as he is one of the best outside shooters on the team.
Madigan: UConn probably won’t win another game this year if they only get 4 points off the bench. The Huskies need someone to step up on both ends and offer help in this rotation, especially in the backcourt. Nahiem Alleyn has been well helped on defense, playing in the big games and starting to get his shooting strokes back in the last three games (from the deep he’s 2-5). Klingan still has game-changing talent, but foul he needs to stay out of trouble and still relies on matchups to play extra time.
