The 65-foot jumper against Cincinnati made Jalen Adams a household name last March, but the UConn sophomore guard is ready to take his game to the next level this season.
The Husky point guard spent part of his summer meeting new teammates and practicing with old ones on campus.
“I was up at UConn for summer session one and summer session two just building chemistry, taking classes and pretty much just learning how to play with each other over the summer,” said Adams at the recent Scott Hazelton camp in Andover, Mass. during a break before class start at UConn.
Adams appeared in 36 games for the AAC Tournament-champion Huskies, averaging 7.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists. At times the young point guard was in coach Kevin Ollie’s doghouse, but Adams also flashed brilliance with games like the 22-point, 8-rebound one in four overtimes to beat the Bearcats in the AAC quarterfinals.
“I want to prove I’ve become a better point guard, a better leader,” Adams said. “Shooting the ball from the outside and getting a lot more assists while getting my teammates involved.”
With a year under his belt in college, the 6-foot-2 Adams has tried to help the new Huskies get up to speed. UConn have the “Top Five” coming in with its 2017 recruiting class of point guard Alterique Gilbert (24th), center Juwan Durham (47th), guard Christian Vital (145th) along with power forward Mamadou Diarra (133rd), and forward Vance Jackson (80th).
Gilbert (shoulder) and Durham (two knee injuries) are coming back from injuries, but were up for the summer sessions with the rest of their teammates.
“All five of the freshmen even though Alterique and Juwan haven’t been playing contact they’ve been getting up and down, running through motions with us,” Adams said. “We’ve been getting a really good feel for each other and it’s also good to hang out off the court.”
The Huskies are split going into the season between the freshmen and the veteran players, a group which includes seniors Kentan Facey, Amida Brimah and Rodney Purvis along with Adams, fellow sophomore Steven Enoch and red-shirt sophomore Terry Larrier, who sat out last season after transferring in from VCU.
“They are all competitive,” Adams said. “One day in practice it will be all the upperclassmen versus the freshmen and then after that every time we go to the gym and play pick up without the coaches they want to play their five versus our five just to get better.”
Back in June one website – thebiglead.com - was already projecting Adams to be the 14th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. He’ll have a chance to run the show with Gilbert with fifth-year senior Sterling Gibbs gone.
“I just want to become a better person on and off the court, and just build relationships – that’s my main goal,” Adams said. “Hopefully, just get better and be able to live out my dreams and play at the next level.”
The Huskies have a strong non-league schedule with old Big East rivals Syracuse and Georgetown along with Ohio State, Auburn and a trip to the Maui Invitational where they open with Oklahoma State and could see North Carolina in the second round.
“It’s a long plane ride, but there’s a lot of good competition out there,” he said.
