Playing on senior day is always a little bit tougher. There’s all the emotions that come with suiting up for the last game at an arena that’s given each player so much love. Then, after celebrating, the player needs to lock in and play the actual game. Not the easiest switch to flip.
Even after a bittersweet and heartfelt ceremony to honor seniors Samson Johnson, Alex Karaban and Hassan Diarra, there was no such slow start. The UConn men’s basketball team came out of the gates foaming at the mouth, and Seton Hall was on the receiving end of an inspired and downright ugly 81-50 beating.
Perhaps the anger came from the residual embarrassment of the Pirates defeating the Huskies in February, one of the worst losses in the Hurley era. Seton Hall is at the bottom of the barrel in the conference and UConn didn’t come ready to play in Newark.
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This time, the Huskies played a terrific game of basketball. For the vast majority of the afternoon, they looked like a team that could compete for a national championship. Seton Hall was overmatched and the Huskies emphasized that over and over. And again. And again.
It looked like the Huskies were playing with their food, doing just about anything they wanted, whenever they wanted. It was a 41-point game with the contest not even 3/4 over, as UConn’s bench players recorded any stats they pleased.
“Obviously needed a game like this,” coach Dan Hurley said postgame. “We've had some double-figure wins, but the tone that Hassan and Samson set from a defensive standpoint early in the game…It was awesome to be able to end the season here winning the last two.”
Even with so many Huskies playing so well, there was one man who rose above. Johnson, whose parents surprised him by coming to their first game ever from Togo, had one of the better performances of his career.
He brought the team a huge spark from the jump, making so many plays that got the crowd fired up. He finished with 14 points on just seven shots to go along with three blocks. Him and fellow center Tarris Reed Jr. have each had games of brilliance lately, exactly the spot where the team would hope to have them heading into postseason play.
“It was definitely a lot of emotions,” Johnson noted of his parents being in attendance. “It was surreal out there. That was the first time my mom has seen me play basketball live. I just wanted to go out there and perform very well for her. Them being here brought a lot of joy to my soul.”
As for Hurley, he didn't even know until last minute.
“He did not know,” Hurley said. “A lot of people don't tell me things like that because I’m superstitious with stuff. Not that I would have stopped his family from coming from Togo that he hasn’t seen. He saw them last night. We didn’t spring it on him this morning, he would have been a puddle out there. The people who are fans of our program have no idea the type of person Samson is. We’ve got some incredible human beings and he’s the best human being we’ve had in the program. It’s awesome to see him play like that in front of his family.”
Also excellent was Solo Ball, who recorded 17 points on 3/8 shooting from beyond the arc. It was another great day from the sophomore, who has been one of the most consistent Huskies this year.
Alex Karaban followed up his breakout outing Wednesday with another very good one. He did everything the team needed of him on the way to 14 points, 10 boards and four assists. It was his second double-double of the season and a great sign that he’s trending in the right direction. Karaban’s month of struggle was extremely concerning for everyone around the program, so having a string of successful games is a good omen for the future.
Whether it was a product of blowout garbage-time or something else, it was also positive for the Huskies to see Aidan Mahaney hit a few shots. He has underperformed expectations all season, but notched 10 points on Saturday. If Connecticut can get anything from him down the stretch, that would be a massive development, as every contribution is crucial.
“We need that,” Hurley noted of Mahaney. “We need that from him. We need another guard off the bench to help the team. This is a guy who had an incredible resume. The year’s been tough on him. But the kid has shown up every day and works hard. He’s as disappointed as anyone with the year he’s had. He’s our best chance to have someone help us off the bench in March.”
The Huskies started off the game looking like varsity playing against JV. Seton Hall was lucky to get three early points as Johnson absolutely torched them.
Celebrating senior night, the Togo-native was playing like a man possessed. Before the game was even five minutes old, Johnson had six points and two blocks, on the floor with tremendous energy.
The Pirates weren’t having nearly as much fun. They trailed 18-3 at one point and struggled mightily to get anything to go. The Huskies had trouble increasing their cushion much in the late parts of the half, but did get it out to 19 with a Ball three. McNeeley then drew a foul and hit free throws with seconds left before the break, securing a 21-point lead.
Seton Hall had about as successful of a start to the second half as the first, further allowing the Huskies to surge. Gampel Pavilion nearly exploded during one of the best plays of the season, where Diarra threw the ball off the backboard to Johnson, who threw down a vicious slam.
“We didn’t practice that,” Diarra said of the play. “[Samson] was pressuring the ball and they threw a pass to my man and he mishandled it. I stole the ball, looked back and saw I had an open layup. But then I saw Sam running as fast as he could and he said something, what did you say Sam?”
“Throw it off the glass,” Johnson replied with a smile.
“I heard it, and I was like ‘why not?’” Diarra continued. “So I just gave it a chance, and thank god he caught it, because that would’ve been bad”
That moment wasn’t even close to the end of the suffering for the Pirates, with Connecticut increasing the lead to 35 with a Ball four-point play and even further throughout the period. The final buzzer was Seton Hall’s best friend, a merciful end to this painful beating.
The 3-seed in the Big East tournament was locked up before this matchup reached the first media timeout when St. John’s beat Marquette. That means that UConn will play the winner of Villanova vs Seton Hall (6-11) on Thursday at 9:30 p.m..
As for the direction of the team, there’s a lot to be excited about. After going back and forth between wins and losses with some really concerning defeats, they’ve strung together four straight victories. It seems like they’re peaking at just the right time, but are currently slated to be an 8-seed in the NCAA tournament by experts.
If they can move off the 8/9 line to avoid playing a 1, they’d have a real chance to make some noise in the tournament, especially with the way they’ve been playing lately.
“We’re going to go into New York feeling the best we’ve felt since when Liam hurt his ankle…We were feeling good then. Then we had some struggles when Liam was out. We haven’t been able to put together a win streak. It’s probably the best we’ve felt all year and it’s March and UConn’s got a great history in March. That’s part of our confidence.”
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