The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Huskies will find out who they are
Latest battle with Syracuse should let UConn know where it stands
STORRS — Dan Hurley has played numerous games at Madison Square Garden, but he’s only been there as a head coach one time. And he earned a victory over a team led by a pretty good point guard from the Bronx.
Fella named Kemba Walker.
Hurley was head coach at St. Benedict’s Prep when he beat Kemba-led Rice High in a Nike Super Six event at
the World’s Most Famous Arena 11 years ago. Current UConn assistant Kimani Young was an assistant at Rice at the time.
“I was able to (beat) an all-timer here, and I beat Kimani,” Hurley noted, with a grin. “So, it went well for me.”
Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim has coached just a few more games at the Garden. Some of the most memorable have come against UConn: the sixovertime classic in 2009, Gerry McNamara’s heroics in 2006, just to name a couple.
Throw it all out the window on Thursday, when the latest (and possibly last, at least for a while) installment of the UConn-Syracuse rivalry unfolds at the Garden (7 p.m., ESPN2) as part of the 2k Sports Classic. Both teams are 2-0, with common (hard-fought) victories over Morehead State. The Orange are ranked No. 15 in the nation. The Huskies will pop up on the national radar again with a win.
“It’s an exciting thing to be a part of,” said Hurley, in his first year at the UConn helm. “Obviously, so many great Big East memories there. The UConn-Syracuse rivalry, playing at the Garden, the multiple-overtime
game, all the great games, great players — just to be a part of that is a pretty cool thing. (It’s) not lost on me.”
Boeheim is in his 43rd season as Syracuse’s head coach. He coached against Hurley when Hurley was a player at Seton Hall, and has known Hurley’s father, Bob Sr., for more than 40 years. He’s impressed with what he’s seen so far.
“He’s a very aggressive coach, Connecticut’s playing very aggressively,” Boeheim noted. “I think they’re underrated. Their guards are really good. They didn’t have (Alterique) Gilbert there last year, and he’s a tremendous player. Adding (Tarin) Smith, their frontline guys are playing really well. I think they’re a better team than people thought they would be. When you have guards like that — (Jalen) Adams and those guys — they’re really good players. You get them to play like that, you’re gonna be able to play with anybody, I think.”
That’s what UConn is out to prove. The Huskies looked pretty good beating Morehead State by 10 in their season-opener, and looked real good in a 94-66 romp over UMKC on Sunday. Now, the competition level ramps up several notches. UConn will also play either Oregon or Iowa on Friday, so by the end of the week, fans will have a better idea of just how competitive this team can be.
“Every game’s important, but especially this one,” said Smith, a grad transfer from New Jersey who’ll be playing his first game at the Garden. “We get to see where we’re at. We’re playing a ranked team in a neutral environment. It’s gonna be a big-time environment, a big-time game with two big-time teams. We’re gonna go ahead and see where we rank.”
“We’re ready,” added grad transfer Kassoum Yakwe, who played numerous games at MSG while at St. John’s. “We can play against anybody. This is a big step for us, playing against Syracuse, a great team.”
Most of the players on this year’s team lost to the Orange 72-63 in a Jimmy V Classic affair last season at MSG. Some were there for the Huskies’ ugly, 52-50 win over Syracuse the prior season in the Tire Pros Classic.
“It’s gonna be loud in there,” junior guard Christian Vital promised. “There’s gonna be a lot of emotions, from both sides. But we’ve just got to fight for a full 40 minutes to stay with each other.”
Syracuse returns every key player from last year’s Elite Eight team, though it may be without senior point guard Frank Howard. This isn’t Morehead State or UMKC.
“We can’t afford many lulls in this game,” Hurley said. “If we have a bad four-minute segment in between the media timeout — we call them wars — it’ll get bad for us out there. We’ve got to be locked in for 40 minutes if we want to have a chance late in the game.”
He needs his team to have a sense of urgency, and he’s felt that in practice this week.
“Especially with the older guys,” Hurley noted. “They’re really locked in on trying to get these younger guys to understand the intensity level the game’s gonna be played at on Thursday.”
RIM RATTLINGS
⏩ Alterique Gilbert has looked strong in his first two games after missing nearly all of last season following shoulder surgery. But Syracuse may not be the ideal opponent against which to showcase his speedy, shifty skills.
“I wish we were playing a pressing, trapping, uptempo team in his first, kind of, national game,” Hurley said. “To play against one of the slowestpaced offensive teams in the country, in a 2-3 zone game, doesn’t exactly fit perfectly into, maybe, a coming-out play-style game for him as a 6-foot dynamo. But, for Al, he’s healthy, he’s gonna have a great season. He’s just gonna keep getting better and better as we go. And I know he’s just thrilled to get on the court and play in one of these games.”
⏩ Pascal Chukwu, a Fairfield Prep product, has shown improvement in his third season with the Orange. The 7-foot-2 senior, who began his career at Providence and missed most of his sophomore year at Syracuse with an injury, is averaging 10 points and eight boards over his first two games.
“He’s still working on it, but it’s his second full year of playing basketball, really,” Boeheim said. “He’s having more of an effect on the game. I think he’ll continue to improve throughout the year. He’s relatively late to the game. He’s getting better, he’s healthy. Our frontline guys have played pretty well, we’ve just got to get a little more continuity in our offense. That’ll take some time.”
⏩ Boeheim also chimed in on fellow Hall-of-Famer Jim Calhoun’s return to coaching, at the Division III level with the University of Saint Joseph.
“He loves to coach. Rollie Massimimo went back to an NAIA school and did
well. I think Jim will do well. He loves to coach. Retirement’s not all that great a deal. I think he’s having great fun. I saw him out on the recruiting trail, he was out as much as ever. He loves coaching, he’s
gonna be passionate about it, and he’s gonna get the most out of his players. That’s what he does. They’re lucky to have him.”