No. 4 UConn men’s basketball cruised past Dan Hurley’s former team, clipping the Wagner Seahawks 83-41. All five starters finished in double figures though an injury looms large over the result. Silas Demary Jr. led UConn with 18 points, four rebounds, and four assists while Jayden Ross chipped in an active 12 points and Na’jai Hines added 10 points and eight boards. Nik Khamenia added 11 in just eight minutes, but left the game with an undisclosed lower leg injury in the first half.
UConn’s smothering
defense overshadowed a rough night shooting. The Huskies forced 26 turnovers and got their hands on countless others.
The offense looked a little smoother in the second half, a good sign if they end up playing a few games (or more) without Khamenia.
First Half
If this game was pickup, it would have been called ‘next’ in the first five minutes. UConn jumped out to a 14-0 lead, with Khamenia supplying eight. Wagner didn’t score until 14:52 and cracked double digits at 8:18.
UConn did go cold for three-and-a-half minutes, but the looks were clean, and the defense remained imposing. Khamenia was lights out, but his exit came after a defensive sequence, though he did not appear to take any contact.
It was announced in the first half that he would not return to the game and he didn’t return to the bench either.
Without their connector, the offense looked a little sloppy at times, and struggled to knock down open looks. The Seahawks flashed some zone as UConn continued to misfire from downtown, and with Khamenia out, the cold shooting continued.
No matter, the Husky defense led to 23 points off 17 turnovers, with Demary racking up five (!) steals in the first half along with 10 points. All of this without a Braylon Mullins field goal.
Second Half
The Huskies built on their strong end to the first half with a 11-0 run out of the break. Hines made plays on both ends, with Landrew slotting into Khamenia’s spot at the four. The Huskies held Wagner to a two-minute scoring drought, and then the hoop opened up for UConn.
Back-to-back triples from Ross and Nils Machowski put UConn up 43 and this one was analytically final. The fellas were hooping at this point, playing freely and auditioning for more playing time.
A physically dominating performance, as expected. Fingers crossed the Khamenia (non-contact) injury isn’t serious, but the depth was on display. Throw Landrew into the starting lineup and see what happens.
The Huskies host Ohio State (will never ever say the The) on Friday at 7:30 pm in Hartford.
