Preview: UConn Men's Basketball vs. Houston | 3 p.m., ESPN2
An injury-plagued non-conference schedule has left UConn slightly below average (5-6) as the Huskies turn their attention to play in The American.
UConn, which could reportedly be without point guard Jalen Adams (concussion), will once again piece together a lineup Wednesday afternoon when it hosts Houston (9-3) at 3 p.m. at the XL Center in Hartford.
The Huskies earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament last season after winning the AAC Tournament, and if they have any chance of returning there, must do it again. Between now and the start of the conference tourney, which happens to be in Hartford, UConn and its injury-depleted roster need to develop some type of consistence on the court.
“We always break the season up into four seasons,” said senior guard Rodney Purvis, who along with freshman Christian Vital, are the team’s only health guards with Adams out. “We started off with the summer and non-conference, and now it’s conference.
“It’s definitely a new season. We have to come in and get re-prepared and go about things a lot more because it’s conference play now. Guys know your plays more, your moves more now and the scouting is at a much higher level.
“We just have to go and play attention to the small things, the detail things” Purvis added.
The Huskies could receive some help if guard Hamidou Diallo decides to enroll for the second semester, but the Putnam Science Academy postgraduate has yet to announce his future plans. Diallo took an official visit to UConn prior to Christmas and was scheduled to visit Kentucky early this week. Arizona is also reportedly in the mix for the Class of 2017’s ninth-ranked player, who is eligible to play right away.
But while they wait, all Kevin Ollie’s crew can do at the moment is focus on who is available. And that means the Huskies need to rely more heavily on their front court with seniors Amida Brimah and Kentan Facey along with sophomore Steve Enoch. The trio has combined for 67 points in the past two games, with Facey scoring 35 with 23 rebounds.
“Coach has been preaching to us we have three seasons,” Facey said. “We look at it as a new season and way to use what we have learned out of conference to get better in conference.”
The biggest lesson the Huskies should have learned by now is they are not a great shooting team and need to feed the ball inside to their big men. After 11 games, UConn is eighth (.429) is shooting percentage and last in 3-pointers (.301) among AAC schools.
An 80-59 win over North Florida – where the team scored a season-high 40 points in the paint with 20 from Facey – proves they can follow that script. However, the Huskies decided to abandon that plan in a 70-67 loss to Auburn last Friday and chucked up 28 three-point attempts, making just four.
After scoring 20 points inside to lead 31-30 at the half, the Huskies became mad bombers the rest of the way.
“Not listening to the coaching staff and being undisciplined,” Purvis said about why the team reverted to outside shooting against the Tigers. “Playing selfish. Our big guys are keeping us in the game and they’re scoring every time we get the ball inside. I don’t understand why we wouldn’t throw it back in there.”