Riding high off a solid and, in many ways, complete performance in their season opener at Gampel Pavillion, the UConn men’s basketball team returned to action last Saturday. Ultimately, the program came ahead, routing the UNH Wildcats 92-53. While the Huskies got the job done in front of the Hartford crowd, the journey to getting there was anything but ideal.
The first 20 minutes of Saturday’s contest was a basketball coach’s worst nightmare. Sloppy cross-court passes, ugly fouls and poor shooting from both sides on all spots of the floor. However, the most significant problem surrounded center Samson Johnson. In the program’s last campaign, the Togo native struggled with fouling, frequently sitting on the bench as a result, and Saturday was no different. After scoring the first bucket of the night on a baby hook, the UConn big man picked a pair of fouls within the first four minutes, meaning that Tarris Reed Jr.’s night was starting a bit earlier than expected. Despite being summoned early, Reed Jr. answered the call, which was a significant reason why the program led by 11 at the end of the half. The Michigan transfer accumulated seven points and five rebounds in 10 minutes of play. However, similar to Johnson, Reed Jr. picked up two fouls of his own, meaning that head coach Dan Hurley opted for a “small ball lineup.”
With Alex Karaban taking charge at the five, the program did lack its usual advantage in the rebounding department, snagging only three more boards than the Wildcats. As is common in early season basketball, there are still some kinks to be worked out, and plenty of film for the UConn coaching staff to churn over.
While UNH only shot 30.8% from the field, the Huskies got lucky on some of these misfires. Connecticut had numerous defensive breakdowns, often on the fast break where players did not know their assignments, and a shooter would trail the play for a three at the top of the key. Luckily, for the Huskies, the Wildcats went 1-9 from downtown in the first 20 minutes. Similarly, Connecticut struggled to find its mark from beyond the arc. After starting 0-9, the program took 11 minutes to sink its first triple, thanks to Karaban. That was the Massachusetts native’s only made three for the first half, but he made game winning plays on both sides of the ball. Karaban continued his defensive assault from the last game, swatting a pair of layups and a jump shot. Not to mention, his offensive presence was noticeable. He did an excellent job at blowing by his defender and getting into an advantageous position, as evidenced by his four fouls drawn and 6-6 slash from the charity stripe.
Despite Karaban’s positive performance, the program took a minute to get going, which is a big reason UNH led for nearly nine minutes. Karaban noted that these first-half struggles are attributed to simply not playing up to the UConn standard and not meshing as well as the program can.
“Just defensively, we didn’t get out and guard the way that were supposed to or expected to,” Karaban told media personnel. “Offensively, we didn’t click as well as we wanted to. We didn’t execute at the level that we needed.”
When it was all said and done, Connecticut finished under 40% from the field and 15% from downtown. Despite this, the Wildcats did not shoot much better, finishing worse in both regards.
The second half of this contest started similarly to the first: poor defense and lackluster offense. Yet Karaban’s concerns were partially alleviated as time went on, as the program started to put the pieces together.
While box score-wise, Solo Ball had a nearly identical second half to his first 20 minutes, the guard’s offensive contributions wore down the UNH defense bit by bit, allowing Connecticut to keep its foot on the gas and run away with this contest. Ball demonstrated his strengths as a slasher at a high level, finishing a tough and-one at the rim despite eating some solid contact. Liam McNeeley also showed that he isn’t afraid to go in and get a difficult bucket, getting to the free-throw line on two separate occasions. However, the second half belonged to Jayden Ross.
Ross accumulated 12 points on 5-8 shooting, including 2-4 from beyond the arc. Hurley noted that he believes these are the types of performances the program needs and expects from him.
“We’ve got to invest in Ross. That’s what a big wing, UConn guard, from an athleticism talent standpoint, that’s what it’s supposed to look like. His second half, that’s what it’s supposed to look like,” Hurley noted postgame.
The turning point that seemed to destroy any momentum that the Wildcats had came at the 10:33 mark. Hassan Diarra threw a perfect lob to Jaylin Stewart on the fastbreak, and the Seattle native slammed it home, giving the Huskies a 21-point lead, their largest advantage of the night. This got the XL Center crowd into the game, and the program started playing its most complete basketball all night long.
Thanks to the performance of players like Ross and even Karaban’s eight second-half points, the Huskies began to run away with the contest, and it seemed that whoever touched the rock found the bottom of the net. UConn’s 63.6% performance from the field and 46.7% from illustrates this story perfectly.
Saturday was far from Connecticut’s best showing. Hurley, Karaban and the rest of the program were very open about this and acknowledged that the team still has some growing to do. However, it’s hard not to notice the high level that Karaban is playing at or the fact that the team wore down UNH over time, going on a 12-1 run to close out the last four minutes of a nearly 40-point win.
The Huskies return to action this Wednesday, Nov. 13, back at the XL Center to host Le Moyne. While Connecticut is expected to cruise to victory, there is a higher standard that Hurley and the Huskies want to play at, and their matchup against Le Moyne is the perfect opportunity for them to showcase their most complete 40 minutes of basketball.