While the 2024-2025 campaign for the UConn men’s basketball team has not gone exactly to plan, 2024 treated the Huskies pretty well. 36 wins in the last calendar year, a program record; a national championship and four players off to the NBA. While Connecticut’s 11-3 record and No. 95 defense, according to KenPom, is not where they would like to be, the Huskies have caught fire as of late. UConn improved to 3-0 in Big East play this Wednesday to start the new year, taking care of business at DePaul with an 81-68 win in Chicago.
Coming into Wednesday’s contest, the Blue Demons ranked as one of the nation’s best three-point shooting teams, averaging 11.6 makes per contest, making them at a 38.9% rate. Conversely, the defense beyond the arc for the Huskies has been anything but ideal, as the Huskies surrendered threes at nearly a 39% clip. This factor, among other things, significantly contributed to all three losses in Maui for the Huskies this season; despite this, UConn owned an advantage early on from beyond the arc.
Connecticut finished 8-15 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes, while the Blue Demons couldn’t get it going, owning a 2-10 slash from deep.
Solo Ball led the way for the Huskies, scoring 12 points on an excellent 4-5 from deep in the first half. It didn’t matter whether he was wide open, thanks to UConn’s excellent movement; whether he was well beyond the arc or if there was a hand in his face. Head Coach Dan Hurley noted that first-half performances like his are not unexpected considering how hard the coaching staff believes in Ball, as well as the rest of the sophomore class.
The leader of the program, Alex Karaban, also had himself a solid performance early on, scoring 8 points, including 3-7 from deep. Liam McNeeley also carried the bulk of the scoring early on for the program, finishing with 9 points on a 2-4 slash from downtown. While the usual suspects were carrying the bulk of the scoring for the Huskies early on, Hassan Diarra played an integral part in making that happen, as is indicated by his eight first-half assists.
Conversely, DePaul struggled to keep up the scoring pace of the Huskies, as outside of 7 points from CJ Gunn, the Blue Demons couldn’t find the bottom of the net like they would have liked, and it was a significant reason why they trailed by over 20 points at the halftime break.
As good as the Huskies performed defensively in the first half, they regressed significantly in the second half. While the Blue Demons only shot 1-2 from downtown, players such as Conor Enright stepped up their first-half performance in a big way. The guard scored 17 points on 6-7 shooting, including 4-4 from the charity stripe. Jacob Meyer also did a good job finding the bottom of the net in the second half for the Blue Demon guards, scoring 12 points of his own. The scoring success of the DePaul guards started with their ability to win their one-on-one matchups and get into the paint, where they would either make a tough layup or get fouled and go to the free-throw line. The Blue Demons went an absurd 17-19 from the line, a testament to their ability to get space on their defender and expose the UConn defense, which did not match how they performed in the first half. Despite the poor second half defense, the excellent Connecticut offense came to play, and it was Ball and Karaban who kept the Blue Demons at bay.
Karaban put up 10 points on a solid 3-3 slash, not to mention his four rebounds led all UConn players in the second half, a 20-minute stretch where they lost the all-important war on the boards, which is why this game was as close at nine points. Despite this, Ball’s excellent performance rolled into the second half. Ball had 10 points on 3-4 shooting from beyond the arc. His seven made threes were a career-high for the sophomore, and despite this, Hurley noted that nights like these aren’t unexpected out of the guard.
Despite Ball’s excellent performance, the other sophomores, Jayen Ross and Jaylin Stewart, did not see much time on the court, combining for 10 minutes in the first half. Hurley noted that Stewart missed nearly a week recovering from pink eye, and the program will need him, considering that Liam McNeeley is likely out against Providence this Sunday. The freshman forward left with 13:48 remaining in the first half after injuring his right ankle, and only time will tell how much time he will miss with this ailment. Hurley and the UConn coaching staff have been high on this sophomore class all season long, noting that the program will only go as far as they will take them.
While McNeeley may not lace up, the Huskies will return to action this Sunday at home for a 2:00 showdown against the Providence Friars, a matchup where Hurley and Co. will need everyone from the sophomores to the guards to be on their a-game to pull out a victory.