Note & Quotes: UConn Exhibition Win Over SCSU
STORRS, Conn. – Forty minutes of nasty?
If head coach Dan Hurley has his way, that is exactly how the UConn Huskies will play this season. They are not there yet, but Friday night’s 96-64 victory over Division II Southern Connecticut State University in from of 5,646 fans at Gampel Pavilion had some promising moments.
Isaiah McLeod led all scorers with 19 points for the Owls. Freshman guard Brendan Adams scored a team-high 17 points and the Huskies had five players finish in double figures in the team’s lone tune-up before opening the season next week with Morehead State.
“Obviously, we’re not a very complete team in terms of having everything that you need in terms of size, length, rebounding, post scoring, perimeter shooting,” Hurley said. “So, we’ve got to be scrappy.
“We have to be hard playing, gritty – we have to have an edge to us. … You can win a lot of games in college basketball or in any level of sports if you are the hardest playing team on the court.”
The Huskies led 52-40 at the half – scoring more points in the opening 20 minutes than they did in any half of a regular game last season. UConn did score 50 against SMU in an 80-73 AAC first-round loss, which was former head coach Kevin Ollie’s last game.
WHAT WENT WELL
Running with the Huskies – For the past couple of years, the Huskies were all talk and no action about getting up and down the floor. This time around, they had 45 fast-break points and scored 21 points off 17 SCSU turnovers. There were some stellar plays on the break, such as Eric Cobb’s block turning into a Christian Vital dunk at the other end. Vital threading the needle to Jalen Adams with a 50-foot pass for another bucket, and Alterique Gilbert turning a half-court steal into a dunk on his own.
Gilbert: “It’s a great style for me and I give credit to my teammates and my coaching staff really letting us just play, get out and compete on both sides of the court.”
SCSU coach Scott Burrell: “They had a little nastiness in them which is the way Danny coaches his team and which is going to make them very good. They are long, and their guards are strong, so they are definitely a better team this year.”
Stacking the Deck - It’s clear the Huskies’ strength is the veteran backcourt-- all five double-digit scorers came from that unit, with Jalen Adams adding 16, Gilbert and Tarin Smith 12 apiece and Christian Vital 11. At times, Hurley opted to play with a four-guard set and all of them flourished, including the younger Brendan Adams (5-for-8 shooting).
Hurley: “I think we have a pretty good group of guards, so we’re going to have to get the ball down the court quick and try to get some early offense. Use our speed and quickness down the court. We don’t want to get trapped in a half-court games, we’re not really built for that.”
Brendan Adams: “It was really just fun. At first, I think I was a little nervous, but as the game went on I kind of got into a flow and it just became playing basketball. …Just taking the right shots and taking what the defense gives me. I’m not forcing anything just taking open shots and the right ones, making plays.”
Getting the Message - Hurley was looking for senior leader Jalen Adams to play the right way again after being held out of last weekend’s secret scrimmage with Harvard for disciplinary reasons. Adams did not start but came into the game at 13:26 of the first half and played just over 21 minutes with assists, three turnovers, and one steal.
Hurley: “Communicate, sit down and have a meeting. Again, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t hold him to the absolute highest standard every single day. … He could be one of the best guards in the country. He has NBA talent and from here on forward we are accepting nothing less than him performing day in and day out like great players do.”
Jalen Adams: “I just have to do the right thing and fall in love with the process. There are no shortcuts to success … I’m sure thing will workout for me.”
WHAT NEEDS WORK
Weak Down Low - Kwintin Williams was the lone Huskies to get an offensive round (two actually, and the team was credited with two also) in the first half. Carlton (three overall) joined him with one early in the second half and the team finished with nine (seven points). The Owls meanwhile had 12 offensive boards, converting it into 11 points. Overall, UConn won the board battle 49-41, but there is plenty of work to do.
Hurley: “With the exception of when the ball went upon the backboard I think they showed (effort). Our team showed it, but I don’t think we showed that same grit and toughness when the ball went up on the glass. We will be correcting that the next couple of days. There maybe blood the next couple days.”
Anger Management – Vital picked up a technical foul at 13:55 of the second half and sat the rest of the game. Vital, who got the T questioning a referee’s no call, is no stranger to stirring things up during his Husky career, and Hurley has spoken to him the off-season about that behavior.
Hurley: “It was like a tale of two halves for CV. It’s like he’s got this competitive fire that can drive a team and drive his teammates and energize a home crowd. He’s got that confidence he plays with, but the second half shot selection and then putting himself in position to get that technical foul – that’s just another symptom of what’s been wrong with UConn basketball. We are not going to tolerate that, but he goes hard every day, and I have short memory with guys who go hard every day. He’ll learn from it”
MISC. NOTES
Before the game, Burrell was inducted into the Huskies of Honor. … Red-shirt freshman Sidney Wilson was on the UConn bench, but did not play. He remains suspended from game competition due to a violation of university policy that occurred during the 2017-18 season. … Brendan Adams was in the starting lineup along with Gilbert, Vital, Carlton and Polley. … Smith had a team-high five assists and the Huskies had 17 for the game with 12 turnovers. Gilbert had four of the team’s 13 steals.
UP NEXT
The season opener, vs. Morehead State on Thursday at Gampel Pavilion, 7 p.m. (SNY).