STORRS, Conn. — Adama Sanogo had yet to put together a standout performance against Ryan Kalkbrenner and Creighton in the four times they played entering Saturday’s matchup in Gampel Pavilion.
Consider that box now checked. Sanogo showed up in force and led the No. 4 UConn men’s basketball team to its fist win over Creighton, 69-60, helping to turn the page on a two-game skid at the same time. Stepping up in key moments, the Big East preseason player of the year showed why he was deserving when his team needed it most with a 26-point, nine-rebound performance that included a blocked shot and plenty more contested.
Sanogo’s previous best game against Kalkbrenner came the last time they played, March 2, 2022, a 13-point, 16-rebound double-double — only that game Kalkbrenner also went off for 22 points (10-of-14 shooting) and 10 rebounds.
“He was saying some stuff — if you know me, you know I take stuff personally,” Sanogo said, referring to comments Kalkbrenner made about his playing ability prior to the season. “So coming into this game I was ready. I was ready to go.”
This time Kalkbrenner took just six shots from the field and finished with nine points and four rebounds, though he also blocked four shots.
“(Sanogo) looked like the best player in the league and that’s why we’re potentially a top team,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “When you’ve got the best player in your league and a couple other guys that are like first-team level guys like Jordan (Hawkins) and Andre (Jackson), now you can win the league.”
Unlike recent games, Hawkins was feeling his shot from the get-go. On the Huskies’ first possession, after Sanogo won the opening jump against the 7-foot-1 Kalkbrenner, Hawkins dribbled in front of an unsettled Bluejays defense and stepped back, making good on the Huskies’ first field goal attempt of the game.
Hawkins made sure his impact was felt on both ends of the floor. He made all six of his free throws and finished the game with 17 points (4 for 13) while also blocking two shots and forcing a pair steals.
“Once I see one go in, my confidence just raises up,” Hawkins said. “So I just think throughout the game, just staying confident, having the same mindset, that gunslinger confidence – that’s all you can have as a shooter.”
For most of Saturday, UConn’s defense looked as it did before conference play began. Solid on-ball pressure coupled with exceptional movement and cutting into passing lanes forced 13 Creighton turnovers and only allowed the Bluejays to make two 3-pointers on 16 attempts. UConn blocked five shots in the first 20 minutes, led by Donovan Clingan who sent two shots away in five foul-plagued first-half minutes.
Jackson, without the foul trouble and shooting woes of late, did what he does best and flew around the court disrupting Creighton possessions and outhustled everyone for rebounds and loose balls.
UConn extended its lead to as many as 11 points early in the second half after a trio of Hawkins free throws, but a four-minute scoring slump allowed the Bluejays a 12-2 run that gave them the lead. Sanogo went back to work for four consecutive points in the paint that brought the Huskies back up three around the 12-minute mark and began what ended up being a 12-2 run for the Huskies that included a key Sanogo 3-pointer (his second of the game) and returned the 11-point advantage with 8:27 left to play.
“Going through adversity and tough times — if you keep preparing and keep working and you take a look in the mirror as a head coach, as the players, and don’t blame, complain or defend and you just lock in, those losses at Providence and Xavier made us better,” Hurley said. “We hadn’t been in games like that, we’d been blowing teams away and the first time that we got into those tight games down the stretch, we didn’t respond. Today we went on runs. When they took the one-point lead, we responded. When they got it down to six, we responded. And we responded in part because we just played in two brutal environments versus two really good teams.”
When Sanogo wasn’t in, his 7-2 reserve in Clingan handled the Kalkbrenner assignment just as well and finished the game with four points, three rebounds and two blocks in eight minutes.
UConn, which shot 35% from the field and 8-of-24 shooting on 3-point attempts, maintained its lead with continued excellence on the defensive end and on the glass, though the Huskies were ultimately outrebounded 49 to 34.
After two-straight losses where the Huskies — who identify themselves by their defense — weren’t playing up to their standards on that end. Saturday’s defensive performance was a great sign for Hurley and his team as it continues Big East play. The Huskies forced Creighton to shoot 32.8% from the field and just 12.5% from 3-point range.
“(Losing the last two games) definitely helped us reshape our perspective, really, and not look at things like everything is good,” Jackson said. “After wins, (there are) some things you might not notice or you might not see when you’re watching the film or you might brush over. But after the loss, you really lock into the things you’re messing up on film and you try to correct those mistakes. I think we’ve got to do a better job of just doing that after wins as well — whether we win the game or lose the game, it shouldn’t matter, we should be trying to grow regardless.”
The win extends the program’s winning streak inside Gampel Pavilion to 17 games.
UConn (15-2, 4-2) returns to the road for its next matchup against Marquette in Milwaukee on Wednesday.
