UConn Men’s Basketball Grinds Out Win Over Manhattan, 61-46

It wasn’t pretty, but the UConn men’s basketball team got the job done against the Manhattan Jaspers, 61-46 in a sloppy, turnover-laden affair. The two teams combined to give the ball up 41 times and committed 41 fouls as well.

UConn started off 1-12 from the field, struggling to get in middle of zone and not connecting on open looks. The Huskies jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead before they went completely cold and failed to score for over 7 minutes. However, Sid Wilson broke them out of a scoring slump with a ferocious one-handed putback dunk.

With shots not falling for many of UConn’s shooters, the Huskies stepped up the defensive pressure, putting itself into passing lanes and forcing turnovers. 21 of UConn’s 61 points came off turnovers, a number that could’ve been a lot higher if not for mistakes on the break.

The two teams were deadlocked at 15 with 5:42 left before UConn closed the half on a 10-0 run that gave them the lead for good.

The rock fight continued into the second half with both teams struggling to get into a rhythm thanks to a gluttony of fouls and turnovers that ruined any sort of flow to the game.

Christian Vital paced the scoring with 13 points while Josh Carlton and Alterique Gilbert both reached double-digits. UConn kept the lead comfortably beyond 10 points, but couldn’t blow Manhattan out.

Overall, the Huskies shot 34.7% from the field, and 27.8% from three. Despite starting strong from the line, making their first 7, UConn finished just 63% on foul shots.

With the win, the Huskies improve to 8-3 on the season. Next up is a Tuesday tilt against Drexel at the XL Center, with tip-off set at 7 p.m.

Alterique Gilbert, Christian Vital, Josh Carlton, Dan Hurley postgame video