University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
9-5,6-5Big East
Xavier
11-3,4-3Big East
Huskies Secure Road Victory at Xavier
2/13/2021 2:44:00 PM | Men's Basketball
CINCINNATI, Ohio. – The UConn men's basketball team picked up its first Big East road win of the year with an 80-72 victory over the Xavier Musketeers Saturday afternoon. The win snaps a two-game skid and improves the Huskies' record to 9-5 overall and 6-5 in league play. Xavier falls to 11-3 and 4-3 in the Big East.
The Huskies finished with four players in double figures, led by redshirt-junior R.J. Cole's 24 points and seven assists. Junior Tyrese Martin added 15 points to go with nine rebounds, senior Isaiah Whaley tallied 12 points and grabbed a team-high 10 boards to secure a double-double, while Tyler Polley also chipped in 10 points. Zach Freemantle paced the Musketeers with a game-high 30 points and 15 rebounds.
Adama Sanogo opened up the scoring with a lefty hook in the paint but a 14-3 Xavier run over the ensuing three-plus minutes found the Huskies trailing by nine early. UConn countered with an 8-0 burst, getting back-to-back triples from Akok Akok and Cole before Akok drove the lane and finished with a fingeroll to pull UConn within one, 16-15, at the under-12 timeout. Another Akok bucket at the at the 9:06 mark gave the Huskies a two-point lead and after building on the advantage across the remainder of the half, UConn headed into the locker room up six, 38-32.
A right-wing triple from Whaley gave UConn its then-largest lead of the afternoon at 49-40, but Xavier would score the next nine points to level the score. Martin abruptly ended the tie with an old-fashioned three-point play, Whaley followed with a three-point play of his own and after a Musketeer basket, Polley knocked down a trifecta to put the Huskies ahead 58-51.
Cole's fourth trey of the afternoon gave the visitors a double-digit advantage at the 5:33 mark and the Huskies increased the advantage to 14, 73-59, with just over two minutes remaining after Martin scored off a Xavier miscue. The Musketeers tried to make the game interesting down the stretch with a flurry of threes, but it was to no avail. UConn locked down the result at the charity stripe and left the Cintas Center with an 80-72 victory.
