UConn wins third straight road game
Martin steps up in Bouknight’s absence in late minutes
UConn had the Big East player of the week on its side and, for the first time in some five years, a national ranking affixed to its name.
Alas, the 25th-ranked Huskies were still without the Big East’s leading scorer, and that was glaring. Fortunately for UConn, Tyrese Martin stepped up in James Bouknight’s absence over the final five minutes and helped guide the Huskies to a 60-53 win over DePaul at
Wintrust Arena.
Martin finished with a gamehigh 18 points, including consecutive buckets inside the final two minutes that gave the Huskies a six-point lead. R.J. Cole’s free throw with 26.3 seconds left closed out the game’s scoring, as UConn’s swarming defense forced DePaul into turnovers on several of their final possessions down the stretch.
The Blue Demons didn’t score over the final 4:23 of the contest.
UConn (7-1, 4-1 Big East) has now won its first three road games of the season for the first time since 2008-09. The Huskies won their first nine games away from home that season.
Earlier in the day, UConn learned that it had returned to the AP Top 25 for the first time since October 2016. The 25th-ranked Huskies were also making their first visit to the national rankings during the regular season since Jan. 4, 2016, when they were ranked No. 23.
UConn had as much as an 11point first-half lead cut to one just before halftime. An 8-0 run early in the latter half gave the lead back to DePaul (1-4, 0-4).
UConn jumped out to an early 11-point lead and led 19-10 after a Martin score with 8:44 left in the opening half.
DePaul countered with an 11-4
run and remained close the rest of the half. A Darious Hall 3-pointer with 45 seconds left got the Blue Demons to within a point,
31-30, and it appeared that would be the halftime score.
However, after both teams had retreated to the locker room, the officials ruled that Martin had been fouled on a rebound attempt with .03 seconds left in the half. He hit a pair of free throws to give the Huskies a 33-30 lead.
After hitting their first five shots of the game, the Huskies made just 6 of 22 the rest of the way. Surprisingly, they were also outrebounded by the Blue Demons, 23-15, over the first
20 minutes.
R.J. Cole and Tyler Polley followed Martin in the scoring column with 12 points apiece.
Bouknight sat out his second straight game after suffering a hyperextended left elbow late in the first half of UConn’s win at Marquette on Tuesday night.
RIM RATTLINGS
⏩ Polley had been named Big East player of the week on Monday. The senior forward scored 42 points off the bench in a pair of Husky road victories at
Marquette and Butler. Polley shot a combined 13for-22 from the floor, including 10-for-16 from 3point land, in the two games.
Polley is the first UConn player to earn Big East player of the week honors since the program re-joined the Big East this season.
The last time UConn was ⏩ in the AP Top 25 (No. 18 on Oct. 31, 2016), the Huskies promptly lost their first two games of the season, at home, to Wagner and Northeastern, and didn’t sniff the national rankings again until Monday.