CHICAGO — Early on, Tuesday’s UConn men’s basketball game at DePaul looked like it would be a one-on-one shooting contest between Adama Sanogo and DePaul’s Javan Johnson.
Sanogo was left wide open for the game’s first six minutes and scored eight points before head coach Dan Hurley gave him some rest. Johnson received similar defenseless treatment from the Huskies; he made each of his first four shots, including a pair of wide open 3-pointers, and scored 10 of the Blue Demon’s first 12 points over the same stretch.
It wasn’t long before Jordan Hawkins joined the fight and helped the Huskies to a 90-76 win inside the not-so-hostile Wintrust Arena on Tuesday night.
Sanogo scored 25 points with nine rebounds, while Hawkins added 26 and five boards while shooting 6 for 11 from the field and 12 of 14 from the free-throw line. Point guard Tristen Newton continued his strong stretch with 21 points (6 of 12) and three assists.
Both teams traded shots until the Huskies pulled away with around six minutes left in the period.
Hawkins started the scoring burst with trips to the free throw line on consecutive offensive possessions; he made all five shots from the stripe after drawing another foul on a 3-point attempt. Newton got involved on the defensive end and turned it into offense when he jumped a Blue Demons pass in the backcourt and sprinted ahead for the layup. He returned aggressively to the paint shortly after and converted on another crafty finish. Hawkins capped off the 12-1 scoring burst (which lasted two minutes and 26 seconds) with his second 3-pointer of the half, giving UConn a 40-27 advantage.
The Huskies went into halftime with a 46-33 lead.
Coming out of the break, Sanogo got right back to where he started. An quick and easy layup plus a pair of free throws from Alex Karaban put the Huskies ahead by 17. It got to as many as 20 points before a hectic 10-0 run from DePaul cut it down to nine with 12 minutes left in the game.
Newton ended a four-minute UConn scoreless stretch with a midrange jumper and was later fouled on a made 3-pointer and completed the four-point play to get the Huskies’ lead back into double-digits. DePaul refused to go away as Johnson scored nine in the second half while Da’Sean Nelson added 15 to keep things interesting.
Hawkins hammered in the final nail when he burst through the lane with a minute left and threw down a tomahawk dunk that brought UConn’s bench to its feet.
UConn is now 2-4 in Big East road games this season, and improved it’s overall record to 17-6, 6-6 in the conference.
The Huskies’ road trip continues to Washington, D.C., where they will face Georgetown (6-16, 1-10 Big East) on Saturday at noon.
