I’m 100% committed to The University of Connecticut 🐺 #GoHuskies pic.twitter.com/IYGIadMLR2
— James (@jam3s210) September 18, 2018
Dan Hurley is starting off his regime on a high note.
James Bouknight, a four-star point guard, verbally committed to UConn on Tuesday. This comes just three days after an official visit. He visited with Virginia Tech and Miami, among others .
The 6-foot-4 guard out of MacDuffie School in Brooklyn suffered a torn meniscus in January, but that didn’t stop Hurley and his staff from staying in contact and continuing to pursue him.
“When I was hurt, a lot of schools stopped calling me and maybe gave up on me. But not UConn,” Bouknight told Dom Amore of the Hartford Courant. “They just stuck with me, called me every day. They even came to visit me while I was on crutches. I was just sitting around the bench. They just really showed love.”
Rated 87th in ESPN’s Top 100, Bouknight fills a vital role for the team. With Jalen Adams entering his senior year and Alterique Gilbert’s injury history, Bouknight’s commitment means that UConn has a guard capable of making an immediate impact once he returns to full strength. Getting healthy will take time, but he has the potential to blossom into one the Huskies’ next star guards.
“I had already built a relationship with [assistant] Coach Kimani [Young] when he was at Minnesota and that continued when he came to UConn with Coach Hurley,” Bouknight told ESPN. “He stayed in touch with me throughout my injury process and that meant a lot to me and my family. We trusted him.
“Then when I got a chance to build a relationship with Coach Hurley, his track record and pedigree as a coach, along with UConn’s winning tradition and history of putting guys in the NBA, it was all I wanted in my college choice.”
Stephanie Sheehan is the managing editor for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at stephanie.sheehan@uconn.edu. She tweets @steph_sheehan.
