The first national championship run under Dan Hurley was coined the “Strive for Five.” The second was being in the “Mix for Six.” On Friday night, the No. 2-seeded UConn men’s basketball team (29-5, 17-3 Big East) will begin a potential “Stairway to Seven.”
First up is No. 15 seed Furman Paladins (22-12, 10-8 SoCon), led by freshman point guard Alex Wilkins, who is notably confident in his first Division I season. The Mattapan, Mass., native averages 17.7 points and 4.7 assists per game on 45.8% shooting. His confidence caught Dan Hurley’s attention, noting similarities to how Tristen Newton and Silas Demary Jr. are coached.
“He has great size and [he is] a really talented player,” Hurley said during a press conference Thursday afternoon. “I think Coach [Bob Richey] utilizes him really well offensively. They do a lot of things on offense. In a lot of ways, it’s like looking in a mirror offensively.”
Few have watched the Southern Conference, or SoCon, this season. Furman was the No. 7 seed, but Hurley saw a crowded top half when scouting the Paladins.
“The SoCon is an underrated league. I was surprised to see them as a 15 [seed],” Hurley said. “There was a lot of balance. Not much difference between East Tennessee State, who won the league, and the seventh-place team in terms of record.”
Throughout the final stretch of the season, Hurley has mentioned the importance of Tarris Reed Jr. for the Huskies to make a deep run in March. His matchup will be Cooper Bowser, who is coming off a massive performance in the SoCon title game.
“He’s a long, athletic, five-man [shooting] 77% on the year from two,” Reed said. “[I have to] just be ultra physical [against him.]”
Silas Demary Jr.’s status was officially listed as “questionable” on the NCAA’s availability report on Thursday night, but there is optimism that he will make his UConn NCAA Tournament debut on Friday night. He told reporters that he expects to play against the Paladins after suffering an ankle injury in the Big East title game against St. John’s.
However, if there is a setback, the Huskies’ backcourt is ready to step up.
“We’re really confident about Silas in general, but [we need to be] ready for every single possession on offense and defense,” Solo Ball said, saying that the backcourt needs to control the game.
Jaylin Stewart, who has not played since the win at Villanova on Feb. 21, is also listed as questionable in the injury report. However, it is more likely for him to be available should the Huskies advance to Sunday’s second-round game against either UCLA or UCF, but he still has a chance at suiting up against Furman.
Hurley also mentioned that Malachi Smith has “a little something going on,” but did not expand further than that. He was not listed on the availability report published to the NCAA’s website on Thursday night.
For the Huskies, this is their 40th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the seventh time appearing as a No. 2 seed. In the 11 times that UConn has appeared as a top-2 seed in the Big Dance, they have won their first game every time and punched a ticket to the second weekend all but one time (2005 against NC State in Worcester, Mass.).
It is the same path Connecticut has ahead of it that the team had in 2006, which did not end the way that team would have hoped. That run started in Philadelphia, continued in Washington, D.C., and would have finished in Indianapolis had the Huskies not lost to George Mason in the Elite Eight.
Twenty years later, the Huskies have that same exact path laid out in front of them.
15-seeds have been more successful as of late, however. Out of the 11 times that a 15-seed has beaten a 2-seed, three of them have come in the past five tournaments. One of the 11 times happened in the same arena that the Huskies will play in: 2013 Florida Gulf Coast.
It was not long ago that the Paladins busted people’s brackets. In 2023, then-13-seeded Furman upset No. 4-seeded Virginia after an incredible shot by JP Pegues.
So, even though the Huskies have struggled but managed to come out on top against opponents deemed inferior, UConn cannot slip up.
The two programs met twice before, with Connecticut taking both the first two meetings.
Tip-off from the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia is set for 10 p.m. and will be televised on TBS.