BY STEVE BARLOW
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
STORRS – Anyone who watched the videotape of the UConn-Creighton men’s basketball game from 12 days ago knew about James Bouknight, the sophomore guard who exploded for 40 points in an overtime loss for the Huskies. Anyone who watched the video knew defending Bouknight is job one when you play UConn.
What DePaul coach Dave Leitao couldn’t tell was how dangerous the rest of the Huskies can be.
“Obviously, we didn’t want to give (Bouknight) 40 points and obviously we didn’t want to give him 25,” Leitao said. “The best player on the opposing team garners a lot of attention. I thought we paid a lot of attention to him, but as a result we didn’t pay attention to two other things, our base defense and the other guys we need to contain.”
Junior forward Tyrese Martin, who had only two points against Creighton, blossomed in Wednesday night’s 82-61 victory over the Blue Demons with 22 points and 10 rebounds at Gampel Pavilion.
The Huskies (4-1 overall, 1-1 Big East) have won 11 of their 12 games against DePaul, which hasn’t beaten UConn since 2007.
“It wasn’t that Bouknight scored 25, 30 points, and that is why they won,” Leitao added. “He played well, but it was the other guys that we did not do a good job of containing.”
Bouknight wasn’t as prolific as in the previous outing, but he still contributed a solid stat line of 20 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Other Huskies who stepped up were center Josh Carlton with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and guards R.J. Cole and Brendan Adams, who both scored eight points and helped to shut down DePaul’s high-scoring backcourt.
But the player of the night was Martin. For a second straight game, he hauled in 10 rebounds and now leads the Huskies in rebounding with 9.2 per game. The 6-foot-6 leaper is especially lethal on the offensive glass, where he got half of his haul against DePaul and scored on three putbacks.
“That is something that is a part of my game that I like to do,” Martin said. “I put a lot of passion into rebounding, and I take that very seriously.”
Martin offers UConn coach Dan Hurley more uses than a Swiss army knife.
“He is a guy we can post some because he is so athletic and so active,” Hurley said. “He is an excellent rebounder. He is on the offensive glass. During a change of possession, he really gets out in transition. When he gets downhill with the drive, particularly going at that left hand, he has the ability to really finish at the rim.”
Martin finished a fast break with an emphatic two-handed dunk with 13 minutes left in the game that expanded UConn’s lead to 59-38. Less than 20 seconds later, Bouknight made a steal and threw down a one-handed, twisting dunk.
“I feel like after the dunk that I had, (James) just fed off the energy I had, and he came down and did his little SportsCenter dunk,” Martin said.
Martin transferred to UConn after two years at Rhode Island, Hurley’s former business address. Assimilating him into the rotation has been hampered by the team’s COVID pauses, and Martin also missed the opener as a one-game NCAA penalty for playing in an unsanctioned summer league game.
“He is obviously really physical. He has great physical stature,” Hurley said. “He is super athletic. He has a toughness about him. He is a more streaky shooter. He is more of a guy that maybe is a 1-for-3 3-point guy. Because of everything that we missed during the summer, the preseason, the secret scrimmages and the exhibitions and all the nonconference games, we are just learning on the fly kind of how to use him and where he can be effective.”
“Coming to this school, I knew what the expectations were, and I had to fulfill them,” Martin said. “But I don’t think I am done. I still have more that I could do.”
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