Huskies start off sluggish
But Ollie sees good signs in loss to strong PC team
Mohegan — UConn looked like a team that's undergoing a massive makeover on Wednesday night.
It will take a lot more time, work and effort for the Huskies to complete the project. Right now, they're just not ready to beat a veteran Providence team coming off its fourth straight NCAA tournament trip.
With that said, UConn benefited from the charity game between two former Big East Conference rivals despite suffering a 90-76 loss before 6,415 fans at Mohegan Sun Arena. Proceeds went to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund to aid hurricane victims.
"It was perfect game for us to play," sophomore Christian Vital said. "Providence is coming off a tournament run. It's our first exhibition game. We have seven new guys and three of our returning players didn't even play a full season last year, so today was perfect for us.
"I don't believe in morale victories or morale losses. But I definitely do believe in learning from situations and we definitely learned that we have a lot more work to do but we're on track to where we want to be."
It was no surprise that Vital and junior Jalen Adams, the only two Huskies who saw action in more than four games last season, were the best players on the floor for UConn. Vital finished with 17 points while Adams chipped in a game-high 22 points, go-
ing 5-for-15 from the field and 11 for 12 from the foul line.
UConn never led and fell behind 40-31 at halftime and trailed by as many as 27 points. But the Huskies fought to the finish.
The Huskies shot the ball poorly for most of the game. Only a late surge brought their field goal percentage to 37.1. They also need work defensively, as the Friars shot a sizzling 66.7 percent overall and fired in nine three-pointers. The two teams combined for 55 fouls and took 66 free throws in the choppy game.
Five Friars scored in double figures, with junior Isaiah Jackson hitting a team-best 16 points. Freshman Makai Ashton-Langford, who committed to UConn before changing his mind, had 10 points and four assists.
UConn coach Kevin Ollie likely learned a whole lot more about his team facing a quality Division I opponent than he will in upcoming exhibition games against Merrimack Monday and Queens College on Nov. 5.
"It's a great film to watch on tape," Ollie said. "We've got a lot of things to correct. Providence is a really, really good team. They're going to go deep in the NCAA tournament. To play against them, it is a win-win for us.
"... It feels good to get out here. These guys haven't played a lot of games together. Just two guys played the whole season last year and that's CV and Jalen Adams. So this was a good test for us . ... It should get us prepared for the long haul."
Ollie's starting lineup included Adams and redshirt freshman Alterique Gilbert in the backcourt while junior college transfer Eric Cobb, redshirt freshman Mamadou Diarra and redshirt junior Terry Larrier formed the frontcourt.
Both Larrier and Gilbert are a bit rusty after sitting out the majority of last season with injuries. Larrier finished 3-for-14 from the field and had seven points. Gilbert didn't score his first basket until eight minutes into the second half and had eight points overall.
"It felt good," said Larrier, who's appeared in only four games in the last two seasons, about playing again. "I've just got to knock the rust off a little bit more. The more I play, the more comfortable I'll get." There were some encouraging signs. Ollie gave his newcomers high marks, especially frontcourt players Isaiah Whaley (two points, two rebounds), Tyler Polley (six points, one rebound) and Josh Carlton (four points, two rebounds). They all battled foul trouble, as did Diarra who fouled out in just six minutes. Cobb was a physical presence early on. The Huskies rebounded fairly well, losing the battle, 34-29.
"I really thought our young guys played very, very well once they settled in...," Ollie said. "That was a bright spot for us, totally."
The Huskies played without graduate transfer David Onuorah, who's expected to be a big part of the frontcourt rotation. He fell hard on his hip in practice earlier this week, forcing him to sit out. Ollie said Onuorah will be ready for Monday's exhibition game.
The next two exhibition games will be valuable experiences for the Huskies. They feel good about the direction that they're heading in.
"I'm not hanging this loss over our heads at all," Vital said. "Obviously, we did lose. They beat us by a good amount of points. Give credit to them, they're a good team. But I like our chances later on in the season against anybody." g.keefe@theday.com