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Dan Hurley's Thought's Following Secret Scrimmage with Harvard

Hurley was please with the play of Christian Vital.
Hurley was please with the play of Christian Vital. (Ian Bethune)

At last weekend’s open practice, Dan Hurley told the crowd inside Gampel Pavilion that the UConn Huskies will get better before opening night. Following Saturday’s secret scrimmage with Harvard at Gampel, the UConn head coach knows there’s still plenty of work to be done. The Huskies, playing with only nine, had some bright moments from Alterique Gilbert and Christian Vital in the backcourt, while senior forward Eric Cobb stood out up top.

“Yesterday was a really great teaching tool for us,” Hurley said. “We’ve always, in my years as a head coach in college the closed scrimmages for me have probably the most valuable thing that we have done in all our preseason, pregame practice opportunities.”

Among those missing from the action were senior guard Jalen Adams and freshman Sidney Wilson, who sat out for violating team rules.

“I have really high standards just on my day-to-day,” Hurley explained. “You can’t give me three great weeks and then a bad day or two. I have a short memory bank and you have to do the right things.

“And it’s even more important when you’re the best player on the team.

“The best player on the team and the head coach set the tone for the program,” Hurley added, referring to Adams. “He has to be completely bought into every single aspect of how I want to play and carry himself for the program.”

The return of Gilbert, who has missed almost two seasons due to shoulder injuries, is good news for the Huskies.

“I really liked how Al played,” Hurley said. "He played with joy … he had this whole energy about him and it was infections,” Hurley added. “His speed and quickness. He was just in attack mode throughout, and for a guy who hasn’t played a lot o ball, it was impressive the amount of plays that he made.”

While Gilbert’s shot was on, according to Hurley, it was the one area where Vital struggled.

“I loved the way Christian competed,” he said. “He didn’t shoot it particularly well, but he always got after it.

“The way that Tarin (Smith), and Al and Christian got after it defensively at times, and Brendan (Adams), too. They looked like guys who could have played for me at other places.”

Smith, a fifth-year senior transfer, was on restricted minutes recovering from a thigh contusion, but Hurley was pleased with his effort.

Cobb was the highlight in the frontcourt as Hurley continues to search for guys he can count on there.

“Eric Cobb was our best frontcourt player probably by far,” Hurley said. “He made the plays on the offensive end. I wasn’t particularly pleased with any of our defensive play or rebounding effort from the frontcourt, but Eric at least at the offensive end gave us something there.”

The lack of rebounding and defense didn’t sit well with Hurley. Though to be fair, the frontcourt as two bodies short with Kassoum Yakwe and Mamadou Diarra both out due to injuries.

The Huskies host Southern Connecticut State in their only exhibition on Friday night.

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