Stewart a stabilizer in No. 4 UConn Basketball's 79-55 win over New Haven
Dan Hurley challenged Jaylin Stewart and Jayden Ross to be more assertive on the court before UConn’s scrimmage versus Michigan State last Tuesday.
Ross answered with 13 points on four made field goals against the Spartans while Stewart finished with one made field goal.
Hurley gave Stewart the start on Monday, and the junior wing responded with 11 points, eight rebounds and five made field goals in the team’s 22-point win over New Haven.
“He’s going to take a huge step for us offensively and defensively,” Alex Karaban said of Stewart post-game. “The way he was on the backboard helped us out too. He’s a very talented player.”
It was Stewart’s putback slam that gave the Huskies an early lead that they never surrendered.
Eric Reibe put one in from the low post and Silas Demary Jr. added a quick pair of free throws before picking up an early foul and subbing out for Malachi Smith, who essentially split time at the point during the first half. Demary finished with 10 points in 20 minutes of action, hitting on four of his six field goals.
Smith worked in conjunction with Ball and Jayden Ross to institute a short-lived full court press for the Huskies, which worked well against the Charger guards and forced early two turnovers.
The absence of Tarris Reed Jr. down low, however, was noticeable in the first half – and in the second.
Reed warmed up with the team before changing into street clothes and joining Braylon Mullins and Jacob Furphy on the bench. According to Hurley, Reed has been active in practice the last five days and is feeling more comfortable but was ultimately not given the green light for Monday’s game.
“We can’t bring him back prematurely and have the hamstring linger,” Hurley said. “We can’t do this without him. He’s a focal point, he’s going to improve our defense, he’s going to improve our offense.”
The Chargers spaced out the floor in five out sets and drove to the rack early and often, especially when Reibe was off the court. New Haven hit two-thirds of its first half field goals from the paint, headed by four makes from Andre Pasha, who worked along the elbows all night.
“It was straight line drives,” Hurley said about the Chargers’ total of three assists on 23 made field goals. “When you get beat in a straight line and you don’t push an offensive player off of the straight line, digging at drivers and getting in gaps and raking at the ball doesn’t do you any good.”
On-ball defense was an inflection point for Hurley, who cited the lack of turnovers and number of drives that found the basket as the main reasons why Monday’s opener was a terrible game to coach.
Karaban drained the first three pointer of the night for either team seven minutes into the first half to put the Huskies up five. Both teams started a combined 1/11 from behind the arc before a late-half resurgence saw triples fall for Alec Millender, Ball and New Haven’s Najimi George.
Millender, Smith and Ross gave the Huskies much needed energy off the bench. Ross picked off a New Haven pass and tiptoed down the sideline before slamming it down and stunting the Chargers’ momentum late in the first half. Millender was at the bottom of every pile and grabbed a steal in five minutes of action.
Connecticut took a 37-24 lead into the break and, after New Haven closed the gap to 10 points, went on a 9-0 run to build the lead back to 19. Ball contributed six of those nine, all of which came from the free throw line after he was fouled twice when launching from three.
The rest of the second half was as pretty as the first; sloppy on-ball defense, missed lay-ins at the rack and the occasional Connecticut run smattered the remaining 10 minutes.
“Some of the things that plagued us last year reared its ugly head [tonight],” Hurley said. “Anytime a team has 23 field goals on only three assists tells you that you’ve lost a lot of one on one battles.”
Karaban, who finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds, scored 11 of UConn’s final 19 points to close out the Chargers.
UConn (1-0) is next in action on Friday versus UMass Lowell at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford.
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