Early season buy games against low level programs aren’t always the most interesting. In reality, these matchups shouldn’t be exciting if they go as planned.
In the third buy game of the season, the second straight in Hartford, CT, the No. 3 UConn men’s basketball team took on Le Moyne. The Dolphins are in their second year as a Division 1 program and were no match for the Huskies. Connecticut picked up a 90-49 victory, overcoming a slightly slow start to get there.
“Felt better tonight, I thought we looked more like ourselves,” UConn coach Dan Hurley noted of the game. “Left some points on the table, got off to a slow start shooting from three. I really liked the threes we were getting. [Le Moyne] is a sneaky-hard team to guard…Minus some late breakdowns in the second half, I thought we took some steps forward today.”
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UConn led 19-16 after a Trent Mosquera three, but it never got any closer. The Huskies didn’t shoot the cover off the ball, making 36% of their tries beyond the arc, though they did outrebound Le Moyne 42-23, score 20 more points in the paint and block 8 more shots. It was domination on the inside–with solid guard play to complement it.
Tarris Reed Jr. played a big role in that interior success, scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 boards in just 17 minutes. He brought consistent energy and has taken a lot of the pressure off fellow center Samson Johnson.
“Tarris has got big upside,” Hurley said. “That tandem [at the center position] is going to give us enough quality for us to accomplish our goals this year. If you look at his numbers and his efficiency, that’s all much improved…His rim-protection needs to improve.”
Johnson didn’t bring the scoring punch that he has in the past, but he was much less prone to fouling than in the past on Wednesday. In his first two games he was plagued with foul trouble and managed to turn it around, all while recording a team-high 4 swats.
“He settled in, had some conversations with the coaches,” Hurley noted of Johnson. “You can see his impact defensively with the 4 blocks. What sucks for Samson right now is that we’re missing him in the lob game, in the roll game. The guards are not doing the things that Tristen [Newton], Cam [Spencer] and Steph [Castle] were able to do for him last year.”
Alex Karaban had another solid evening, scoring 17 points on 11 shots. He’s been red hot from beyond the arc to start the year, hitting 11 of his first 20 attempts. His efficiency there and overall has been a steadying force for the team, demonstrating upper class leadership. It’s also been positive for the forward to see the ball go in after struggling from deep down the stretch last year.
“It’s always nice to see the ball go in and see my hard work pay off,” Karaban mentioned. “It’s definitely nice to see it going in right now. I always have confidence in my shot and I put in a lot of work. Seeing that hard work pay off is great, but we still have a long season to go.”
Hurley wasn’t surprised with the strong start to the year from his star forward.
“He’s played on the biggest stages of college basketball and he’s a back to back champion,” Hurley noted of Karaban. “He’s one of the most accomplished players in recent history of college basketball. He’s a potential All-American and he’s got a chance to stake a claim as having one of the greatest careers of anyone at UConn. He’s coming in with a lot of confidence. This should be nothing, this should be so comfortable it’s like he’s playing in his dorm room.”
Hassan Diarra also played a great game off the bench, adding 10 points and 6 dimes to the effort. The team seemed to move cleaner when he was out there and the offense was more effective. Diarra’s role as the sixth man has been essential to the team, outperforming starting G Aidan Mahaney thus far.
“The slow starts aren’t ideal. The nice thing about having Has there is the way he handles it,” Hurley said of Diarra. “He could be starting these games for us. There’s something very comforting about having him there, the way he changes the game. [Diarra] was really good. He guarded a guy who’s not easy to guard.”
Diarra is comfortable in his role so long as he’s helping contribute to a winning effort.
“I do the same thing every day,” Diarra said. “I want to bring the same burst of energy, whatever the team needs at the time. The team did a really good job today not letting the shots affect the game.”
The Huskies got off to another slow start, having trouble getting much to go early on. They missed their first 9 threes and the ball movement wasn’t crisp. Le Moyne wasn’t playing particularly well either, going scoreless for 7 minutes, but they hung around, maintaining a 3-6 point deficit.
A pair of threes from McNeeley and a Karaban helped the Huskies get their lead into double-digits, as the Connecticut defense locked down. They went another 6 minutes without allowing a field goal, heading into the half with an 18-point advantage after Stewart beat the buzzer.
The second half started with an onslaught of threes from UConn as they stretched the lead. Ball got out on the fastbreak after a steal and threw down a thunderous slam, which he followed with a corner three.
In a very short span the Huskies had ballooned their advantage past 30, and they weren’t stopping. Even though the defense got looser, the Huskies were giving it to the rim, slamming home several dunks. This culminated in a 41-point win, one the team can feel pretty good about.
As the season goes, Connecticut seems to be getting more complete and figuring themselves out. The lulls to start games are getting briefer and they’re playing with more swagger. It’s apparent that the team is gelling more–and they’ll have one more game to work out any kinks before the Maui Invitational.
That game comes on six days’ rest against East Texas A&M (formerly Texas A&M Corpus Christi) on Tuesday at Gampel Pavilion.
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