UConn remains confident despite recent struggles

Jan. 6—Following a second straight humbling road loss, sophomore Jordan Hawkins talked to the media outside the UConn locker room inside Amica Mutual Pavilion late Wednesday night.

There was no panic in his voice, and for good reason.

The Huskies didn't get to 14 wins and the No. 4 ranking without earning it.

The latest loss, a 73-61 decision at Providence, hasn't shaken his or his team's confidence.

"Our confidence can't be shaken," Hawkins said. "We just have to remind ourselves what got us here. We've just got to do what we did the first 14 games and get our identity back."

The Huskies (14-2, 3-2) have to return to their identity — relentless effort, elite defense, tenacious rebounding and unselfish play — in a hurry or be in jeopardy of their first three-game losing streak since the 2019-20 season.

Creighton, a team that UConn is 0-5 against in coach Dan Hurley's tenure in Storrs, visits Gampel Pavilion Saturday. Then the Huskies visit Marquette, which is off to a surprising 4-1 start in the Big East, on Wednesday.

Those two games will end UConn's challenging five-game stretch that started with a home win against Villanova, followed up by consecutive road losses to Xavier and Providence.

"We generally lose one possession games when we lose," said Hurley, who called the loss embarrassing. "This is back to back games where we really, really caved in. We've got a lot of work to do before we play a red-hot Creighton team on Saturday."

Some troubling trends have emerged in the last two games.

First, the Huskies reacted poorly to being challenged by strong Big East teams in hostile atmospheres, suffering two straight losses by double digits, one more than all of last season.

They've been out-played, out-toughed and out-coached. They lacked poise and looked frustrated and just plain defeated in the second half against the Friars.

They didn't make winning plays — securing key rebounds and loose balls and getting stops — late in the second half.

Due in part to a lack of aggression on the offensive end and being overaggressive on defense, the Huskies are making fewer trips to the foul line than opponents. They were outscored 52 to 14 from there in the last two games, including by 18 versus PC.

"I don't want to talk about free throws and fouls," Hurley said. "I don't want to get into that."

They've too often settled for 3-pointers, with 45 percent of their field goal attempts coming from beyond the arc against Xavier and PC. They've converted only 30 percent (18 of 59).

Perimeter play has been shaky.

On Wednesday, guards Andre Jackson, Tristen Newton, Nahiem Alleyne, Hassan Diarra and Joey Calcaterra went a combined 5 for 30 from the field and scored just 12 points.

Newton is struggling to find some consistency, scoring more than six points only once in the last eight games.

"For Tristen and the guards off the bench, you've got to be razor sharp," Hurley said. "Conference play is a lot different than non-conference play. These games, there's a tightness that you've got to have to your game."

UConn's bench production has tailed off. Only freshman center Donovan Clingan provided a spark against the Friars.

Clingan certainly earned himself more playing time after finishing with 12 points and tying career highs in rebounds (11) and blocks (four) in just 21 minutes.

"Donovan was great...," Hurley said. "We've got to get Donovan's minutes up some way."

For that to happen, Hurley will need to either play starter Adama Sanogo and Clingan together more, or cut back on Sanogo's minutes. Sanogo went scoreless in the second half vs. PC after scoring 11 before intermission.

Opposing defenses are swarming Sanogo, the preseason Big East player of the year and only Big East player on the Wooden Award top 25 midseason watch list. Sanogo is still the team's leading scorer and rebounder while averaging 25.8 minutes per game. Clingan is contributing 8.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 14.1 minutes.

The good news is, there's still plenty of season left for the Huskies to make the necessary adjustments and regain their edge.

"I know practice isn't going to be easy," Clingan said. "Coaches are going to get on everyone. We need to get back to where we were. I'm not saying it's not fun, but it was a lot more fun when we were winning 14 in a row. We have a very good team. We've just got to find our way again and get to where we were."

Two of their hardest Big East games of the season — at Xavier and at Providence — are behind them.

Sometimes, it's easy to forget no one on the UConn roster has ever experienced life as a highly-ranked program before or worn the enormous target that comes with that status.

The Huskies have to learn to deal with that pressure, because they'll continue to be challenged by Big East teams eager to score a marquee win.

"We already knew that we had a target on our back coming into Big East play," Hawkins said. "We knew it was going to be hard. Winning a Big East game on the road especially is a really hard thing to do. The Big East is one of the best leagues in the nation. They get great crowds and hostile environments pretty much every away game you play.

"So, just having that strong team bond, team chemistry and toughness, that's the thing we're missing right now. That's why we're struggling with away games right now."

g.keefe@theday.com

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