UConn better enjoy their No. 2 ranking now. Because a change is coming. The Huskies were riding high heading into the Maui Invitational, coming off of 17 straight wins. The outlook now could not be more different. Their vacation to Maui went about as poorly as it could have, going 0-3 after a putrid 85-67 loss against unranked Dayton.
Finding a handful of issues and isolating those for this game just isn’t possible. They did not play well. Remember how UConn used to dismantle opponents, prevent runs, and run away with games last year? The Huskies got a taste of that medicine late on Wednesday night into Thanksgiving.
The defense was poor. Dayton shot 47% from three, which is again much much higher than UConn should be allowing. The Huskies fouled a lot again. Other opponents had been more forgiving with their free throws, but the Flyers were on point, making 27/30 from the stripe. Connecticut was also massively outmanned on the glass. This type of thing rarely happened last year, with the Huskies suffering a 41-25 loss in that category.
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While the offense at least kept things closer during the other two contests in Maui, it was nowhere to be found Wednesday night. There were few easy baskets and barring a few runs, there was no flow. The Huskies tried to string longer streaks to take a lead, but it was always something Dayton did–or something self-inflicted–that prevented it. A silly foul, a missed bunny, anything. The refs were hard to blame for this one.
Liam McNeeley, who suffered a hip injury in the game against Colorado, hasn’t looked the same since. He went 0/9 from the field for 0 points. He added 4 rebounds and 5 assists, which was positive, but he really needs to be a scorer for UConn to have success.
Solo Ball and Hassan Diarra just didn’t do enough either, each scoring 10 points. Ball just couldn’t find his stroke, hitting on just 2 of his 8 attempts from beyond the arc. Diarra added 5 assists, but looked completely frustrated. He was overaggressive at the opposition at times and committed silly fouls trying to reach too far. And it wasn’t just him. Everyone looked exasperated and it showed.
Star forward Alex Karaban had a moment where he was awesome, hitting four threes in a 3 minute stretch. He managed three field goals in his other 34 minutes. A scary moment came in the final moments when Karaban took a hard fall and appeared to hit his head. He went to the hospital, but was able to fly back with the team which is a good sign, but we’ll be waiting on more info in the coming days.
Freshman Ahmad Nowell played another 6 minutes today, showing some nice energy. Once starter Aidan Mahaney was a nonfactor again, playing for just 8 minutes. Neither of the two scored any meaningful points.
Fouling from the center position wasn’t a major issue, but Samson Johnson did finish the game with 3. He wasn’t forced to do much sitting as a result though. He had 12 points and 4 rebounds, not necessarily part of the problem, but not playing as well as he did in limited time last year. Tarris Reed Jr., the team’s backup center, was fine, but didn’t do much aside from a pair of jams.
Looking broadly, this is pretty concerning. Great teams don’t tend to flop this hard in their early season tournaments. Even in 2017, the start of the year that saw coach Kevin Ollie get canned, they went 1-2 at the PK80. This isn’t to say that they’ll end up with a similar outcome as that squad, but it’s not good to have an unfavorable comparison to them.
In 2022, the Huskies won the PK85, went on to lose three straight in January and then won the national championship. This team has not shown any flashes that they will be able to overcome this. However, championships are won in April, not November. Coach Dan Hurley is likely thanking his lucky stars that he has ample time to remedy this.
Hurley runs a complex offense and there are a lot of new players. All of the stars are gone from last year. Learning the offense is tough and there is a learning curve, one of the reasons for the 2023 January lull. As for the defense, that’s been hurting from seeing top 10 draft picks Donovan Clingan and Steph Castle walk out the door.
The Huskies don’t have an amazing option at point guard. Last season was Tristen Newton, this year it’s Diarra. Johnson is definitely not Clingan and neither is Reed Jr. Ball is not Cam Spencer. The wing position is the least of their concern, but it’s hard to argue that it’s upgraded this year.
All of this is especially jarring given how well they played in the 50 games preceding Maui. They were so good and everyone is so used to sheer dominance. And that could come back if they patch up their many issues. They don’t need to be as good as last year to succeed.
Bottom line: not all is lost. But it’s going to take some convincing to show people that they’re not a fraud. The Huskies might fall out of the top 25. They might stay in. Right now, nothing about this team deserves a top 25 spot, with their best win currently over KenPom 321 Sacred Heart.
What they need right now is a get right game. That comes on Saturday against Maryland Eastern Shore, the fifth worst team nationally. Then the challenges continue against No. 17 Baylor.
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