A faint smile appeared on the face of R.J. Cole. The usually hyper-focused guard couldn’t help but smile. He had just scored 10 straight points in the second half, and his Huskies were in-sync on the court, ultimately spoiling the Hoyas’ Senior Day.
The UConn men’s basketball team, led by Cole’s 13 second-half points, beat Georgetown 86-77 at Capital One Arena. Isaiah Whaley had 14 points. Tyler Polley and Jordan Hawkins came off the bench with 11 points each.
Late in the second half, Georgetown cut a 22 point lead to nine points led by an 11-0 run. This forced UConn coach Dan Hurley to put his starters back in. Ultimately, it was too little, too late for the Hoyas.
Cole could not be stopped on the offensive end in the second half after scoring just five points in the first half. He shot 5-for-8 from the field and 3-for-4 from 3 in the second half to finish with a team-high 18 points.
Hawkins came into the game with extreme confidence, and it that showed in his play. At times this season, the freshman has gotten too emotionally high or low based on his play on the court. Hawkins played within himself Sunday and even brought new elements to his game not seen this season. This included various offensive moves that led to baskets, including an impressive dunk. He had nine points in the first half. Midway through the second half, Hawkins went down on the court in pain while holding his hip. He was subbed out of the game and never came back in.
With Adama Sanogo in foul trouble most of the first half, Tyrese Martin seemed to take it upon himself to play his role. He did a little bit of everything, from securing rebounds to scoring and even dishing assists. Martin had 12 rebounds of the 21 UConn rebounds in the first half. He finished with nine points, 14 rebounds and four assists.
Forward Akok Akok returned to action after missing seven games with a foot sprain.
The No. 21 Huskies (21-7, 12-5 Big East) are third in the conference behind Providence and Villanova. The Hoyas (6-22, 0-17) remain in last place. The Huskies, who have won five in a row, have two games remaining before the Big East Tournament on March 9-12 at Madison Square Garden.
The Huskies started off the game sloppy with two straight turnovers. At 17:29, Sanogo got his second foul and went to the bench with Polley substituting for him. At 16:43, UConn scored its first points on a second-chance opportunity by Andre Jackson, who hit a 3.
The Hoyas led 6-3 when a media timeout was taken at 15:25. At 13:48, Whaley appeared to be in pain, holding his left wrist and came out of the game for Akok. Hawkins drove to the rim and dunked over Georgetown’s Aminu Mohammed, who fouled him. The freshman made the free throw to put the Huskies up 15-13 at the 12:12 mark.
At 07:47, Whaley came back into the game. UConn went on a 6-0 run on 3-pointers by Polley and Whaley to increase the lead to 28-16.
While the Huskies’ defense started shakily, it slowly settled down and held Georgetown to 8-for-27 (29.6%) shooting in the first half. UConn went into the half with a 41-26 lead.
The Hoyas started the second half with much more energy on both ends of the court. When a media timeout was taken at 15:54, UConn led 48-35. The Huskies went on a quick 6-0 run on back-to-back 3s by Cole. At 10:19, Hawkins went down on the court holding his hip and came out of the game.
