Connecticut’s Tyrese Martin goes up for a basket during the first half of the team’s NCAA college basketball game against Southern California, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020, in Uncasville, Conn.
James Bouknight scored 18 points and Connecticut lead most of the way and held off Southern California in a 61-58 victory in the Legends Classic on Thursday night.
Bouknight’s 3-point play capped the scoring for UConn (3-0), which had a six-point lead with four minutes to play. But USC (3-1) ended the game missing 7 of 8 shots, including three consecutive in the final 12 seconds. Drew Peterson missed a layup and Noah Baumann and Evan Mobley each missed 3-point shots.
Bouknight was 5 of 15 from the floor and made three of the Huskies’ seven 3-pointers. Tyrese Martin added 11 points and Isaiah Whaley had 10 points and blocked five shots. UConn outrebounded the Trojans 42-31, with Josh Carlton grabbing a game-high 11.
Mobley, a freshman forward who was named to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watch List on Tuesday, lead the Trojans with 17 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the floor and had seven rebounds.
The Trojans had their last lead, 27-26, with about seven minutes remaining in the first half.
It was the first meeting between the teams, and the first regular-season game for the Huskies at Mohegan Sun Arena.
