James Bouknight scored 14 of his 20 points after halftime and recorded 10 rebounds, helping Connecticut surge to a 70-57 win over Georgetown on Tuesday in Washington.
R.J. Cole scored 17 for the Huskies (11-6, 8-6 Big East), who shot 56.3 percent in the second half to win for the third time in four games. UConn squared off with Georgetown (7-11, 5-8) for the first time since January 2017.
Sophomore Qudus Wahab recorded a career-high 18 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for the Hoyas, who were looking for a season-high third straight victory. However, they went nearly three minutes without a basket in the second half while UConn broke open a close game that featured 14 lead changes and seven ties.
After the game was tied, UConn strung together a modest 5-0 run highlighted by a basket from Cole and a layup by Adama Sanogo to go up 49-44 with just under nine minutes to play. That spurt proved to be part of a larger 11-2 stretch for UConn, featuring an alley-oop dunk by Bouknight. It helped the visitors take control, build the lead into double digits and snap a five-game road losing streak against the Hoyas that dated back to UConn's win the nation's capital in January 2005.
It was not the prettiest first half for either squad, but Bouknight and Sanogo combined to score the first 10 points of the game on 5-of-5 shooting. However, the Huskies went just 7 of 29 the rest of the half and endured scoring droughts of more than five minutes and nearly seven to allow the Hoyas to get back into the contest.
Georgetown went 7 of 27 from the floor in the first half but used a late 9-0 run, paced by seven points from Wahab, to take the lead. Jamari Sibley knocked down a 3-pointer in the final seconds to give the Hoyas a 26-25 lead at the break.
The teams combined for 20 turnovers in the first half and 29 overall.
--Field Level Media
Connecticut | Georgetown | |
James Bouknight 20 | Scoring | Qudus Wahab 18 |
R.J. Cole 7 | Assists | Dante Harris 3 |
James Bouknight 10 | Rebounds | Qudus Wahab 10 |
James Bouknight 3 | Free Throws Made | Qudus Wahab 8 |
R.J. Cole 6 | Steals | Dante Harris 3 |
Adama Sanogo 2 | Blocks | Chudier Bile 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Connecticut | 70 | 45.5 | 2-11 | 8-13 | 12 | 45 | 5 | 8 | 14 |
Georgetown | 57 | 35.8 | 4-19 | 15-21 | 9 | 25 | 3 | 10 | 15 |