Fun fact about Dan Hurley: he knows how to speak French.
The UConn head coach said as much at Monday’s media availability in Hartford, though that may not be news to anyone who has sat particularly close to the Huskies’ bench during one of Hurley’s more expletory conversations with an official.
One language Hurley doesn’t speak is Russian. If Hurley is looking for a new hobby come next offseason, perhaps Russian freshman Egor Amosov could give him lessons. However, for now, it would probably be best for Amosov to stick to attempting to break his way into the Huskies’ rotation and continuing to learn a new language himself.
The day prior to Tuesday’s scrimmage against Syracuse at the Mohegan Sun Arena, Hurley wondered aloud in a tongue-in-cheek manner how that language barrier might impact Amosov’s ability on the court.
“Is he just going to completely forget the little bit of English that he’s learned?” Hurley said.
While the language barrier may make it a challenge picking up on the ever-intricate UConn systems and terminology, something that is universally understood is the impact of a made three-pointer. That’s exactly what Amosov provided less than two minutes after getting on the court for the first time as a Husky on Tuesday.
Receiving a kickout pass from fellow freshman Colben Landrew after a missed jumper, Amosov shot over a closing Syracuse defender, Kiyan Anthony, and off the back of the rim for his first field goal in a UConn uniform. Though he failed to connect on his subsequent two attempts from beyond the arc, the early make was as nice a first impression as Amosov could have hoped for.
Pronounced (yay-gor) according to Hurley, who also said the 18-year-old does not respond well to his name being pronounced with a long (e) at the beginning, the Samara, Russia native was the Spanish Liga U Player of the Year in the U22 league’s first year of play last season. Helping lead Real Madrid to a championship title, the 6-foot-8 forward averaged 14.6 points, six rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.5 steals across 30 games. He also appeared for one game and one minute in the Liga ACB, the top level of men’s professional basketball in Spain.
“I think he’s a guy that we hope that we can develop that can get minutes at that spot,” Hurley said after Tuesday’s exhibition. “[Six-foot-eight] wings that are physically strong, they can make threes, that can pass the ball— he’s got really good instincts for basketball.”
Should Amosov find his way into the rotation, he would be the third freshman to do so, following Landrew and freshman guard Junior County.
Hurley typically operates with an eight-to-nine-man rotation. Amosov was ninth in minutes on Tuesday, though that was without Braylon Mullins on the floor due to injury.
Mullins, Nik Khamenia and Silas Demary Jr. are locks for the starting lineup. Jayden Ross will almost certainly beat out Landrew for the other forward spot, with Landrew being the first forward off the bench. One of Na’jai Hines and Oskar Giltay, likely Hines, will start at center, with the other serving as the backup. County is positioned as the backup point guard, with Nils Machowski set to be the backup shooting guard.
That’s nine players. Adding a 10th could be pushing it, but it is not unheard of for Hurley, with the coach citing his time at both UConn and previous stops like Rhode Island as examples.
“We’ve had years where we’ve played to 10; [2023] we played 10,” Hurley said at Monday’s media availability. “For the way we like to use the four-man, he’s a physically strong guy who has a skill set that’s similar to an [Alex Karaban], that’s similar to a [Nik Khamenia], so it kind of fits there. […] If we’ve got 10 players that deserve to play, there’s a path to it.”
While Amosov would be the 10th player, the Huskies operated with two forwards coming off the bench last season in Ross and the since-transferred Jaylin Stewart. While minutes may not be abundant, Amosov could realistically settle into a secondary role behind Khamenia, a comparison that Hurley drew both during Monday’s media availability and again after Tuesday’s game.
“If he could just get accustomed to our language and understanding the terminology and being able to hear the terminology, whether it’s our defensive principles, offensive principles and then be able to react in real time, he’ll be in the rotation this year,” Hurley said.