STORRS — James Bouknight was there, and then he wasn’t. (Or wasn’t he?)
The UConn men’s basketball team dominated the first half on Saturday and held a big second-half lead. And then it didn’t.
The Huskies turned a 17-point halftime lead into a white-knuckler with an array of second-half turnovers. Fortunately for UConn, R.J. Cole stepped up when needed most. The grad point guard scored 11 of UConn’s 14 points during a key second-half stretch to lead the 24th-ranked Huskies to a 72-61 win over Xavier at sold-out Gampel Pavilion.
Cole finished with 16 points, as did Tyler Polley, who made all four of his field goals (including a trio of 3-pointers) and five of six free throws.