STORRS – Through the first three games, the UConn men’s basketball team has put together a wide sample size of what it is capable of.
The Huskies showed where they could struggle in the opener against New Haven. Then they showed how dominant they can be on both ends of the court, even without being at full strength against UMass Lowell. Monday’s 89-62 win over Columbia showed a little of both.
After a slow start, the Huskies went on a massive 30-6 run where they moved the ball in transition and capitalized on a series of disruptive defensive possessions. Rebounding, fouling and complacency played a role in a less impressive second half.
“Human nature kind of reared its ugly head for us and we didn’t play a clean second half,” coach Dan Hurley said. “So it gives me enough things in the second half to be disappointed about. Missed a bunch of free throws and a bunch of things at the rim. And fouled a lot. And started getting driven.”
The team knows where it can have success, and where it needs to improve, heading into its first of five ranked nonconference games in Boston on Saturday against No. 7 BYU. Four days later, the Huskies will return to Gampel Pavilion to host No. 5 Arizona.
“It’s a good barometer for where you’re at. I think you have a pretty good sense of where you’re vulnerable, but it’s really gonna expose vulnerabilities, especially when you go into the deep water now with BYU and whoever’s coming up after that,” Hurley said.
“You just focus on a one game at a time mentality. When you watch clips of BYU, A.J. (Dybantsa) and (Richie) Saunders, they’ve got one of the best point guards in the country (Robert Wright III) – when you see that quality on film, I mean, you get scared straight. Things that worked in the first three games won’t work. But it’s fun, we’re excited to get a chance to go play in Boston this weekend versus one of the best teams in the country, so it should be fun.”
Hurley: Molding Silas Demary Jr.
Hurley doesn’t coddle. Especially not his point guard.
So the start to the season hasn’t been easy on Silas Demary Jr. as he transitions into a new offense and is expected to play up to a national championship standard.
The way Demary impacted Monday’s game – active on the boards, creating deflections and spreading the ball around – it was impossible not to see the similarities to the Huskies’ last great point guard, Tristen Newton.
“We’re in the stage of me being on his (expletive) right now about everything – literally every possession, every decision, everything he says, everything he does, his facial expressions, his body language, his decision-making, his violence getting over the top of screens in ball-screen defense, the way he leads, the way he directs,” Hurley said.
“It’s a contentious relationship because we’re trying to mold him into a quarterback, a real, elite-level quarterback, an All-American level quarterback. One of the best point guards in the country, an NBA player, a national champion. So that process is hard to get there, but our relationship will grow throughout the year as he continues to develop into the player we need him to be, the quarterback we need him to be, the (Joe) Fagnano we need him to be.”
Hurley name-dropped the UConn quarterback, who has put together a spectacular season across the street, and yelled, “Let’s (bleeping) go UConn football!” to end his press conference.
UConn wide receiver Skyler Bell, who is in contention for the college football triple crown (receptions, receiving yards, touchdowns), played a role in recruiting the Huskies’ backup point guard Malachi Smith, his childhood friend, and enjoyed Monday’s game courtside.
Restrictions off Reed; injury updates
The reigns have been lifted off of UConn center Tarris Reed Jr., who came back from an offseason hamstring injury and played a dominant 20 minutes against UMass Lowell, following that performance with 19 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and three steals in 25 minutes against Columbia.
He will not be be on a minutes restriction going forward.
As for the pair of freshmen, Braylon Mullins and Jacob Furphy, their time on the bench in street clothes could be coming to an end soon.
Hurley said Furphy’s initial ankle injury was “like a freakish thing” in a non-live warm up drill. The Huskies thought he was getting close to returning and being available for Monday’s game, but might’ve pushed too hard and he “took a setback in the rehab.” He may be in the mix to debut on Saturday.
Mullins was initially given a six-week timeline, which would’ve kept him out all of November, but seems to be ahead of schedule.
“Bray is starting to move on the AlterG (anti-gravity treadmill) and starting to shoot and do some different things. People that are his level of athlete, they tend to recover,” Hurley said. “He’s such an elite athlete, they tend to recover a little quicker than even timelines. Without pushing him, he’s recovering well.”
Hurley uses first challenge
UConn was up by 25 points with 26.3 seconds remaining when Eric Reibe had his shot blocked out of bounds and the refs awarded Columbia the ball. Hurley was angry with the call and decided to use his first-ever challenge, making a box shape with his fingers to call it in, like they do in the Euroleague, because he wasn’t sure how to do it.
The NCAA introduced a coach’s challenge in June. As long as the team has at least one timeout, the challenge can be used to review out of bounds, the restricted area or basket interference/goaltending. If the challenge is lost, the coach will lose a timeout and the ability to challenge another play.
Hurley’s challenge was successful. UConn was awarded possession of the ball and got a 3-pointer from Jaylin Stewart off the inbound.
“It was a strange time to do it, but I wanted to get one under my belt. And I don’t think I gave the right signal, I think I gave what they do in the Euroleague because I watch more Euroleague than I watch the NBA,” he said.
Does he like the new rule?
“Yeah I do, well, I mean, no, not really,” he said. “We don’t want anything else to have to think about like turning around and looking at the video people, because you’re not even sure – we don’t have the NBA quality video. The replays we’re getting is not the replays the Knicks are getting or the Celtics, so it’s a crap shoot over there.”
