Sports: No. 25 UConn men host St. John’s today
Dan Hurley received a "beautiful" birthday gift from his UConn basketball team on Saturday.
It was a gray t-shirt with a super hero's shield on the front and the words, "Captain Brutality."
Hurley loved it.
"One of the nicest gifts that I've ever gotten," said Hurley, UConn's intense and demanding head coach. "I feel like it was an appropriate gift. Captain Brutality, I'll take it, I'll own that. That's who I have to be most days.
"Especially when things are going well, it's human nature for people to relax and let their guard down. And that's where my alter ego — Captain Brutality — has got to enter the scene and get everyone back on edge because this thing can turn on you quickly. Once you relax and start feeling too good about yourself, sports will get you."
UConn (7-1, 4-1) is on a roll, carrying a season-high four game winning streak into today's Big East game against St. John's (7-7, 2-6) at 2:30 p.m. at Gampel Pavilion.
For the third straight game, sophomore James Bouknight will be sidelined. He had surgery on his left elbow on Jan. 12. He suffered the injury Jan. 5 at Marquette.
"He's handling it well," Hurley said. "He's into his rehab. He's obviously very antsy because he wants to play. He's got a couple of weeks that he's got to rehab that injury and hopefully we see him again soon."
Later during Sunday's Zoom conversation, Hurley added that Bouknight was dealing with bone spurs and looking at a four-week window for his recovery, "may
“We've got to play elite defense and really make them earn every opportunity offensively. We've got to get back to the rebounding team that we were before the last (game), where we were brutal on the glass. And we've got to take great care of the ball.”
UCONN COACH DAN HURLEY
"maybe a little bit before, a little bit after."
Since winning at DePaul on Jan. 11, UConn has had almost a week to prepare for St. John's, which has dropped three of its last four games.
Sophomore forward Julian Champagnie, the Big East's leading scorer at 20.7 points per game, is the Red Storm's toughest offensive threat and a match-up nightmare. St. John's disruptive, trapping defense can make life miserable for opponents and averages 10 steals per game.
UConn will be better served to turn it into a halfcourt type game where it can exploit St. John's lack of size.
"Just being prepared for a really intense war with those guys," Hurley said. "They play so hard. They're so disruptive with their defense and the way they attack the ball."
The Huskies are still learning how to play without Bouknight, especially on the offensive end. With their leading scorer on the sidelines the last two games, they've averaged 66 points but their suffocating defense has limited opponents to just 56.5.
They'll miss Bouknight's play-making ability against St. John's.
"We've got to play elite defense and really make them earn every opportunity offensively," Hurley said. "We've got to get back to the rebounding team that we were before the last (game), where we were brutal on the glass. And we've got to take great care of the ball.
"They want to go really, really fast and, especially with James out, that's not something we're interested in doing right now. We've got to control the pace of the game. We have to drag them through the type of game we want to play and grind out the game the way we're learning to grind out these games."
The Huskies certainly haven't let up in practice in the week leading up to today's game.
Senior Tyler Polley posted a post-practice photo on social media Friday of his swollen left eye. He missed the end of practice that day and the beginning of Saturday's workout.
He'll be ready to play against the Red Storm.
"He's completely fine," Hurley said. "When you're not in a traditional year like this and you haven't played as many games, the practice intensity has got to be there to supplement the games you've missed.
"I think it's appropriate that he's got the swelled up look of a boxer because we're in for a heck of a fight with these guys."
News and notes
Hurley provided an update on freshman Andre Jackson's injury status. He's been out since breaking a bone in his left wrist during practice on Dec. 21. "He's got a big appointment early this week. Obviously with James out, this would have been a beautiful opportunity to really get Dre some experience. Hopefully, his appointment goes well this week. If that goes well, then he'll potentially be able to get back to things relatively quickly because he's been able to do a lot of cardio work and he's been in some parts of practice." ... Monday's game time was moved from 5 p.m. to 2:30 and from FS1 to Fox (Ch. 61) due to the Notre Dame-Howard game being called off for COVID-19 reasons . ... UConn's home game against Xavier on Wednesday is still on for now. Xavier, which is dealing with a COVID related pause, postponed its game against Seton Hall on Saturday. "We will meet with (athletic director) Dave (Benedict) and look at our options and go with the one that makes sense for us," Hurley said.