How to watch UConn in 'Super Bowl' versus Columbia

Tarris Reed Jr.‘s impact was undeniable in the UConn men’s basketball team’s historic rout of UMass Lowell as he made his season debut on Friday.

His dominant presence, in addition to some hard coaching throughout the week, made his teammates better after they opened the season with an underwhelming 24-point win over New Haven. Coach Dan Hurley lamented the way his team defended on the perimeter, losing several one-on-one assignments and giving up easy drives to the rim – none of that being the case in Game Two, when the Huskies led by 47 points at halftime and closed out a 63-point victory over the River Hawks.

Reed “felt great,” Hurley said, after his debut, and will likely see five-to-eight minutes added onto his limit when the Huskies return to Gampel Pavilion to host Columbia on Monday.

The Lions, in their first year under former Florida assistant Kevin Hovde, returned four starters from last season and also opened their season with a win over New Haven. Columbia held the Chargers to 53 points in an 18-point victory – a more effective defensive effort than the Huskies put together.

“Columbia beat New Haven better than we beat them,” Hurley said. “So, as far as I’m concerned, Columbia is the Super Bowl for us on Monday night. We’ve got to raise our level of intensity going into that game. I mean, we’ve got to be like a pack of hungry wolves in that one. And you’ve got to be able to sustain 40-minute efforts to beat teams like Columbia, and I know we’ve got a big game after that coming up.”

UConn’s nonconference schedule will quickly heat up as the Huskies follow Monday’s game with a trip to meet No. 8 BYU in Boston’s TD Garden, then return to Gampel to host No. 13 Arizona four days later.

Impact of NIL

Most of the coaching that happened between UConn’s first and second games was focused on help defense, making the right pass and hustle plays. But there was also talk about NIL, and what is expected in terms of effort with players being compensated to play for the program.

“To much is given, much is expected,” Hurley said. “We invest a lot in these players to come out and perform to their absolute maximum and give everything they’ve got. These players are very well resourced, I think they owe it to the university, they owe it to each other, they owe it to the coaching staff, they owe it to the fan base, they owe it to the donors – they owe it to a lot of people to go out and play on game night and practice every day to the absolute max for all of the resources that are invested in them.”

“That should be every night and every practice,” he continued, “a player should show up and play to the level of effort that they played with tonight (against UMass Lowell). That’s not a one-off. If they can’t provide that, I’m gonna get their (butt) out of the game.”