UConn men look to head into Holidays in best possible position with Sunday road trip to DePaul

The DePaul basketball program is trending in the right direction under coach Chris Holtmann, who, in his second year at the helm, put together another relatively successful nonconference campaign – aside from a home loss to Buffalo early in the year.

The Blue Demons won six of their last seven games in nonconference play before beginning the Big East season with the toughest possible draw.

Holtmann’s team, which returned three of its top four scorers from last season, hung in with No. 22 St. John’s and played a fairly even second half in a 79-66 loss at Carnesecca Arena on Tuesday. It returns to Chicago for the first time since Dec. 6 to host fifth-ranked UConn before a short holiday break and then a New Year’s Eve trip to Villanova, which is well in the running to be the league’s third-best team in its first year under coach Kevin Willard.

DePaul played the Huskies tough twice last season, outscoring them 46-38 in the second half at Wintrust Arena after Liam McNeeley went down in what was ultimately a 81-68 UConn victory on New Year’s Day. Then, leading by as many as 14 points before Solo Ball led the Huskies back in the second half for a 72-61 win in Hartford.

CJ Gunn and Layden Blocker, who combined for 32 points in that second matchup, have returned and are still two of DePaul’s top three contributors along with 6-foot-8 forward NJ Benson, who posted a 10-point, 12-rebound double-double in the first matchup last season and is one of the better rebounders in the league.

Kaleb Banks, another 6-8 senior big, who transferred in from Tulane, started alongside Benson against St. John’s and posted a team-best 19 points and 10 rebounds. He is shooting a team-high 44.1% from 3-point range.

For UConn, which has proven itself as a legitimate national championship contender to this point in the season, Sunday’s game is all about heading into the Holiday break in the best possible position.

“My biggest concern this time of year is human nature,” coach Dan Hurley said on Friday’s Fox Sports Radio 97.9 coaches’ show. “Going into Christmas break, things are going well for us, and Christmas break means that human nature says: ‘I’m going to take my foot off gas.’ So I’m just all over everyone here right now about being ready to play on Sunday.”

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Depth will be a key factor in the matchup. DePaul only saw four points from its bench in the loss at St. John’s. Meanwhile, UConn is two-deep at just about every position and seems to have different reserves stepping up every game. It was Jayden Ross with 13 points and eight rebounds in the league-opener against Butler on Tuesday and Jaylin Stewart with 10 points off the bench the game before against Texas.

Freshman center Eric Reibe, who Hurley credits with “saving” the nonconference season, has gotten better with every game, and second-string point guard Malachi Smith has proven to be a viable playmaker when UConn’s needed him most.

The Huskies have won their last 20 games against DePaul and hope to continue that streak in the Sunday matinee.

Identity changer

Point guard Silas Demary Jr. is growing more comfortable running a new and unique style of offense since transferring in from Georgia. He posted a career-high 11 assists on Tuesday but his calling card, and the reason Hurley and his staff were attracted to him in the portal, is on the defensive end.

UConn’s Achilles heel last season, Demary was the big guard the Huskies tabbed with turning the team defense around. Hurley has liked what he’s seen so far.

“That kid coming here changed our identity, he changed our defense completely,” Hurley said after the win over Butler. “Just being that point of attack defender that is a ball hawk, he’s got to stay out of foul trouble, but what he’s done for our defense, he’s the single reason it went from the (expletive) it was last year to now a defense that’s going to have an opportunity to be good enough to win a championship.”

UConn is currently fourth in the nation by KenPom’s defensive efficiency metric after finishing last season at No. 75. The Huskies, with great length, had seven different players contribute to their season-best 13 blocks against the Bulldogs.