Coming off a massive 72-66 win at home over the Marquette Golden Eagles, the UConn men’s basketball team returned to Gampel Pavilion to host the Seton Hall Pirates. Looking to avenge their Feb. 15 overtime loss, Connecticut got the job done, winning 81-50.
In other Big East basketball news, St. John’s emerged victorious over Marquette 86-84 in overtime, meaning regardless of whether UConn won or lost to the Pirates, they were locked in as the No. 3 seed in the Big East.
Saturday afternoon also marked Senior Day for Samson Johnson, Hassan Diarra and Alex Karaban. Head coach Dan Hurley said on Saturday that getting to coach players and develop a long-lasting bond with them is one of the greatest feelings in the world. The ability to play an integral part in these college athletes’ lives is a significant reason why Hurley turned down the Lakers job last summer.
“It’s just the greatest feeling in the world,” the two-time national championship coach noted. “To get Samson Johnson in here as a young man at 17, 18 years old and like you’re part of his maturation process of becoming a man.”
“Just all the work you put in together. The successes, the failures, the hard work, the beautiful moments, the devastating moments. When you experience all of these things together, you have a connection for life that is a bond of a true family, love and admiration for each other that just grows.”
Despite there being no Big East seeding implications of Saturday’s contest, Connecticut still put on a dominant display of basketball, and it started with the senior trio. Johnson, Diarra and Karaban opened the scoring for Connecticut, which was infectious. Despite Pirates’ head coach Shaheen Holloway burning an early timeout, it could not slow down the Huskies who started on an excellent 18-3 scoring run. Johnson was the culprit early on.
The Togo native put up eight points in 10 minutes of work, though he was getting these buckets in unorthodox ways for the program. Johnson was either slipping his man, finessing his way down low or poking a pass to take coast to coast. This is the second game in a row that the UConn big man has demonstrated a high ability to disrupt passing lanes and create offense. However, it wasn’t just his defense that put Saturday’s contest out of reach.
Johnson was also a disruptive presence defensively, blocking three shots, playing solid defense and clogging passing lanes. Hurley noted postgame that Johnson’s, along with Diarra’s defensive tone, helped energize the program. This stout defense from the senior pair limited the damage the Pirates could manage and helped set up the UConn offense for success.
Whether it was knocking down a triple, finding a teammate for a wide-open bucket or grabbing a rebound, Karaban was doing it all Saturday afternoon. The redshirt junior played nearly all 20 minutes (18), and in that time, he finished the half with eight points on 3-4 shooting, 2-3 from beyond the arc. The two-time national champion also finished the half with 6 rebounds and a trio of assists.
While Seton Hall guard Garwey Dual put on an excellent 10-point, 3-3 performance from three, and the Huskies turned the ball over 10 times, the Pirates struggled to find other contributors. Seton Hall finished the first half with only 22 points. Conversely, it seemed whoever had the ball for Connecticut was finding the bottom of the net. Solo Ball continued rolling with an excellent nine-point first half, and nearly everyone who checked in scored. The program finished up 43-22 at the end of the first half thanks to offensive performances like this.
The second half was more of the same story, as Connecticut scorers were still getting it done from the field, primarily thanks to Diarra’s efforts. Despite not recording any points in the final 20 minutes of Saturday’s contest, the Queens native was active in setting up scoring for the program and was a significant reason why most of the second half was “garbage time.” Diarra finished with five second half assists, including a highlight reel lob off the backboard into the hands of Johnson who slammed the rock home to complete the alley-oop. Diarra and Johnson, elaborated on the play in question postgame.
“We didn’t practice that,” Diarra said. “[Johnson] was pressuring the ball, and they threw a pass to my man, and he mishandled it. I stole the ball, looked back and saw I had an open layup. But then I saw [Johnson] running as fast as he could, and he said something — what did you say, Sam?”
“Throw it off the glass,” Johnson smirked in response.
“I heard it, and I was like ‘why not?’” Diarra noted. “So, I just gave it a chance, and thank god he caught it, because that would’ve been bad.”
While Ball and Karaban’s excellent scoring ability rolled over into the second half, a performance that should be on the radars of UConn fans came from Aidan Mahaney. The St. Mary’s transfer added onto his four-point first half with a six-point second half flurry on a perfect 2-2 slash from downtown. The reason this performance is so critical is because the program lacks consistent backup point guard play. It doesn’t appear that Ahmad Nowell is quite ready to step in as the everyday backup one, but one thing is certain: UConn needs someone to fill this role if they wish to go deep, and Hurley has mentioned this on numerous occasions.
“We need that,” Hurley told the media postgame. “We need that from [Mahaney]. We need another guard off the bench to help the team. This is a guy who had an incredible resume. The year’s been tough on him. But the kid has shown up every day and works hard. He’s as disappointed as anyone with the year he’s had. He’s our best chance to have someone help us off the bench in March.”
After a lot more scoring, getting nearly the entire roster out on the floor and even dual technical fouls, the contest finally ended, with UConn coming out on top 81-50. This was not before Johnson, Diarra and Karaban (potentially) checked out of the game for the final time at Gampel Pavillion and got their much-deserved roses from the home crowd. It is befitting that this trio got a Hollywood ending in front of the UConn crowd after all they have done for Connecticut basketball. Hurley emphasized what this win meant to him and where he and the program presently see themselves.
“We’re going to go into New York feeling the best we’ve felt since when Liam [McNeeley] hurt his ankle,” Hurley said. “We were feeling good then. Then we had some struggles when Liam was out. We haven’t been able to put together a win streak. It’s probably the best we’ve felt all year and it’s March, and UConn’s got a great history in March. That’s part of our confidence.”
March has officially come. The regular season is over for the Huskies, and championship weekend is here. The Huskies are officially the No. 3 seed for the Big East Tournament and will return to action this Thursday to face either Seton Hall or Villanova in defense of their Big East title. Making some noise here is crucial, since most bracketologists have them floating as an eight or nine seed, meaning they would face a No. 1 seed in the second round. If UConn could avoid this for now, they would have even more time to mesh and build up even more momentum, which is crucial considering that McNeeley is amid an offensive funk. Then, when the time comes to play a program like Auburn or Duke, UConn can put their best foot forward and give them the best fight possible.