Sports: UConn men’s basketball team returns to practice
Men's basketball team practices for the first time in two weeks
The UConn men's basketball team practiced on Thursday for the first time in two weeks.
The next few days may determine whether the Huskies will play their tentatively scheduled season opener against Central Connecticut State University next Wednesday in Storrs.
The Huskies will certainly have to shake off some rust coming off a long layoff, which was due to a COVID-related shutdown after a player tested positive. All the players attended practice on Thursday with the exception of injured walkon Matt Garry.
Coach Dan Hurley will likely want to get a good look at his team before making a decision about playing a game just six days following the break.
During the shutdown, players were limited to mostly individual workouts and also participated in outdoor conditioning sessions.
Last week, Hurley expressed a high level concern for his team and the ability to properly prepare for the regular season opener on Nov. 25 considering the circumstances. He's worried about players suffering injuries.
"I've never been in this situation," Hurley said. "As a high school coach, I think the longest break I've ever dealt with with a team is maybe three or four days. So uncharted territory completely. We have no idea. ... I think everyone knows the quality of play this year in college basketball may suffer a bit.
"... But my issue with the non- conference schedule is just the health and welfare of the players. Not putting them in a bad situation where they only get a couple of practices in and then the lights come on on game night and now they haven't had enough hard practices to turn it
up on game night when those conditions change."
During a typical season, UConn's longest break is about two days around Christmas.
Practices following any day off are usually pretty ugly.
"Coming off a day off, it's usually a little bit sloppy," Hurley said. "The team has a hard time. Guys are a little sluggish to start. We've got to crank up the energy.
"These guys are brutal coming off of two days off. ... When guys go home for the two day, two and a half day Christmas break, your first two practices are brutal. The cardio, the hand-eye (coordination), it's hard to get that back. It takes a practice or two."
Wednesday's season opener might not be the only non-conference game potentially in jeopardy. UConn also is tentatively scheduled to host Hartford on Friday, Nov. 27.
After that, UConn will compete in three straight non- conference games at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Huskies will play in the Legends Classic, facing Vanderbilt on Dec. 1 and either USC or BYU on Dec. 3. Then the Huskies will play North Carolina State on Dec. 5.
UConn has not yet released its schedule. The Big East already announced the Huskies will play five league games prior to Christmas, starting off by hosting St. John's on Dec. 11 at Gampel Pavilion.
In other news, sophomore James Bouknight was named to the 2021 Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Watch List. Other Big East players among the 50 candidates on the list are Villanova's Collin Gillespie and Jeremiah Robinson- Earl, Creighton's Marcus Zegarowski and Seton Hall's Sandro Mamukelashvili.
The list will be trimmed to 30 players in early February, with the winner being honored during the Final Four in April.
Bouknight also was recently named to the watch list for the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year award.
A Big East preseason second team selection, Bouknight is UConn's top returning scorer, averaging 13 points last season. He played his best basketball down the stretch, contributing 17.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in the last 12 games.