At long last, regular season college basketball is here. For the UConn men, it all starts on Monday night at Gampel Pavilion when the New Haven Chargers come to town. It’ll be a buy game coming off a pair
of wins for the Huskies against Power 4 competition in exhibition games, so it’s understandable if the game isn’t getting quite the same hype. But fear not — there’s plenty to look forward to.
The Huskies enter the season ranked fourth in AP Poll with two No. 1 votes, so the expectations are high. Against a team like New Haven, it would be fair to think all UConn can do is maintain expectations or disappoint. From a national perspective, that’s probably the case.
To the diehard fan, this will be the first opportunity to learn things like Dan Hurley’s rotations in a game that counts. If Tarris Reed Jr. plays, it will also be the first chance to see him, as a hamstring injury kept him out of the Huskies’ two exhibitions. From New Haven’s perspective, it’s hard to know what to expect. Not only are the
Chargers making the Division I leap, but they’re doing so with an almost entirely new team from last year.
TV: ESPN+
Radio: UConn Sports Network, Sirius XM 85
Odds: At time of publication, no odds have been listed. Should they be, they’ll be posted here.
Location: Gampel Pavilion
KenPom Predicted Score: UConn 92, New Haven 55 (99.96 percent win probability)
Series History
This will be New Haven’s first-ever game as a Division I program, so the two teams have never met in the regular season. They did play in an exhibition game to open the 2016-17 season — the year everyone got hurt and things went off the rails two games in. The Huskies won that game, 83-68, behind five double-figure scorers and 15 points from Vance Jackson off the bench.
Injury report
Freshman Braylon Mullins is out for at least six weeks after spraining his ankle in practice during the preseason. During Sunday’s media availability, Dan Hurley said that fellow freshman Jacob Furphy sprained his ankle and will miss some time as well. He also stated that Tarris Reed will be a game-time decision after missing both preseason games.
What to Watch For
The Offense Should Look More Like 2023-24 — With Better 3-Point Shooting
The key words are “more like.” The 2023-24 Huskies were a death machine on the offensive end, taking the whole shot clock to run the most intricate halfcourt sets you could imagine and finishing them with deadly efficiency. Last year’s team just wasn’t quite good enough to pull it off, and as a result, Hurley and his staff had to pare the playbook down considerably.
That shouldn’t be the case this year. Part of that is because Silas Demary Jr., the transfer from Georgia, is far more equipped to command things as a 6-foot-4 point guard. Like Tristen Newton, he should be able to see over the defense and now has the experience to make quick decisions.
As a bonus, he’s an even better 3-point shooter than Newton, connecting on 38 percent of his attempts last year. In fact, this year’s team should be the best three-point shooting group of the Hurley Era. Surprisingly, no Hurley UConn team has ever ranked better than 62nd in the country in three-point percentage. But the Huskies will have bona fide three-point threats, 1-4, in the starting lineup.
Solo Ball could be one of the best shooters in the country, while Alex Karaban can shoot in the upper 30s if he can avoid those prolonged slumps. Freshman Braylon Mullins won’t play on Monday, but he is one of the best shooters in his class.
What About the Other Transfers?
Demary is the biggest name that UConn landed in the portal but he’s not the only one the Huskies will need to rely on. Malachi Smith from Dayton will surely see major minutes. He shot 38 percent from three and averaged better than five assists per game last year for the Flyers.
It gets interesting after that. Dwayne Koroma (Le Moyne) played double-digit minutes in both exhibitions and held his own. Alec Millender (IU Indy) saw time as well and could be a 3-point weapon off the bench.
When conference play starts, it’s not likely either will become major rotation players, assuming everyone stays healthy, but there’s reason to think they could at least make a good case for themselves in these opening games.
Hurley was intentional in his roster building this season, and that includes players like Koroma and Millender. Rather than chasing freshman prospects in the back end of the Top 100, only to see them transfer out when they don’t play right away, he went after up-transfers who want to be a part of this program. If they get serious minutes, great. If not, they are at least practice contributors that will push the starters harder than, say, a walk-on.
Let Eric Reibe Cook
Freshman Eric Reibe showed real promise against the Eagles and Spartans, though he struggled to finish at the rim. That’s just fine; he’s a freshman and it’ll come.
He does, however, have a golden opportunity against New Haven, a team that does not boast a player taller than 6-foot-9. The 7-foot-1 Reibe should be able to impose his will on the Chargers and it would behoove the Huskies to feature him early and often if Reed does not play. Not only could it start to build his confidence, but the guards need some time to figure out how he operates best.
Nobody expects him to be AJ Dybantsa. He doesn’t need to be. But he does need to be productive. As much as fans love Reed, he is extremely prone to foul trouble. Reibe is going to have to play real minutes against other teams’ starting frontcourts. The Huskies start with three buy games to figure out how best to deploy him.
If you want to get excited, check out what Reibe’s high school coach told Dave Borges of CT Insider.
“He thinks of himself as a Dan Hurley guy,” The Bullis School’s Bruce Kelley said. “He’s taken on some of those characteristics of Danny, a confident exuberance.”
That screams fan favorite.
