No. 3 UConn bounces back with 72-49 win over Bryant
Fresh off a heartbreaking 71-67 loss to No. 4 Arizona, the UConn men’s basketball team returned to action for the first time this Sunday night, hosting the Bryant Bulldogs. The Huskies got the job done in Hartford, winning 72-49.
Despite Sunday being chalked up as a comfortable win, there were some key takeaways from this contest. While Braylon Mullins has not made his season debut, head coach Dan Hurley noted that the freshman is currently a “game-time decision.”Tarris Reed Jr. also missed his second game in a row due to a high ankle sprain; similarly, Hurley noted that Reed is “questionable” for Connecticut’s Black Friday matchup against No. 8 Illinois.
The story for Connecticut early on was dominance. Whether it was the Huskies’ numerous scoring runs, their suffocating defense, or Bryant’s inability to find the bottom of the net, the Bulldogs were clearly outclassed. While no one player was setting any scoring records in the first half, nearly everyone who touched the rock was finding the bottom of the rim. Despite this, the first half belonged to Silas Demary Jr.
The Georgia transfer made his impact felt across multiple facets, recording four points, six rebounds and six assists. Demary’s playmaking was also on display Sunday night as the guard drew four fouls in 16 minutes of work. As impressive as Demary was at catching the Bryant defense lacking, he was hardly the only one excelling in this area.
While Bryant led the way, fouling on 12 occasions to UConn’s eight, the biggest separator, and perhaps what affected the scoreboard, had to do with playing clean basketball. The Huskies did an excellent job forcing Bryant to take bad shots and risky, crosscourt passes; this unideal combination led to Bryant turning the ball over 13 times in the first 20 minutes, eight of those stolen by UConn defenders.
After 20 minutes of action, the Huskies went into the halftime locker room, leading by a healthy 37-21 margin.
Despite the momentum the Huskies built in the first 20 minutes of this contest, it did not carry over into the second half. While Connecticut’s defense was just as solid, Timofei Rudovskii thrived from the field, putting up 11 points on 3-4 shooting from the field. However, outside of a few makes from his teammates, he was largely alone in this effort, which is why Bryant failed to cut into the UConn first-half advantage. While the Huskies struggled to find offensive contributors, Demary got his triple-double, and Eric Reibe finished with 11 second-half points and five rebounds. Postgame, Demary discussed how Tristen Newton, “Mr. Triple Double,” influences his style of play.
“He was kind of one of the big parts of my recruiting process,” Demary told media personnel. “Seeing the style of play and kind of the same resemblances as, looking at his stats and everything that they show me. The jump he made from being at ECU to then being at UConn, I feel like I’m kind of on the same trajectory.”
While the Huskies did muster along to a 23-point win, the program needs more from Alex Karaban and Solo Ball as the schedule ramps up quickly. Karaban finished Sunday night with five points on 2-10 shooting, including 1-7 from beyond the arc. While he was not finding the bottom of the net as he would have liked, he did contribute on the boards, finishing with seven rebounds. Ball finished with eight points in 24 minutes, though he was inefficient, shooting 3-11 from the field. Despite the poor shooting performance, Hurley expressed confidence in the pair ahead of a major Black Friday matchup.
“I actually like when players aren’t shooting well, not while it’s happening. But in my mind, it’s like shooters saying all right, I got this bad shooting game, or I got this bad shooting stretch out of the way, and now we are about to go on a heater,” Hurley said. “So, I just think that the staff’s got to get with these guys. We got to make sure we’re mechanically overdoing it in terms of the coaching, just building up their confidence.”
Despite the 23-point win, Connecticut has areas to improve on as the schedule ramps up quickly. The Huskies will spend their Thanksgiving traveling down the Merritt Parkway for a Black Friday showdown at Madison Square Garden against the No. 8 Illinois Fighting Illini.
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