Coming into their Saturday night matchup against the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, the UConn men’s basketball team has faced significant adversity this past week. After an excellent 4-0 start to the year, the Huskies dropped three straight contests in Maui in what was nothing short of a nightmare vacation. To make matters worse, Connecticut came into Saturday night without their two-time national champion forward Alex Karaban, who is dealing with a concussion. Despite this, UConn got the job done at home, whooping the Hawks 99-45.
With Karaban missing time, Jaylin Stewart was called upon to play the four. The sophomore wing took a minute to find his footing, finishing the first half with three points in 11 minutes of work. With Karaban missing, the program also opted to slide Liam McNeeley into the four and ran a three-guard lineup at times. Despite this, head coach Dan Hurley believes this injury is only a temporary setback for the Massachusetts native.
“Alex is pretty good. I think it was a pretty mild concussion,” Hurley told media personnel postgame. “All of his tests were really clean and he’s feeling really good.”
However, the biggest headline of all was the Huskies’ defense. Not only did the program concede only 18 first-half points, but they were much more disciplined defensively. The program was whistled only seven different times for the first 20 minutes. The second half was more or less the same story, allowing only 27 points and completing the blowout. However, the program was less disciplined, fouling 14 additional times, though much of this did come in garbage time.
The program’s defensive success was rampant everywhere, including with the two big men, Samson Johnson and Tarris Reed Jr. A major factor contributing to their success was that Reed Jr.’s two personal fouls were the only calls made against the two for the night. A significant part of their success also started with the guards on defense. Unlike Maui, the guards played solid defense, meaning that the centers did not need to help as often, and there were fewer chances for them to get into foul trouble. Despite this, Jayden Ross noted that the program still has work to do.
“We did a better job a little bit of standing in front of the ball, but there’s definitely still improvement there that needs to be done in terms of just guarding the ball in one-on-one situations,” Ross noted.
Reed Jr. stuffed the box sheet in the first half, snagging nine rebounds and recording a pair of steals. If Reed Jr. weren’t 6-foot-10, you could have mistaken him for a guard because of how he forced early turnovers. After poking away some arid dribbles, Reed Jr. ran down the hardwood like there was no tomorrow. While these trips didn’t always yield him buckets, these were significant defensive plays that you don’t usually see out of your center. While this facet of tonight’s performance may not necessarily translate to Baylor and beyond, Reed Jr. has demonstrated a high aptitude for going coast-to-coast despite nearly being seven feet tall.
Another facet of Saturday’s night performance that significantly contributed to Connecticut’s success was on the boards. In the first 20 minutes, the Huskies outrebounded the Hawks 27-8. This margin continued in the second half, with UConn leading 21-15 in this department. As a result, it didn’t take long for this game to get out of hand. In Maui, the Huskies never owned this significant advantage, finishing nearly even or nowhere near their opponents, which contributed to why those games didn’t finish in Connecticut’s favor.
The Huskies didn’t take long to get out of the gates for the second half, as the program was firing on all cylinders. The centers were still performing at a high level, as Johnson and Reed Jr. were still menaces on both sides of the floor, including in the lob game, which the guards have been trying to improve at. However, for as good as the rest of the roster performed, the second half was the Stewart show.
The sophomore forward scored 13 second-half points on 3-4 shooting, including 7-8 from the charity stripe. Stewart also added five rebounds to his second half total on Saturday. If his seven made free-throws didn’t tell you already, the wing was a significant slashing threat. Stewart showed a high aptitude for getting past his defender and drawing contact. However, it wasn’t just him pouring it on. Solo Ball and Ross also had strong offensive performances on Saturday. Hurley told reporters postgame that he expects the sophomore trio to improve as the season progresses.
“These sophomores are just going to keep getting better and better,” he said. “They’re going to be such different players in January, February.”
Ball finished with 12 points on 5-11 shooting. Ross also had an excellent 10-point, 10-rebound night, his first double-double at the collegiate level.
Saturday was a good night for the Huskies. The program can finally put this week behind them and move on with their season, though they will need to perform better and quickly. Whether the program has Karaban back or not, Connecticut will need to deal with the Baylor Bears at home this Wednesday in front of a hungry Gampel Pavilion crowd that is searching for a big-time win.