The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Huskies ready for one final tuneup
The American Athletic Conference season, UConn’s seventh and final, looms on the near horizon.
The Huskies begin AAC play on New Year’s Day at old rival Cincinnati, the beginning of a twomonth trip through a league that feels pretty deep this season — with an intriguing battle against former and future Big East rival Villanova thrown in to boot.
But first, the Huskies must navigate one more nonconference bout with a midmajor.
UConn (83) hosts NJIT on Sunday at the XL Center (1 p.m., SNY) in its final tuneup before league play and first game since Christmas break.
“We came in (Thursday) and practiced really hard,” said point guard Alterique Gilbert. “We kind of got that Christmas practice out of the way, when he (coach Dan Hurley) looks kind of crazy. Then we got in here (Friday) and worked hard, kind of got back to the script.”
“We practiced real hard, long (Thursday), practiced pretty hard (Friday),” Hurley reported. “You just worry about these guys when they go home don’t touch a ball for a couple days. Just worried about ball skills, handeye coordination and getting their cardio back.”
“But we get three days of practice and a shootaround the day of the game, so Sunday we should be good,” he added.
Hurley isn’t looking for any drastic changes from a team that’s won five of its last six games.
“Continue to tweak what we’re doing defensively, get better at that end,” he noted. “We’re doing a good job with our field goal defense, at the 2point level, at the 3point level, we’re doing a good job. We want to continue to be able to be disruptive at times.
Then at other times be able to protect the paint. You have to be able to play defense both ways, not just pressure people into mistakes but also be able to protect driving lanes when you’re playing a team that is really good at putting their head down.”
On the other end of the floor, the coach wants the Huskies to get better at screening, passing, executing and identifying roles. He also wants Josh Carlton, who went scoreless in Sunday’s win over New Hampshire and had just six points in a Dec. 18 win over Saint Peter’s, to get more involved offensively.
“We kind of did a little selfstudy over Christmas with him,” Hurley added. “We have to get Josh going.”
It will be interesting to see how (if ?) Sid Wilson continues to figure in the team’s rotation. The redshirt sophomore forward didn’t play a single second against UNH, and Hurley didn’t offer a definitive explination why, other than that continuing to play 10 players doublefigure minutes may not be feasible.
A few weeks earlier at the Charleston Classic, the coach noted that his best teams at Rhode Island went 10deep.
“Nine is a great number,” Hurley said on Friday. “You could get to 10 if 10 guys make you play them. You’ve got such quality, good players, valuable players force their way onto the court. They make a coach play 10.”
Hurley indicated that Wilson is not doing that right now.
“Sid’s got talent, he’s just got to get after it every single day. He’s got to develop an identity at the offensive end. And while he’s developing an identity at the offensive end, he’s got to come in and change the game defensively with his athletic ability. He just can’t occupy minutes.”
“When programs grow, develop, as opposed to like last year when were just trying to find five guys to put on the court, you know you’re getting better as a program when talent isn’t finding its way on the court,” Hurley continued. “Talent has to battle its way onto the court.”
NJIT is 39, but it’s played a tough schedule that’s included Providence, Rutgers and UCF. The Highlanders are led by dynamic guard Zach Cooks, who averages 23.1 points per game, and also feature former Hillhouse/Hamden Hall star Byron “Tre” Breland III, who has cracked the starting lineup and comes from good athletic stock.
Hurley isn’t about to take the Highlanders lightly.
“They’re not off to a great start, obviously, this year, but coming into the season KenPom, I think they were a top 150 team,” the coach noted. “They return a number of guys who led them to a 20plus win season, most wins in school history. We’ll be preparing for the best version of them.”
And then, Hurley will turn his attention to preparing for a final run through the American Athletic Conference.