STORRS — Here was a case where the postgame handshake line was more than cordial, more than sportsmanlike. Dan Hurley had high praise for the coach who sort of spoiled his night, and he took it into the postgame interviews.
“New Haven, Coach did a great job,” Hurley said. “They obviously had some things swirling around their program last year, but watching their scrimmages, seeing how good they were offensively, the things they run, the spacing, the patience; I’ve just got a lot of respect for Ted (Hotaling). You evaluate who you’re playing, the quality of coaches you’re playing, and when you watch the film you see habits, you see great structure, a great plan.
“Credit the coach. It’s going to be fun to watch him build that program into one that’s going to be fighting for NCAA Tournament bids.”
No. 4 UConn men’s basketball opens season with ‘excruciating’ 79-55 win over New Haven
Unpacking all that, UConn’s 79-55 victory in the season opener, in the University of New Haven‘s first game as a Division I program was an “excruciating” experience, Hurley went on to say. The Huskies didn’t look like a national championship team, looked closer to last season’s team than two years ago on this first night, but that should be tempered by the continued absence of Tarris Reed Jr. and Braylon Mullins. The full UConn experience will come, but there could be some rough road before we see that.
However, New Haven’s efforts had something to do with the Huskies’ struggles. Hotaling’s Chargers did not look like a Division II team, which many of their players expected to join, in an overnight, ready-or-not move to mid-major D-1. They looked like anything but a deer-in-the-headlights fledging D-1 program playing the fourth-ranked team in all the land.
No, New Haven made UConn and the Gampel crowd a little uncomfortable. The Huskies’ biggest lead was the final score, which was built gradually. An 11-0 run early in the second half eliminated any thought of the unthinkable, but never was there that big run that left the opponent lying on the side of the road.
“They made a lot of hard shots,” Hurley said, “and some of the things that plagued us last year reared its ugly head. When a team (New Haven) has 23 field goals and only three assists, that tells you that you lost a lot of one-on-one battles.”
Now, for that “a lot swirling around” remark. Though none of the people involved, president Jens Fredericken, AD Devin Crosby nor Hotaling would comment (yes, I have asked them all at various times), something unusual happened last March, as New Haven was contemplating the upward move that was announced in May. There were indications that Hotaling, who has led UNH to five NCAA Tournaments and the Division II Elite Eight in 2023, was fired in late March, and unfired the day after, if not the same day.
Whatever happened, or didn’t happen, and for whatever reason, things quickly got back to the new D-1 normal. New Haven arrived at the right place, with the right guy to lead this ambitious move: Committed, resourceful, and willing to do what he can with the hand he’s dealt, however resource-challenged, and insulate his team from any outside turbulence. And how prepared the Chargers were for this first monumental task was apparent.
“If we’re going to play Division I, we’ve got to know what it’s all about,” Hotaling said. “This was an awesome experience for us. … When you play against the best, success leaves clues, and hopefully we got some clues that will help our players understand, ‘This is the level we need to play at every day in practice.’”
New Haven successfully inverted the Huskies inside out, playing the center out on the perimeter, negating the size advantage UConn still had with Eric Reibe and Dwayne Koroma. Andre Pasha, 6 feet 9, handled the ball almost like a “point center,” Hurley noted. UConn was 8-for-23 on threes, but more irritating for Hurley was the missed chances around the rim. New Haven just didn’t make anything as easy as one would have expected, and never caved.
New Haven ready to jump into Division I fire with first-ever game at UConn
“A game like this is truly a blessing,” said Mason Adeleye, a sixth-year player who scored 13 points. “It can only make us better. We have a bunch of young guys who are fresh from high school, or from the JuCo ranks, we’re still adjusting, it was definitely an adjustment to play against UConn.”
Football drives the bus in most college sports realignment, but when a school makes the move from Division II to a conference like the NEC, the whole point is to bring March Madness to campus, or bring it close enough to shake the ground. Having a coach who can navigate rough early tests, drive his team deep into a conference tournament, is what makes these moves work.
Hotaling, who was an assistant at Yale, which has become the New Haven area’s main March Madness outpost, looks, acts and coaches the part. Conference play, which begins to define the season at this level, begins around the first of the year.
Hurley’s praise went a little above and beyond the usual coach-speak after a game like this. By design or not, a coach entrenched by championships, a coach with the level of job security Hurley enjoys can assume some advocacy for a coach who might need it. Ted Hotaling made it a long night for his well-known counterpart, a lot rougher than anyone could have expected, then Hurley had his back.
“This is a guy that’s going to build a great program there and deserves the full support of the university,” Hurley said. “The guy’s a sharp basketball mind.”
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