No. 3 UConn men’s basketball blitzes Butler, 68-46

No. 3 UConn men’s basketball team took down Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse, 68-46, on Saturday night.

Adama Sanogo returned to his dominant ways with a 27-point, 14-rebound performance on 13-21 shooting. Nahiem Alleyne, who had been struggling this season, had one of his best games of the year with nine points on 3-5 shooting from 3-point range.

Butler came in winning four straight, including two against a pair of top-100 KenPom teams in Kansas State and Yale, but was physically outmatched by the Huskies. UConn flexed its depth with 16 bench points, highlighted by Nahiem Alleyne hitting three 3-point shots, ending with 9 points off the bench.

The Huskies flashed another dominant facet of their game, winning the rebounding battle by 22, 54-31. The Bulldogs simply could not snag a defensive rebound, as UConn wound up with 18 offensive rebounds, its second-highest mark of the season,

Two Simonas Lukosious 3-pointers put Butler up 6-2 early, but the Huskies clamped down and allowed Butler very few second-chance points. After Alleyne buried an outside shot with two seconds left in the half, UConn carried some momentum coming into the second period, up 28-20.

The second half was much of the same. A great defensive battle for the first ten minutes, but UConn quickly turned the game on its head.

The Bulldogs were hanging in because of their defensive player of the year hopeful Manny Bates and lead guard Chuck Harris (12 points), but UConn was able to hold a two-to-three possession lead for a majority of the half. Bates made a jumper to cut it to six at the 10-minute mark, but after that, the Huskies went on an 18-5 run on the back of Sanogo and Jordan Hawkins, putting the game completely out of reach. UConn closed it out with a Hawkins dunk and Calcaterra 3-pointer, bringing its record to 12-0 on the season.

Next up is a battle against Georgetown on Tuesday 6:30 p.m. at Gampel Pavilion, which will be broadcast on FS1.