University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
19-7,10-5Big East
Xavier
17-9,7-8Big East
UConn Stops Xavier For 3rd Straight Win
2/19/2022 4:34:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Sellout Crowd At Gampel
UConn Athletic Communications / Feb. 19, 2022
STORRS, Conn. – The UConn men's basketball team won its third straight game and captured its 10th BIG EAST win of the season as it stopped Xavier, 72-61, before a sellout crowd at Gampel Pavilion Saturday afternoon.
The No. 24/24 Huskies (19-7 overall, 10-5 BIG EAST) exploded in the first half to build a 17-point halftime lead, then had to withstand a furious comeback by Xavier (17-9, 7-8) before notching the victory.
"Obviously thrilled to get that win," UConn coach Dan Hurley said, "to have a dominant first-half performance against a team of that caliber. I credit Xavier, those guys are incredibly hard to beat."
It was the second straight game in which UConn evened the season series against a team it had lost to earlier.
Grad guard R.J. Cole took over the game down the stretch for UConn and scored 16 points, but he had major support from forward Adama Sanogo (15 points, 9 rebounds), and guard Tyrese Martin (6 points,11 rebounds). The Huskies got major boosts off the bench from grad Tyler Polley (16 points and freshman Jordan Hawkins (7 points).
"Tyler is such an unbelievable human being," Hurley said. "He didn't get rattled by the last couple of games, when the ball hasn't found him. He didn't get rattled, he got ready."
UConn broke out of an 18-18 tie midway through the first half to jump to a 30-25 lead, then finished the last 4:00 with a 14-2 run for a 44-27 halftime lead.
"We knew they were going to play really, really hard," Xavier coach Travis Steele said. "We outrebounded them at our place, so I think they hard that stat several times over the past couple of days."
The visiting Musketeers refused to fold, however, and took advantage of numerous UConn turnovers in the opening minutes of the second half to cut the UConn margin to 52-48 with 11:13 remaining.
"It's a game of runs," UConn's Tyrese Martin said, "and, as the older guys, we were able to face that adversity and just get tighter together and play that way the rest of the game."
Two floaters by Cole sandwiched a crucial three-pointer by Hawkins to build the margin back up to 59-48 and Xavier never got closer than five points the rest of the way.
"The difference in the game was that we dominated them in the backcourt, plus 16 on the glass," Hurley said. "The turnovers made us vulnerable to potentially blowing it, but when you are plus-16 on the backboards and you are at 38 percent field goal defense, you have to be really lousy on defense to lose."
And the Huskies didn't, building up more momentum for a clash with nationally-ranked Villanova on Tuesday at the XL Center in Hartford (8 p.m., FS1).
