Fasting ‘absolutely hard,’ says UConn’s Sanogo

HOUSTON– In the minutes leading up to tipoff Saturday night, Adama Sanogo is going to be focused on more than just keeping Miami’s Norchad Omier off the backboard. The UConn center will be aiming to quickly consume food and get fluids prior to the ball is tipped.Sanogo and colleagues Hassan Diarra and Samson Johnson all observe Ramadan and for that reason avoid consuming or drinking from sunup to sundown.”It’s absolutely hard due to the fact that, like you say, it’s my faith and this is something I didn’t begin doing this year,”Sanogo said Thursday.” I’ve been doing this because I was in high school. I used to do it during AAU.” Editor’s Picks 2 Related “It’s something I’ve been doing given that I was bit,”he added on Friday.”I just need to do it. “UConn’s Last Four game against Miami on Saturday isn’t set up to tip till

7:49 p.m CT, which is about 10 minutes after the sun sets. Sanogo told ESPN he plans to drink coconut water and eat fruit in the minutes in between sundown and tipoff.”Certainly I can’t eat absolutely nothing heavy,”he said.Ramadan began on March 22, so Sanogo, Diarra

and Johnson fasted prior to their local semifinal and

last games against Arkansas and Gonzaga, respectively. While Sanogo admitted he was “a little bit tired” against Gonzaga, he still handled to choose 18 points and 8 rebounds versus Arkansas and 10 points, 10 rebounds and 6 helps against the Zags. Diarra and Johnson came off the bench in both games. “I believe I play much better when I’m fasting,” Sanogo included.

“I feel a little bit lighter eating nothing all day so I have the ability to run a bit much faster.”UConn head coach Dan Hurley said the late start of

the game need to offer a noticeable distinction for Sanogo’s energy levels. “For me as a coach, browsing it was more like panic,”Hurley said.”And I don’t understand much about diet and nutrition and human performance. However we have actually got a fantastic strength coach and athletic fitness instructor that have had the ability to get up with him early and get some food in him. And then obviously the late tip time assists us more.” It was a bigger obstacle out west because we were playing so early, and it resembled really in the middle of him most likely being at his weakest in regards to those things. I believe it’s most likely the pointer time is best-case circumstance for us.”Sanogo said he initially discussed not fasting during the NCAA competition, but he checked out Hakeem Olajuwon’s fasting in the 1990s while still maintaining his consistent outstanding level of play.”That’s one of the reasons I’m doing it,”he said. “If he did it, why can’t I do it? I was thinking of refraining from doing it– should I

do it throughout the competition or wait up until after the competition– he is among the factors I did it.”