The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Huskies out to make a good first impression
STORRS — The UConn men’s basketball team seemed a little nervous, a bit jittery through the first 15 minutes of practice on Wednesday.
The Huskies’ regular season-opener loomed in a little over 24 hours. The game is sold-out, UConn’s first sellout at Gampel Pavilion since March, 2016. And while the opponent (Morehead State) wouldn’t normally strike fear in the hearts of men, the Husky players could be forgiven if they were a little anxious.
Let’s just say that earlyseason games have been a bit of a struggle for the program in recent years.
Two years ago, UConn suffered the indignity of losing its first two games of the season, both at Gampel, to Wagner and Northeastern. Last year, the Huskies struggled to beat Colgate and Stony Brook in their first two games, and it took overtime to beat both Columbia and Monmouth a few weeks later.
Cognizant of this, firstyear head coach Dan Hurley gathered the team in a huddle.
“Hey, fellas, we’re coming into this opening night — these are the things we know we do well,” he said. “We can hang our hat on that. Do we have to get better in a lot of other areas? Yes, but you guys should be confident. You shouldn’t be anxious or nervous. We’re ready to play this particular game. We know we’re gonna play hard, compete and get after it.”
When the Huskies host Morehead State on Thursday at Gampel (7 p.m., SNY), most of the main characters will be the same as last year’s 14-18 team. But it will be the official unveiling of Hurley, who took over after Kevin Ollie was fired in March, as head coach.
Yes, UConn has held an open practice for the public, and played an exhibition game on Friday in front of 5,646 at Gampel. But all that pales in comparison to a sold-out building filled with fans looking for a little more excitement — and success — after a couple of dreadful seasons.
Essentially, the Huskies have a chance to make a strong first impression.
“We’ll get a sellout, there’ll be enough articles, enough excitement — new coach, new blood, obviously a great fan base that’s re-ignited,” Hurley said. “But, if we want the games to get bigger and better, we’ve got to go out and
perform at a high level. So, yeah, it’s real important for us to go out and play well, and be better than we were in the exhibition.”
Added senior guard Jalen Adams: “You’ve got to get the crowd into it so they keep coming back to support us when we have those tough games at home. We’re gonna need their support.”
If Friday’s 96-64 win over Southern Connecticut State is any indication, UConn will look to run, run, run the ball up the floor. The Huskies scored 45 fast-break points against the Owls, and they’ll need that type of uptempo play. UConn barely outrebounded Southern, a D-II squad, and that figures to be one of the team’s Achilles’ heels.
An air of positivity — if a bit of nervousness — seems to hang around the team right now. There certainly have been enough bad memories from the past two seasons: injuries, unenthusiastic play, 20-point losses (a school-record eight last season) and far too many close calls — or bad losses — in early-season games.
On Thursday night, UConn can take its first step in remedying at least that latter memory.
“You deserve to go to the game with a much higher level of confidence than you’ve displayed the past couple of months,” Hurley told his team. “You guys have earned the right, with the work you’ve put in, to go out (Thursday) with some confidence, some swagger, and an attitude that you’re ready to play a great game.”
In front of an increasingly rare sellout crowd, no less.
“That all comes with getting a new coach,” said Adams. “Everybody’s anxious to see what changes he brings. Historically, he’s known for bringing programs who had off-years to have great years and make runs in the tournament. So, I’m just excited for (Thursday).”