STORRS, Conn. — After clinching the third seed in the Big East tournament with a key, NCAA Tournament resume-boosting win at Seton Hall earlier in the week, the UConn men’s basketball team wanted to avoid complacency Saturday at home against Georgetown.
Mission accomplished.
The Huskies (14-6, 11-6 Big East) rolled to a no-doubt, 98-82 win over the Hoyas on Saturday at Gampel Pavilion. Here’s how they did it:
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— Key to victory
The Huskies never trailed in the first half.
They didn’t come close to trailing, either.
UConn scored 51 points in the first half alone, and led by 27 points at halftime. The Huskies shot 57.6% from the field and 43% from 3-point territory. James Bouknight scored 11 points in the first seven minutes of the game and classmate Jalen Gaffney scored 10 points in the final 10 minutes of the half to provide balanced scoring from the guard position throughout the period.
Georgetown turned the offense up a bit in the second, but the Huskies had built such a large lead that they were able to sustain almost any Hoyas run. UConn’s lead never slipped below 17 points in the second half.
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— Turning point
As part of its first-half scoring onslaught, the Huskies jumped out to a 15-2 lead, had a 12-0 lead at one point, and made six of their first seven shots.
Bouknight scored eight of the Huskies’ first 15 points (two 3-pointers and a dunk) and senior Isaiah Whaley and freshman Adama Sanogo — who combined for nearly half of UConn’s points in Wednesday’s win at Seton Hall — scored the other seven.
Georgetown was held scoreless for the first 3:30 of the game.
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— Player of the game
Bouknight’s strong play since returning from an elbow injury continued Saturday as he led all scorers with 21 points.
Since returning from injury, he’s averaged 20 points per game. The Huskies are 10-2 when he plays.
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— Stat of the game
The Huskies made a season-high 12 3-pointers against Georgetown, and four in a row to open the game. By halftime, they had made seven. The previous high was 11 (against Xavier on Feb. 13).
Conversely, Georgetown went 0 for 5 from deep in the first half. The Hoyas entered the game as the second-best 3-point shooting team in the Big East, and had made the third most. With its shooting immobilized, Georgetown’s offense struggled to score. The Hoyas rediscovered their shooting stroke in the second half, and went 7-for-11 from three, but it was too late.
The Hoyas also lead the conference in rebounding margins, and were +5.1 on the boards per game entering Saturday’s contest. The Huskies, second in the conference in rebounding margin, won the board battle 35-26.
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— Big-picture implications
UConn was locked into the three-seed for the upcoming Big East tournament prior to Saturday, so the win doesn’t affect it’s tournament standings. From a NCAA Tournament standpoint, the win doesn’t move the needle too much, though a loss would have looked rough on the resume.
