DePaul is not exactly a powerhouse or anything. That being said, the Huskies 82-61 win on Wednesday night was the team’s best overall performance of the season. UConn (4-1, 1-1 in conference) got strong offensive contributions from a number of players, particularly Martin and Boukright, played strong defense and rebounded well. It all added up to the program’s first win in the Big East since 2013.
The Huskies never trailed in the win, and maintained a comfortable lead starting midway through the first half. With the questions floating around about who the team’s primary scorers will be after Bouknight, it was highly encouraging to see three players (Martin, Bouknight and Carlton) in double figures and two others (R.J. Cole and Brendan Adams) score 8 points. As a team, UConn shot 49.2 percent and 7-17 from the three-point line. It outrebounded DePaul 43-33.
The Huskies defense was again very good, led by Carlton inside and Cole on the perimeter. Carlton grabbed a number of tough rebound, and ultimately earned a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Cole shut down a star guard for the second consecutive game, this time holding Charlie Moore to 8 points on 4-12 shooting.
As a team, UConn held DePaul to 38.1 percent shooting, 4-27 on 3-pointers, and also shut down the Blue Devils second-leading scorer Romeo Weens, limiting him to six points. DePaul had 16 turnovers, with the Huskies scoring 21 points off them.
UConn took control with a 16-3 run midway through the first half, and led by 14 at halftime. In the second half, the Huskies went on a 13-7 run starting just over six minutes in the half, taking a 66-40 lead. The run featured memorable back-to-back dunks by Martin (22 points on 9-15 shooting and 10 rebounds) and Bouknight (20 on 6-13 shooting) .
The convincing win should give the Huskies a lot of confidence and momentum heading into January and the meat of the Big East schedule. Starting on Tuesday the 5th at Marquette, the team will have three away games in six days, the program’s first road games this season. After playing Marquette as well as Butler and DePaul that week, the team and fans should no a lot more about UConn’s consistency and ability to get multiple quality performances in each game on both ends.
Below are four observations on the win against DePaul:
The benefits of depth
Unlike the UConn teams of the last few seasons, this year’s edition can regularly go 8 or 9 deep, even with the current absence of Akok Akok. Wednesday’s win was a perfect illustration of how valuable the team’s versatility can be.
When Bouknight struggled from the field in the first half (though he did make five of six foul shots and finished with 9 rebounds), Martin helped lead the offense with nine points and four rebounds. When Adama Sanogo quickly looked lost on defense at the beginning of the game, Hurley immediately inserted Carlton and he anchored the Huskies in the paint on both ends for the remainder of the game, picking up a foul-prone Whaley. Tyler Polley contributed strong play on both ends in 15 minutes of play, scoring five points after missing the Marquette game. Cole played in control on offense after his struggles against Marquette, shooting 3-7 and dropping six assists. Adams was also noticebly better in 21 minutes and made two three-pointers. UConn got 28 points off the bench.
Along the same lines, the win was the Husies most efficient offensive performance since the season-opening win against Central Connecticut. The offense did a much better job of moving the ball and spacing the floor than against USC or Creighton. UConn seemingly came in with the goal of trying to get the post players more involved and attacking the hoop, something I was calling for after the Creighton loss. It paid off handsomely, as Carlton was clearly hungry and looking to score and the Huskies obtained a lot of second-chance points. Doing so also seemed to take pressure off the guards, who took smarter shots and rushed fewer possessions than in the past two games. After the win, the teams adjusted offense statistics rank 39th in the country as of Thursday night. UConn will try to maintain the same level of play against Marquette, which has been struggling on defense.
Tyrese Martin has Coming-Out Party
I had liked Martin a lot since he debuted against Hartford, and he showed all the skills he has to offer against DePaul with his double-double. Martin showed how his speeed and athleticism can be a huge asset in offense in transition and that he is capable of scoring from the peremiter (2-5 from three) as well as at the basket. At the same time, Martin grabbed a significant number of rebounds in traffic, and his five offensive rebounds helped create quality second-change scoring opportunities. Martin’s physical defense helped to make things difficult for the DePaul guards.
Through five games, Martin has demonstrated that he can be a strong glue guy for the Huskies, and especially valuable as a defender and rebounder. Having a guy who consistently perform well in these areas and is capable of strong offensive performances is a huge advantage against opponents. Hurley and the program obviously knew what they were looking for in transfers this offseason when Martin decided to leave URI, and he is making himself right at home in Storrs.
Defense and rebounding defining the Huskies
Through five games, UConn has established itself as a very strong defensive team. It is holding opponents to 39.6% shooting from the field and 27.4% on 3-pointers (the 38th lowest in the country), and is allowing just 65.4 points per game. Hartford, USC and DePaul were all held under 40% shooting. Currently, the 5.6 blocks per game the Huskies ranks 12th in the country.
Against DePaul, UConn did a strong job of playing team defense and pressuring the ball, and was able to jump passing lines consistently, pulling off a couple of impressive steals. Their performance visibly ruffled the DePaul players, who consistently made sloppy plays. In addition to Cole, Carlton, and Martin, Adams and Bouknight also solidified the defense. By shutting down the Blue Demons top scorers, the Huskies again forced other players to step up and beat them, a dynamic they will hopefully repeat regularly going forward.
UConn’s rebounding was again excellent, as it grabbed 58% of the available rebounds. With the addition of Martin, the team now has three high-quality rebounders who play regularly in Martin, Carlton and Whaley, as well as Sanogo and Bouknight. Each of these players are good at boxing out and can use their athleticism and strength to help generate scoring opportunities off of rebounds. It will be fine to see how much better the Huskies become on the boards with the addition of Akok.
James Bouknight and the awesome C+ game
After the game, Hurley praised some of Bouknight’s performance, but ultimately proclaimed it a C+ performance overall. Although it was obviously a step down from his 40 points against Creighton, I will take 20 points on 13 shots from Bouknight nine times out of 10. As stated earlier, when Bouknight’s shot was not falling in the first half the sophomore was smart enough to get to the free throw line for his scoring, helping put DePaul in immediate foul trouble in the process. Bouknight began to find a groove in the second half, scoring a couple of baskets in transaction and and draining multiple jumpers in traffic. Bouknight also did a good job of distributing the ball and getting his teammates involved.
While Bouknight was sometimes reckless going to the basket and made a few sloppy turnovers it was a strong performance overall, and it was nice to see the load not entirely on his shoulders for a night.
The guards still played very inconsistently as a whole
Jalen Gaffney looks a little lost right now on both ends of the court. The sophomore, who did not start for the first time this season, scored just 3 points against DePaul on 1-3 shooting, and has just a combined 13 points in the last three games against power conference teams. Gaffney seems hesitant to shoot, and when he has the shots have been frequently rushed or weak attemps in traffic at the rim (Gaffney is not the only player guilty of doing this).
Gaffney has also not pushed the tempo when playing point guard as much as I’d like this season, whereas Cole and Bouknight did so against DePaul. Gaffney has a well-earned reputation as a good ball-handler, but against DePaul he had just one assist, and he committed two turnovers against both the Blue Demons and Creighton.
Finally, Gaffney continues to struggle on defense, particularly in staying in front of his man. I don’t have any one suggestion for Gaffney to improve other than playing more aggressive while still under control, but he and the coaches need to come up with plans in practice that will help Gaffney be more effective. Otherwise, he will lose playing time as the Huskies go deeper into the Big East schedule.
While Cole and Bouknight both had some strong games, they also need to avoid playing too recklessly and getting poor shots when attacking the paint, as this happened regularly against the Blue Demons. Cole still has not quite proven he can be a strong secondary scoring option to Bouknight, and at some point he will need to as UConn’s schedule gets consistently tougher.
Isiah Whaley was absent
After the USC game, I declared Whaley my favorite player on the Huskies. Whaley still is when he is playing, but he has been nearly invisible due to foul trouble. He was very ineffective in his 15 minutes against DePaul, scoring just 2 points on 1-4 shooting and commiting three turnovers before fouling out. Whaley appeared to be disengaged at times, and committed multiple moving screens, which are fouls that should be easy to avoid. Whaley has enough experience where he should be able to play high-level defense while not picking up silly fouls, and he needs to concentrate on tightening up his defense in practice before the game against Marquette.
HUSKY NATION 