It’s not an overreaction to say that the UConn men’s basketball team has underwhelmed this year. They haven’t been poor or anything near the depths that teams in the Kevin Ollie era hit, but it’s been a far cry from the dominance they exhibited over the past two years or their top 10 preseason ranking.
Right now, the Huskies are looking like a team on the bubble of the NCAA tournament and Wednesday didn’t feel much different. The Huskies suited up for a tilt against Georgetown (16-11, 7-9), who has been mediocre this campaign–and it wasn’t a particularly impressive performance.
The Hoyas were without one of their best players and projected first round draftee Thomas Sorber, who will miss the rest of the season with a foot injury. Along with Drew Fielder, their other starting big man, fouling out with over 15 minutes left, there was ample opportunity for Connecticut to dominate.
But they didn’t. Time and again there were opportunities to put their foot on Georgetown’s throat, but they never had the consistency to do so. They did ultimately emerge with a 14-point win thanks to their excellent offense, but they had some confusing moments on defense. Georgetown is not an offensive powerhouse, so allowing so many points leaves a fair bit to be desired.
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Either way, any win this season is still something to be happy about. The Huskies’ dominance from the past two years has dwindled, and conference wins haven’t come easily. As depleted and roughed up as the Hoyas are, it’s still a victory and the Huskies did have a nice day scoring. On top of it, they finished their XL Center slate unbeaten.
“We got the good mojo when we come in here,” Hurley said of the XL Center. “We’ve been able to win here two straight years. You need a home crowd that’s into it from the start. When the crowd is into it here, it’s as good as [the best places in the conference.]”
UConn did well on the glass, nearly doubling up their visitors 35-18 and got 30 second chance points for their efforts.
“Today was about physicality,” Georgetown coach Ed Cooley said. “They outrebounded us two to one and got 30 second chance points. That’s the game.”
The Huskies again struggled to defend the triple though, allowing Georgetown to hit on 41% of their tries. This is especially bad knowing that the Hoyas shoot 31% from deep on the season, placing them in the bottom 50 nationally.
“I thought we were done with that,” Hurley noted of Georgetown’s excellent shooting. “Epps and Peavy and Mack, those guys put so much pressure on you with their ability to create. We wanted to take the 3-point line away from Mack and Epps. The rest of the guys, we were willing to let them take shots.”
Tarris Reed Jr. was the only big to really enjoy the lack of Georgetown depth, absolutely pouring it on. He finished with 20 points and 10 boards on just 10 shots. He was really the X-factor, with the team’s highest plus/minus. Reed Jr. has shown much better aggression over the past handful of games, playing like the definitively better center.
“Minutes are always the easiest thing to distribute,” Hurley said about Reed Jr.’s playing time. “When I get that version of Tarris he plays 28 minutes. If he can ever unlock it himself, the motor, ferocity and violence, he’s a difference-making player.”
As for Reed Jr.’s offensive rebounding (9 across the past two outings), that’s been a point of emphasis lately.
“That’s my mindset; trying to get more offensive rebounds,” Reed Jr. noted. “I only had 3 this game. I had the opportunity to get more.”
Liam McNeeley had a solid night too, also needing just 10 shots to get to 17 points. He made 3 of 6 threes and all four tries from the charity stripe, playing a solid game. He didn’t force much offensively and let the game come to him.
Graduate student Hassan Diarra has been battling a knee injury for the past few months, but had a really productive night Wednesday. He finished with 14 points and 7 assists, setting the table for his teammates and fighting hard. As he wraps up his career as a Husky, it’s hard to imagine how much tougher this season would be if Diarra wasn’t playing with so much grit.
“You win with soldiers. Those people with heart,” Hurley noted of Diarra. “The last couple of years we got the personalities just right. The character, the competitive will. He represents all those things. He looked a little better, he’s moving better. You can’t win without soldiers or warriors.”
Solo Ball had a decent night, scoring 20 points on 13 attempts while adding 5 rebounds and 3 assists. His shooting was solid at 4/10, but what really stuck out was his impact on the other parts of the offense, helping it to flow. Still, he wasn’t totally satisfied with how he shot the ball.
“It’s not my best, I think it’s okay,” Ball said of his 4/10 night from beyond the arc. “Just having the confidence to keep shooting. If you have a few bad games, you need to have the mindset to just keep shooting.”
Junior Alex Karaban didn’t excite or disappoint, contributing 13 points on 1/5 from deep with 2 blocks. He continued not to shoot the ball well after what could have been a spark at St. John’s (3/6), not a great sign. Any route to success for the Huskies involves Karaban picking up his stroke, which hasn’t happened yet.
As has become something of a theme lately, the Huskies started the game off slow. The game wasn’t four minutes old and they were already down by 10, not ideal against the Sorber-less Hoyas.
Consecutive triples from Ball and a layup from Diarra did the trick, helping put Connecticut back within 2 points. The Huskies weren’t able to push through in the next few minutes, not falling too far behind but also not tying things.
Finally, with eight minutes left in the half, a Reed Jr. steal and slam brought some life to UConn. They went on a 10-0 run, taking their first lead of the day and extending it to 7 into the break.
Fielder was having a field day with the UConn defense, scoring 8 points in the first four minutes of the second half. He had his Hoyas just 3 points behind, but fouled out, seemingly out of nowhere.
It didn’t happen all at once, but the Huskies were able to start building a cushion. They got the lead out to 13, but had a lot of trouble getting it further. When the opportunity came to get it higher they’d commit an error or cede a momentum-stopping dunk.
Connecticut picked up a 14-point win that will look fine to anyone looking at the box score, but it wasn’t easy on the eyes.
Looking broadly, UConn still remains safely in the tournament, with a seismic blunder being the only way they miss out. The expectations for this year can’t go beyond the first weekend, which there isn’t anything wrong with. It’s nearly impossible to be dominant every season and next year provides another opportunity to stand at the top of the sport. Hurley and co. will do what they can with what they have and make the most of this season, which is all they can do.
Their next chance comes on the road at Providence, this Saturday at noon.
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