Down two starters, the fourth-ranked UConn men’s basketball team used a second-half surge to down Boston College in an exhibition game at Mohegan Sun Arena, 71-52.
The Huskies had two presumptive starters out due to injury. According to the team, Georgia transfer guard Silas Demary Jr. was ruled out with a calf injury and is considered day-to-day, while center Tarris Reed Jr. has a hamstring injury that could sideline him for longer, as he will continue to be evaluated in the coming weeks.
In their place were Dayton transfer guard Malachi Smith and freshman center Eric Reibe, who made their debuts in a UConn uniform.
Smith looked like a spark plug at the point guard position. With an aggressive energy all over the court, the Bronx, N.Y. native scored 7 points on 2-6 shooting with a team-high five assists.
“I definitely felt good today,” Smith said. “I want to make sure I don’t put a lot of stress on myself.”
Reibe looked like a freshman at times but overall looked promising for the Huskies. In Reed’s absence, the Hanover, Germany native scored 8 points on 3-9 shooting and brought down six rebounds.
“I thought Eric handled himself well,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley said, who noted that Reibe should have had 14 points and eight rebounds. “He didn’t finish everything, but I thought he functioned well and got himself to the right spots. He’s going to grow and keep getting better. I think the guy’s going to be an awesome player.”
The rest of the newcomers made their debut Monday night as well.
Five-star freshman guard Braylon Mullins scored 12 points on 4-9 shooting but got into foul trouble with four. While he is known as a sharpshooter, the McDonald’s All-American went just 2-7 from downtown and finished with a -3 plus/minus.
Le Moyne transfer Dwayne Koroma was the first player off the bench and did not disappoint with a +19 plus/minus rating and five rebounds in 12 minutes. However, like Mullins, Koroma was also in trouble with four fouls.
Australian wing Jacob Furphy only played five minutes, but the Huskies outscored Boston College by nine throughout the time he was on the floor.
IU Indy transfer Alec Millender saw 14 minutes on the floor, and his four assists helped Connecticut outscore the Eagles by 12.
Rrezon Elezaj, Jacob Ross and Uros Paunovic did not play until the very end, but Elezaj provided one last highlight to add to the reel with a block and the game-sealing steal in the final seconds.
The Huskies’ offense looked like a shell of the top 15 offense they had last season. They started the game with Mullins’ first basket from near the restricted area, but were 1 for their next 8 shots taken, with the only basket coming from an old-fashioned 3-point play from Reibe.
Despite being projected to be the No. 2 offense on KenPom ahead of the season, Connecticut shot 36.8% from the field and 23.8% from deep in the first half. Both numbers are lower than what they were last season. The shots looked good, especially from downtown, but the Huskies struggled to connect with the bottom of the basket. They had a lot of opportunities too, with 38 field goal attempts and 21 3-point attempts after the first 20 minutes.
While the Huskies ended up shooting just 38.7% in the second half and 37.7% for the game, they looked better on offense for the back end of the final 20 minutes. Even though Boston College ended up taking the lead for what felt like a split second, UConn regained the lead thanks to star forward Alex Karaban.
The two-time national champion, with just one shoe on, made a 3-pointer in transition to give the Huskies a 44-40 lead with 11:30 left in the game. Despite only making one of his first seven 3-pointers, his second provided a 13-0 jolt for the Huskies’ offense with 11:30 left in the game. The Southborough, Mass. native finished the game with 17 points on 6-16 shooting and a team-high 11 rebounds.
“It was good just getting the jitters out,” Karaban said. “I thought we learned a lot.”
On the defensive side, you can argue their defense looked better than ranked 75th in the country on KenPom last season. At the end of the first half, Boston College turned the ball over 12 times and made just two 3-pointers. While the Huskies gave up a 9-0 run in the second half, Boston College finished the game with 20 turnovers.
The free-throw differential was one of the stories of the first half, with the Eagles taking 15 shots from the charity stripe to UConn’s two. Connecticut was a team prone to getting in foul trouble a season ago, and that seemed to transition over on Monday night, with 11 fouls to Boston College’s six. That continued in the second half, with the final box score favoring the Eagles, 30-11. What hurt Boston College was their inability to make free throws, only making 19 of their 30 attempts.
Jayden Ross came off the bench and had a massive impact. Despite not being a box score stuffer, his presence brought him to a team-high +26 plus/minus rating.
“What this team is dying for is somebody off the bench; a big wing, that can really guard, play with athleticism,” Hurley said. “I thought he had a much better second half. We need him to be the guy whose minutes are where they were tonight.”
Boston College finished the game shooting 31.9% from the field and made just three 3-pointers out of 17 attempts. They were led by wing Donald Hand Jr., who led all scorers with 23 points. Most of his points came from the free-throw line, where he was 12-18.
The Huskies will play one more exhibition game before the regular season gets underway. They will host No. 22 Michigan State at the PeoplesBank Arena (formerly known as XL Center) on Oct. 28.